Lunch Is A Learning Experience In Berkeley

[RedOnce]

In Berkeley, Calif., lunch has become a learning experience

The Christian Science Monitor - March 09, 2006 edition - By Chad Heeter

Berkeley's School Lunch Initiative aims to replace low-quality "heat and eat" processed foods with fresh, locally grown food. The plan also teaches kids about how food gets from seed to plate by establishing school gardens and kitchen classrooms that integrate lessons about food and cooking into the academic curriculum. Organizers hope children will not only learn about the art and science of food, but also adopt nutritious eating habits.

"Teaching kids about food is as important as math or science," Cooper says.

The Chez Panisse Foundation, founded by restaurateur and food activist Alice Waters, has committed to raising $4 million to jump-start Berkeley's school-lunch initiative. While the long-term cost of the plan is unknown, backers say the benefit of spending more on nutritious lunches for children now means spending less on healthcare later.

Back in the kitchen, Cooper's plan is to serve nothing but fresh meat and produce from regional farms - and preferably organic. That means cooking from scratch, rare in school districts. The marinara sauce she's made would put a smile on any Italian grandmother's face - it contains more than 100 pounds of fresh vegetables. Cooper has 32 years' experience as a chef and sits on the US Department of Agriculture's National Organic Standards Board. Before she took over, the lunch staff would have simply opened cans of tomato sauce.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0309/p14s03-legn.html

[rodeodance]

1. nice very nice

[EFerrari]

2. Those commie pinkos! This is excellent. Once you eat real

food, it's really hard to go back. :thumbsup:

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. What fun!

nothing is more important than learning to eat well and nothing is more joyful than gardening.

Wonder how they will fit in their standardized testing? BLECH!