It all started with a simple idea: to see if school children will actually eat fresh foods, rather than the institutional fare that school kitchens typically serve. To test the idea, the “Farm to School” project of the nonprofit Ecotrust partnered up with Portland’s Abernethy Elementary in 2005, embarking on a semester-long trial run of sustainable lunches—beginning with a kitchen renovation and new chef.
This was a place where school lunches mattered: 43 percent of students in Portland are eligible for subsidized meals, so school lunches can have a big impact on a student’s daily nutrition.
With Ecotrust’s help, Abernethy Elementary dished up a comprehensive food program, including a school garden, classroom lesson plans around a vegetable of the month, and lunches made with predominately local foods. The food was all cooked on-site, from scratch, with no trans fats allowed. Not only were kids eating significantly higher amounts of produce than their counterparts in other area schools, but the average lunch actually cost $.05 less than the frozen fare typically offered.
But while the food cost less, the labor cost more: the kitchen needed two chefs instead of one. That’s one of the first lessons of healthy school lunches: it can be the cost of labor, not of food itself, that squeezes local farmers out of the school lunchroom. Seeing this problem, Ecotrust applied for a grant from the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund which secured a subsidy of just seven cents per lunch for schools in the Portland and Gervais school districts in 2009. The subsidy worked, allowing food service directors to buy locally produced food. Not only did students love what they ate, but each dollar spent in Oregon created 84 cents in state economic activity. Not too shabby in a recession.
Since 2007, Oregon has secured farm-to-school coordinators in both the Education and Agriculture departments, an unprecedented action in the United States. In 2009 there was a push to pass House Bill 2800, dubbed “Oregon Farmers Feeding Oregon Kids,” which was endorsed by 80 Oregon organizations. While this bill failed at the last minute, ostensibly due to pressures of the recession, the support it garnered was still promising. Portland food service workers are now challenged with finding ways to cut costs and still buy local, but most are pushing forward with locally sourced menus.
So what was on the menu? Meals of couscous, burritos from scratch, fresh lasagna and garbanzo/tomato salad make up the mostly vegetarian bill of fare. With less meat on offer, the district can buy higher quality meat when needed. And against common assumptions, kids seem to be giving the new food a thumbs up. (Admittedly, a lot of these students “already knew what couscous was,” so Portland’s success might not transfer to a city where kids are less food-conscious).
School districts that want to create the biggest impact on students’ diets can support comprehensive food programs that teach kids about food while dishing up quality meals for lunch. Who can blame a child for turning down a parsnip dish when they have no idea what a parsnip is? Effective school food programs, like Alice Waters’ edible schoolyard program in Berkeley, CA and Auburn, WA’s Farm-to-School program, include garden education along with healthy meals. It’s all in the name of creating a personal connection to what’s on your plate. Washington’s Vashon High School found that students were much more likely to eat mixed veggie dishes if they participated in the school horticulture program. Groups like Growing Gardens in Portland are partnering with schools to make this a reality, a promising start that needs some financial support.
Who knows? The most delicious food in Portland might be in its school cafeterias.
Editor’s note: Excited about Portland’s school lunch program? Sightline can hook you up with a free trip to the City of Roses if you sign up for our emails or recommend us to your friends!
Isabell
I am all for getting local foods into the schools and especially fresh foods, vegetables and fruit. But there is one problem with this school lunch and that is:Children need the protein and fat which comes from animals to drive and for good development of their brains. A low fat diet, which is what you describe is detrimental to the health and growing of children. There is a lot of research done on this. Serving carbohydrates and vegetables as the main food is a misguided school lunch. The obesity problem we have has a lot to do with the low-fat policy, which is even pushed at our children, which because they are mostly empty calories and don’t fill you up makes us eat more carbs and sugar, because we always feel hungry. If you want to learn about nutrition you should check out this website. We all need real food, nutrient dense food especially children. http://www.westonaprice.org/home-mainmenu-1.html andhttp://www.nourishingourchildren.org/Home.htmlKey nutrients for brain development and the foods they are found in-Vitamin A—Cod liver oil; liver, butter and egg yolks from grass-fed animals-Vitamin D—Cod liver oil, shellfish; lard, butter and egg yolks from grass-fed animals-Choline – Cod liver oil; egg yolks from grass-fed animals-DHA—Cod liver oil; liver, butter, and egg yolks from grass-fed animals-Zinc— Red meat of grass-fed animals, shellfish-Tryptophan—Meat of grass-fed animals-Cholesterol—Seafood; dairy foods, eggs and meat of grass-fed animals You can’t get that from eating predominantly vegetables and grains. Again, the policy in feeding our children has more to do with saving a buck then actually nourishing them.Isabell Norman
Beth Golden
While I agree that the majority of Americans are fearful of animal fats while they should be afraid of sugar, providing grass fed meat to children in the school lunch program is just not an option due to budget limmitations at this time. I think Abernethy Elemenary is to be commended for their effort. While not perfect, removing trans-fat and low-quality USDA commodity meat, and replacing it with more produce is an improvement on many levels. Animal fats can be provided in the form of whole, plain milk and butter, instead of the typical low-fat, or non-fat milk and margerine which is usually served in schools.
Kate Wolpert
I agree with Ms. Norman that children (and adults) need protein and fat, but I disagree that school lunches need to contain meat products most days. There are many proteins in beans and legumes, for example, and most cooking is done with added fat. Additionally, as Ms. Golden points out, milk, butter, and eggs all serve to provide animal fats and proteins to our schoolchildren at far less cost than meat from grass-fed animals. Finally, this is one (or potentially two, as many schools have subsidized breakfasts as well) meal per day. Most of these children are likely to be consuming more meats and fats at dinner and on weekends. Serving fresh, local, healthful food at school lunches will surely help our children balance their diets with plenty of vitamins, vegetables, and whole foods. This will translate into a generation of Oregonians who appreciate healthful foods and are better able to stay leaner in the face of an epidemic of obesity. Now, if we can just do something about our dwindling physical education programs.Kate Wolpertmedical student
Isabell
The reasoning behind animal fats and protein is not just about protein, it is about the other important nutrients one only gets with eating it. Enzymes, vitamins, minerals…….you can’t get these from beans, and you can’t get them cooking with Canola oil, in fact cooking with the processed oils is unhealthy and toxic. If you want to know more about why just follow to these two links and research for yourself.http://nourishingourchildren.org/Home.htmlhttp://www.westonaprice.org/home-mainmenu-1.htmlI only started eating more according to that principle of dense nutrition 1 1/2 weeks ago and I already feel so much better. More energetic, my foggy thinking I thought was because of menopause (they tell you this is the reason) gone, my sore shoulder is getting better too and I lost 3 pounds and I am a small person not by eating less, by eating more healthy fats and proteins and wholegrain. I always eat more vegetables and fruit then most people, I have a big vegetable garden, so I haven’t changed anything there. Just read for yourself.
pdkmom
I’m convinced that a plant based whole foods diet is all anyone needs. Portland is the Vegan capital of the world but we send our children off to be fed who knows what. The documentary Fork over Knives does a great job explaining why Americans have been fooled into believing we need meat protein in our diets and why the schools allow very few produce options for lunches. http://www.forksoverknives.com/