Chicago School Bans Homemade Lunches

An interesting article is making the rounds about an elementary school in Chicago that has banned homemade lunches requiring all students to eat cafeteria food, unless allergies or other special conditions apply. The ban started six years ago (I am not sure why this is making the news now) when the principal watched students bringing "bottles of soda and flaming hot chips" as part of their lunches during school field trips.

The school is in a lower income area of the city and historically low income areas have a very high obesity rate due to the cheap cost of highly processed sugary foods. In a related article writer Lize Goodwin of "The Lookout" wrote:

"Change in Chicago's school cafeterias feeds into a larger effort to combat the country's childhood obesity epidemic. About a third of America's kids are overweight or obese, and since children consume at least 30 percent of their calories while in school, making lunches healthier is seen as one way to counter that problem. Poorer kids are also more likely to be obese or overweight than middle class kids, and to consume a bigger proportion of their calories while at school. Forty-four percent of American kids living below the poverty line are obese or overweight, according to a 2010 study published in Health Affairs."

While I haven't been able to locate the schools menu a parent comment in the article indicates that the food this school provides is much healthier than what has been traditionally offered or brought from home. If it is anything like to food offered in our local schools I would not be a happy parent either, but I withhold my judgment as I haven't seen what they are actually serving these students.

This isn't the only school making changes. Nationwide many schools are making big nutritional modifications for the better by banning foods high in fat or sugar, removing flavored milks and soda vending machines. One example is a small school located on the south side (that would be a lower income area) of Chicago called the Academy for Global Citizenship. This school offers its students organic foods that are prepared on site (which is reimbursable under the National School Lunch Program), has planted a school garden and has chicken coop with three laying chickens. (read more about a sample lunch (with pictures) and the writers experience on her blog "Fed Up With Lunches")


If you want to be really inspired by school lunches take a look at this video that shows France's school cuisine (I'll take it! . . . minus the snails). Doesn't it open your eyes to the possibility of gourmet school lunches as well as how it teaches life long healthy eating habits to the students?

Though many of the comments about the Chicago school homemade lunch food ban are hostile and outraged I'll hold my formal opinion until actual details are known about what is really being served in that particular school. Of course if it is similar to what is being offered at the Academy for Global Citizenship I'll be asking if I can eat there too!