Dear Katie Couric: Let’s Do School Lunch

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Dear Katie Couric,

My friends and I would like to invite you to lunch in some very trendy, very healthy – but clearly undiscovered – dining rooms around the country. We heard your recent Good Morning America comments that “50% of school districts serve junk food for lunch, fast food for lunch. Kids are getting terrible choices.” We are delighted to tell you that nothing could be farther from the truth.

The real news about school lunch is that 30+ million students enjoy amazing choices every day. Thanks to the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, dedicated school nutrition professionals and thousands of health, nutrition and community partners, kids now have access to a truly amazing variety of:

  • Fresh fruits and vegetables, sometimes organic, often local or even ‘hyper-local’ – straight from school garden
  • Whole grains, including quinoa, brown rice and other gluten-free options, as well as freshly baked whole wheat rolls and whole grain pizza crusts
  • Lean proteins like hummus, black bean salad and grilled tofu, boat-to-school salmon in Alaska and Montana beef for Montana schools
  • Delicious dairy products, such as Greek yogurt parfaits, berry smoothies and artisan cheeses, in addition to low-fat/fat-free milk at every meal

But, please don’t take our word for it. Come see the amazing variety and taste the deliciousness that is school lunch in America today. We’re so sorry that the Fed Up researchers did not dig deeper into the revolution in schools meals (breakfast, lunch, snacks and suppers) growing in thousands of districts.

School Nutrition Professionals make daily salads. El Monte City Schools, California (May 2014)

El Monte City Schools, California: School nutrition professionals make daily salads (May 2014)

Here are a few tasty tidbits showing how well fed our children are in schools today:

  • USDA Farm to School Census: In USDA’s most recent survey (SY 2011-12) schools invested $354,599,266 in local economies by purchasing local foods.
  • National Farm to School Network: More than 1,000 local food champions recently met in Austin to celebrate and ‘power up’ for expanding programs.
  • USDA HealthierUS School Challenge: 6,730 schools in 49 states and DC have met rigorous nutrition and physical activity criteria for these awards.
  • Food Corps: This nationwide team of 140 passionate service members and fellows in 108 sites connects kids to real food to help them grow up healthy.
  • Chefs Move to Schools: Hundreds of chefs now work in school programs, as directors, leaders and regular volunteers to train staff and energize kids.
  • Salad Bars Move to Schools: 1.7+ million students are eating up produce packed into 3,400+ new salad bars donated to schools from coast to coast.
  • CIA Healthy Kids: The nation’s top chefs offer culinary resources to schools so they can continue serving tasty, appealing, nutritious food to children.
  • Vermont FEED: This is one example of regional efforts with a nationwide reach to provide nutrition education and culinary training to schools.
Portland Public Schools (OR): Local grilled Asparagus on Whole Wheat Pizza Crust (May 2014)

Portland Public Schools (OR): Local grilled Asparagus on Whole Wheat Pizza Crust (May 2014)

Many of us have admired your work for years – and now we would like to share ours with you! Lunch is on us – we just want you to see, and more importantly taste, the amazing changes being served up in America’s school kitchens and dining areas.

You name the date and location – and we will be there to show you how hard School Nutrition Association members work to ensure that children are well nourished and ready to learn!

Sincerely,

Dayle Hayes, MS, RD

President
Nutrition for the Future, Inc.
Billings, MT 59102

MOBILE:    406-698-8868  
EMAIL: EatWellatSchool@gmail.com
FACEBOOK: School Meals That Rock                                                                TWITTER: @SchoolMealsRock                                                                                  

 

 

25 thoughts on “Dear Katie Couric: Let’s Do School Lunch”

  2. Thanks, they need to show all the great food being served everywhere.

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  6. Bravo Dayle! I’m up in Canada, but I often reference your amazing foodservice success stories in my work. There’s no doubt that the public needs to be aware of the problems with processed food. However, there are many of us out there tackling the problem on the other end – by engaging kids with fresh, vibrant, real food! We need to raise a generation of kids that accept, appreciate and eventually demand real food over processed!

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  7. I’d love to invite Ms. Couric to Oyster River Schools to show her how fine we dine! Thanks for telling it like it is Dayle, as always, we can count on your support!

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  10. Excellent commentary Dale. Kudos to you for speaking up about the incredible lack of facts depicted in the biased and sensationalized movie, Fed Up. I thought Couric was a better journalist!

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  11. Pingback: Dayle Hayes of School Meals That Rock on Photography, Social Media, and Katie Couric

  12. Pingback: May 2014 In the News: Summer Meals, Mobile Delivery, Invite Katie Couric to School Lunch, and More!

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