Professional Chefs Take Aim at School Lunch Program

The First Lady’s campaign to fight childhood obesity moved into a different arena on Friday, as she spoke to 500 white-jacketed chefs at the White House. Her purpose was to enlist, cajole, and encourage the country’s chefs into taking their culinary talents into America’s schools.

It can be quite a challenge to tackle school nutrition programs, given budget constraints and federally mandated nutritional requirements, especially for high-end chefs, but it is one that these professionals seem ready to handle. Currently over 900 chefs have signed up for the “Chefs Move to Schools” program and Michelle Obama is hoping to triple that number over the coming year.

Bringing healthy, nutritious food into schools can be done. Alice Waters has proved that with her Edible Schoolyard, a project she tackled over a decade ago, along with a willing principal and an engaged staff. They transformed an asphalt jungle into a one-acre farm. A farm that grows fruit, vegetables, grains, flowers…that recycles and composts as well. Most importantly, it feeds the children—their minds, their souls, and their stomachs to boot!

Jamie Oliver has also been active in this arena, both across the pond and here in the U.S. His recent television show,  “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” allowed us to glimpse into school cafeterias in Huntington, West Virginia, recently named the Unhealthiest City in America. And it was an eye opener for all who watched. The show underscored the real need to reform school lunches and educate children about food.

The way the new program will work is for chefs to adopt a school in their area and bring their expertise in, whether it be to plant a garden, educating children, their parents and staff, or collaborating on better menus for the cafeteria.

It’s going to take all of us–parents and teachers, community leaders, food manufacturers, all of us doing our part to give our children the healthy future they deserve.

It’s long overdue and will go a long way in helping fight child obesity, not only for this generation, but for those to come.

Staff – Everythingantiaging.com