The Adventures of Peapod Ibti

While I was out running errands earlier today, something suddenly reminded me that I'd forgotten to post something on the blog about DC Farm to School week...hmmm....



And then, lo not 10 minutes later, a message popped up in my inbox with a photo attachment from supermom Laura over at Watkins Elementary:



Yep, that's me dressed as a giant peapod. Why would I agree to such silliness, you ask? I couldn't help myself: I love Farm to School Week. And admittedly I rather enjoy opportunities to dress up. I'll agree that it was not the most flattering of costumes, but it was apparently very effective: I was told there was a huge line for the cafeteria salad bar the following day as a direct result of my veg promotional efforts. To be honest, I think it was the bright, crunchy veggies and delectable champagne vinaigrette that the friendly folks from SweetGreen brought along, but, hey, if a smiling stranger dressed as a legume and handing out stickers helps encourage consumption of seasonal produce, I'm happy for whatever part I played.

I will say that I was impressed that nearly every kid that scampered up to the salad table we'd set up in Watkins' brand new beautiful playground knew what I was. (You may not think that's a big deal, but can I tell you how many kids in this country can't identify a tomato not in ketchup form?) Only one little boy asked if I was a cucumber... his classmate quickly corrected him. Props to the school's FoodPrints program for getting kids excited not only about identifying lots of veggies, but also about preparing and eating them. Yes, it didn't take long for a few of the older girls to ask to help mixing ingredients together in large bowls and serving the fresh salad samples (using plastic gloves) to their peers. I couldn't stop grinning the whole ride home. (No, not in costume.)

Don't worry, I don't plan on breaking the peapod getup out again any time soon. I've got my hands full making a cape for tomorrow's Food Day group picnic....

Acting up

[photo courtesy of Katherine Bryant, DC Farm to School]

Hooray! Lots to celebrate in recent weeks in terms of improving school food -- both in our nation's capital and around the country.

Just yesterday, my favorite president (okay, well, he's in the top three -- Lincoln and FDR are tough acts to follow) signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, giving more funding to federal school lunch programs, boosting both the variety and the quality of food in schools, and facilitating local farm to school networks and the development of school gardens. It was signed right in the auditorium of nearby Tubman Elementary School, where I've spent the past 4 Wednesday afternoons as a volunteer food educator teaching kids how to make healthy snacks! Too bad I wasn't there for the signing, but it's for the best: there is no way I would've been able to keep myself from hugging the President and First Lady.



But that's not all. Last week, with the help of many, many e mails and phone calls from my fellow DCists, the DC Healthy Schools Act was passed, allowing for similar reforms on a local scale that the Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act does nationally. Better food at last for DC schoolkids! Thank goodness! You'd think a 6-cents-per-child increase would be no big deal, but it is. I do believe I've mentioned the atrocious food at the public charter school where I used to teach. (It will remain nameless to protect its identity, but really, from what I've heard from teacher friends at other schools in town, the "food" there is comparable to other District schools.) Oh, and mandatory testing of water for lead in school drinking fountains? Yeah, it's about time that was enforced.

This is not to say that the implementation of these important programs comes without a price: SNAP (aka food stamp) programs have taken a cut to fund the former (federal) program, while the welfare program in the District will be curtailed to finance the latter (local) program. Still, I think both pieces of legislation are major victories, if bittersweet ones, along the road to school food reform.

Oh, and speaking of the road to food reform, check out this Washington Post article, hot off the presses. Looks like sustainable food education, production, and distribution in the DC metro area is about to get a little more interesting, come spring....

School food revolution

Poor-quality (not to mention downright repulsive) cafeteria food has long been the bane of schoolchildren, nutritionists, and educators around the country. In recent years, the issue has been getting attention from community activists, celebrity chefs, Slow Food, and the First Lady. And it turns out that last week was not only DC Farm to School Week, but also School Lunch Week. As such there have been all kinds of fun, food-related educational activities going on around the country. (See? It was more than just my group's apple tasting station at the DC Farm to School kickoff event. Those local WV apples do look tasty though, no? Go on and try one.)

School food is finally getting the attention it deserves -- I mean, cripes, how are kids supposed to learn when they're eating junk, or nothing at all?? Local policies like DC's Healthy Schools Act are allowing schools to put more money where their mouths are, allotting funds to get healthier food to more schoolchildren. While the additional money for food, training, and infrastructure going toward improving food quality and access in our public schools pales in comparison to, say, what we spend on our country's military or penal systems, it is something. We're talking a rise of 10 cents per child per meal in DC schools, with an additional 5 cents for locally-sourced ingredients. It may not sound like much, but considering the 2009 $2.68 per meal rate, those pennies can add up.

There also appears to be an unprecedented empowerment of schools and students to demand better food...and some of them are getting it. One of the success stories I recently learned about is the work being done right here in New Orleans. It involves some unlikely partners including a city-wide, student-driven activist group (known as "Rethinkers" in the most recent issue of Edible New Orleans) that has been issuing school food report cards and corporate catering giants like Sodexo (a group which I have long held in low esteem for their poor quality and unfair labor practices, but who seem to be turning over a new leaf -- which is good, even if the leaf turning is entirely profit-driven) changing their offerings accordingly. School food has long been contracted out to corporate catering giants like Sodexo, Chartwells, and Aramark. While I am inherently suspicious of the ability of such groups to produce anything resembling fresh or high-quality food, it turns out that technically these Food Service Providers (FSPs) are supposed to answer to their customers -- the school district, school boards, and even students. It is possible for a school district to demand something better, and groups like New Orleans' FirstLine Schools (which include Samuel Green Charter School, home to NOLA's Edible Schoolyard, which I visited last May) are demanding exactly that from their provider, Sodexo: three servings of fresh fruits and veggies each day, a salad bar, healthier versions of native cuisine. (And let me just say that to describe the native cuisine here in NOLA as "delicious" is a vast understatement.)

Want to know what's going on with school food in your area? For national programs, I'd recommend checking out the National Farm to School website (www.farmtoschool.org) and the First Lady's website (www.letsmove.gov).

For my fellow DCers, there are resources like the DC Farm to School site (http://dcfarmtoschool.org/healthy-schools-act/) and councilwoman Mary Cheh's website (www.marycheh.com). Incidentally, I spotted both Ms. Cheh and USDA deputy secretary Kathleen Merrigan -- both champions for improved school food -- at last Tuesday's DC Farm To School Week kickoff event. Neither stopped by my apple tasting station, though, so I didn't have a chance to gush about their work in person. Maybe I should drop them a postcard saying as much when I get to Italy tomorrow.

Apologies in advance for a week unplugged from the crackberry, but international data plans are, shall we say, astronomically expensive. Also, I'll be busy gorging myself on local wine and gelato.

More on the Community Food Security Coalition and Terra Madre conferences to come when I return from Italy.... Oops, sounds like they're boarding my flight. Ciao regazzi!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Farm to school week

You may have heard about Bike to Work Day... National Walk to School Day... International Talk Like a Pirate Day. (Yarrr!) I even recall during my time teaching at a public high school here in DC a couple of years ago a celebration of National Punctuation Day. I love themed days that raise awareness and get people thinking a little differently about their everyday choices (especially if the focus helps to improve the general public's understanding of how to use an apostrophe correctly). Tomorrow marks the beginning of DC Farm to School Week.

Yes, folks, school food reform is so important that it gets a whole week. Having witnessed the slop that passes for food in most public schools these days, I'm surprised nobody has issued a code red food quality alert. (I mean, we already have such a system for air quality and terrorism threats, and yet obesity-related diseases kill far more people each year. Then again, who can take these alerts seriously when we're always at code orange? Maybe I'm a touch grumpy about the transportation security measures that seem to get increasingly more ridiculous. I mean, have you been to the airport in Salt Lake City? Good lord.)

The overall poor quality of school food is a systemic problem, with cafeteria offerings just as abysmal in NYC as they are in DC. It's not just urban schools, either. I didn't have a chance to follow Jamie Oliver's attempts to fix things in rural West Virginia schools -- Ollie and I were somewhere in the Southwestern deserts dodging scorpions, I think -- but I heard it wasn't pretty (though things seemingly ended well). The problem seems to be universal, according to the documentary "Two Angry Moms." I know I've written about the need for better food in schools a few times now, but with initiatives like the first lady's "Chefs Move to Schools" -- love her! -- and the passing of the Healthy Schools Act, we Americans are, at long last, doing something about it.

Now, the outsourcing of school lunches is far from a new concept -- my own former school in Southeast DC trucked in loads of fried, frozen, and otherwise unrecognizable trays of gov't surplus slop to the stoveless cafeteria -- but the approach this time around is very different. With a funding stream designed to encourage more fresh fruits and vegetables and provide cafeteria food lower in sugars, salts, and fats, the Healthy Schools Act has the potential to help public school lunch programs come around an important corner. Revolution Foods and DC Central Kitchen, for example, have both won contracts to privately cater school food at a handful of locations around the District, sourcing some ingredients from local producers and emphasizing seasonality and lots of produce in their menus. These are pilot programs underway that, if successful, could revolutionize the way school food is sourced and prepared.

Want to learn more about improving school food in the District? Check out the goings on this week: http://dcfarmtoschool.org/week/. A number of DC schools will be preparing and serving farm-fresh foods. There will be student-led education booths, farm field trips, and chef demonstrations to help DC area families learn about their local foodshed and get excited about healthy food options. Me, I'll be slicing and handing out local apples at the kick-off event at Thurgood Marshall Academy tomorrow afternoon. (So long as I don't have to use my multi-tool for slicing, nobody should get hurt.)

Hooray for good food in schools!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry