Nuggets of Wisdom: Better School Lunch Means a Healthier World

A month before a tanker spewed thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, TV viewers watched chef Jamie Oliver empty a dump truck full of saturated fat onto the grounds of a Huntington, West Virginia school.

“This is the fat consumed by the entire school for one year,” Oliver told a crowd of elementary school kids and their parents during episode two of the ABC series Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.

“Are you parents fine with this?” he asked. They shook their heads, and later expressed their frustration with the school that feeds such slop to their children.

Along with those Huntington parents, a TV audience of 7.5 million–a group second in size only to that which tuned into CBS’ NCAA coverage, according to The Hollywood Reporter – ravenously took it all in. These viewers learned that students from all kinds of families, but especially low-income ones, had to put up with nutritionally deficient food while they were trying to learn. More than 30 million children participated in the National School Lunch Program in 2008. Close to 20 million students received free or reduced price lunches at the end of last school year, relying on the program for affordable, nutritious meals. To concerned parents, health advocates, and food activists, the fat dump was revelatory. They blogged and op-eded with vehemence to bring healthier food into public schools. They ignited PTA meetings and kept Congress members’ phones ringing off the hook. Nearly 600,000 signed a petition to keep Jamie Oliver’s show going for another season.

A few weeks later, an explosion in a West Virginia coalmine no doubt made some question their devotion to school lunch reform. The incident ripped American eyes from Huntington, and turned their attention to energy consumption and labor practices. When representatives of 46 nations gathered in Washington for the Nuclear Security Summit a week later, the school lunch crowd again questioned its focus when President Obama called such weapons in terrorists’ hands “the single biggest threat to U.S. security, both short-term, medium-term, and long-term.” Suddenly, saturated fat didn’t seem so menacing.

Even so, parents and teachers keep blogging, pooling their strength, writing in influential publications, and even going so far as to eat the food themselves to make a point. Lunch trays in Huntington fueled the food ire nationwide. When the matter of a “soda tax” came up in my own city of Washington, D.C., residents jumped on it. They have been vocal, both about sugary drinks’ effects on children’s health and a Healthy Schools Act that such a tax would fund. (Their devotion paid off when a similar proposal passed).

Such times spur angst in progressive Jewish minds. Why, given the threat of nuclear imollation, a collapsing economy, and reliance on dangerous and unsustainable fuel, do we latch onto school lunch? Are we really disgusted or just entertained? When it comes to the Jewish obligation to pursue justice and righteousness, should we look to issues beyond that little piece of real estate set before kids each day in the cafeteria?

Rest assured, changing school lunches for the healthier is a very American cause– and more over a very Jewish one–to champion.

Here’s proof: Leviticus 19:14 admonishes “You shall not insult the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind.” Rabbis frequently take these examples to represent any person with a weakness, and show that we must not exploit that soft spot. Children are some of the most vulnerable members of our community, so we should see to it that no one slips them high-fat, nutrient-deficient comestibles. In chapter four of the Mishnah, Elisha ben Abuyah compares children to crisp, clean sheets of paper on which the ink of new lessons can be plainly written. (Later on in life, we’re less impressionable.) So one can consider it as a mitzvah to teach healthy eating habits to young diners.

Poor quality school lunches could become a matter of national security as well. In a report issued in April, a group of retired military leaders exposed the fact that 75 percent of the United States’ 17- to 24-year-olds cannot serve in the military, mostly due to obesity. A rational look at this tells us better food means more than temporary or superficial results.

Yet there is something beyond these rational arguments that should keep the nation paying attention to school lunch: passion. If dumping a truckload of lard can get parents to ask what is going into their children’s meals, dump away. If outrage over fast food can catch the attention of The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Grist, keep writing.

Why? Because when a problem ignites an inner flame, effective action takes place.

A food-based stunt may not transform our energy habits or ensure safe workplaces, but it will draw attention to a nation-wide disservice to the young and the poor. Such concern, from an American and Jewish perspective, will inspire activists to get up in the morning and find out what schools are serving their kids for breakfast. That small act can bring agitation for better school food. Better school food will lead to healthier kids and a more secure world. And that is worth pursuing.

Photo by Ed Bruske of Better D.C. School Food. Special thanks to Rabbi Ethan Seidel, of Tifereth Israel, for his help with this post.

Rhea Yablon Kennedy lives in Washington, D.C. Rhea has worked as a community organizer, a personal chef utilizing sustainable ingredients, and a writer. Her articles, essays, and recipes on food and sustainability have appeared in Examiner.com, Washington Jewish Week, The Jew and the Carrot, and DC Food for All–in addition to PursueAction.org.

Tagged as: food justice