(AP Photo/Eric Miller)

Thirty-two million kids — 10 percent of the American population, and the future of the country —  are about to start eating better. That’s the bottom line of the new Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) guidelines for government-subsidized school meals, announced last week. The  new rules are the first changes to the program in 15 years, and come as part of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.

The guidelines are imperfect (what isn’t?) but worth celebrating: this is the single most significant improvement the Obama administration has made in the realm of food. The rules will double the amount of fruits and vegetables served in schools, set limits on damaging trans fats and salt, increase the amount of whole grains served, make low-fat milk the norm and establish suitable ranges for daily caloric intake.

And, incredibly, the U.S.D.A. moves will cost less than half of the agency’s original proposal. Even more stunning is that it’s doing this by scaling back on meat — abandoning requirements that schools serve meat or “meat alternatives” at breakfast. That is perhaps most commendable; teaching kids that nutritious meals don’t necessarily center on “protein” is one of the most important steps we can take in creating a sane diet for generations to come.

Yes, the Obama administration has disappointed many of its enthusiastic supporters by reneging on campaign promises, a number of them food-related. But these particular changes deserve praise.

Click here to read the entire article at nytimes.com

Since we’re two weeks into the Utah legislative session, we thought it would be fun to pull out these two short explanations of the process – one in video form and one in chart form.  We hope either the Schoolhouse Rock video (a family favorite that was first aired in 1975) or the chart from Thomas Dye’s Understanding Public Policy will speak to you no matter your age.
 

The former speaker made that claim Jan. 16 in a Republican debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and his campaign organization quickly inserted the snippet in a new 30-second TV ad that began running Jan. 18 in South Carolina.

Gingrich would have been correct to say the number now on food aid is historically high. The number stood at 46,224,722 persons as of October, the most recent month on record. And it’s also true that the number has risen sharply since Obama took office.

But Gingrich goes too far to say Obama has put more on the rolls than other presidents. We asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition service for month-by-month figures going back to January 2001. And they show that under President George W. Bush the number of recipients rose by nearly 14.7 million. Nothing before comes close to that.

Click here to read the entire article at factcheck.org

Panelists will include:  Julie Rabb with Wasatch Community Gardens, Angela Romero with the Sorenson Unity Center‘s G-Fresh program, Ashley Edgette with the U’s Social Justice Gardens at Mt. View Elementary School, and Mike Evans with Utahns Against Hunger’s Real Food Rising.

Free soup until it runs out.

Tuesday February 21st    12:00-1:30 PM
University of Utah
School of Social Work – Goodwill Humanitarian Building
Community Meeting Room (155)
Map to Social Social (visitor parking highlighted in blue)

For more information about the Social Soup Lecture Series, click HERE.

By Joel Berg – Executive Director New York City Coalition Against Hunger

The Sesame Street special on hunger in America, “Growing Hope Against Hunger,” which started running on PBS last night, represents the best and worst of America’s response to hunger.

On the plus side, the show demonstrates the heartwarming American tradition of neighbors feeling troubled by other neighbors in need and wanting to take positive action to do something about it. Plus, any time that a high-prestige cultural fixture, like Sesame Street, highlights the issue of domestic hunger – which is all-too-often ignored by the mainstream media – it can be helpful to the anti-hunger cause. Bravo to Sesame Street for even tackling this tough issue.

Unfortunately, despite its obvious good intentions, the show encapsulates everything wrong about our culture’s current response to domestic hunger. It’s shallow, self-aggrandizing to food donors and volunteers, patronizing to victims, and unwittingly, promotes a right-wing political agenda that gives the false impression that charity, not government, must take the lead in solving a major social problem that impacts nearly 49 million Americans. Granted, this is a show aimed at young children, so I don’t expect it to be the PBS NewsHour, but I still think it does a disservice to even its younger viewers, who are often more aware of the harsh realities around them than we suppose.

Click here to read the entire article at dailykos.com

“America has lost its way in taking care of its own. The shocking fact is that one in six Americans doesn’t get enough to eat on a regular basis. Even more disturbing is the fact that this new face of hunger is largely invisible. There are no breadlines in the streets, but increasing numbers of soup kitchens and food banks are feeding people who—though employed full-time—can’t make ends meet…”

To read more about the movie, Click HERE

http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120066/finding_north

And Like It on Facebook   http://www.facebook.com/findingnorthmovie?sk=wall

Sundance 2012: ‘Finding North’ looks at hunger in America

“Given the realities of federal, state and local budgets, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is committed to leading the creative collaborations that will be needed to implement changes in school food programs,” said registered dietitian and Academy President Sylvia A. Escott-Stump.

“Children deserve our best efforts to provide them with good nutrition, and school nutrition directors across the country—many of whom are registered dietitians and Academy members—are already serving healthy, delicious meals to our children. The meal standards announced today will support their ongoing efforts and ensure continuous improvement in the meals they are served,” Escott-Stump said.

The new regulations were announced at an elementary school in the Fairfax County, Va., system, where Academy member and registered dietitian Penny E. McConnell is the award-winning director of food and nutrition services.

School nutrition is a top priority for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The Academy has three official positions on crucial aspects of children’s nutrition and health: Comprehensive School Nutrition Services, Benchmarks for Nutrition in Child Care and Local Support for Nutrition Integrity in Schools.

“More than 1,200 Academy members belong to our School Nutrition Services practice group,” Escott-Stump said. “These dedicated members are employed in child nutrition programs at the local, state and national levels; as researchers and educators; as corporate dietitians supplying products and services to school foodservice operations; as consultants in school nutrition and wellness; and in other fields where they help create healthier school environments.”

The Academy submitted comments on the proposed standards, which were taken into consideration by the USDA, and works closely with the USDA staff as a supportive partner in its efforts to help all Americans eat well. Furthermore, several Academy members who work at USDA were instrumental in authoring the guidelines.

“The Academy and our members will help lead the implementation of the changes to meal standards,” Escott-Stump said. “In fact, many of our members have already implemented them in their schools, introducing students to tasty meals and healthy food choices. They are on the forefront in addressing childhood obesity and food insecurity.”

Learn more about how registered dietitians and the Academy are helping kids eat right at school, and other ways to improve children’s nutrition.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetic Association) is the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. The Academy is committed to improving the nation’s health and advancing the profession of dietetics through research, education and advocacy. Visit the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics at www.eatright.org.

Photo: Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

“More jicama, please!”

Ginger, the fourth-grader in charge of serving that day, was clearly skeptical that jicama would be Araseli’s vegetable of choice.

The roll had gone flying and was now lying placidly under the table in the Provo school cafeteria. Carrots had spilled in every direction. Luckily the milk carton, unopened, remained intact. When Araseli Varela went back up to the lunch line to refill her little blue tray, she knew exactly what she wanted.  A single pale stick of Araseli’s favorite root vegetable was added to a gleaming pile of orange carrots.

“I tripped,” the girl with the pink bow explained.

It’s Ginger’s job to make sure every student has the option. She stands on her stool in a white pointed hat, behind the low silver counter and palms a chunk of pineapple, dewy and cold, and a few strawberries in one small gloved hand.

As each student slides to her station she plops the fruit on each tray. Then she peeks her auburn head beneath the overhang and asks, “Would you like some vegetables?”

Many of the students shake their heads and turn away. But the cafeteria workers at Amelia Earhart Elementary, and all over Provo School District, are adamant that some kind of plant — fruit or vegetable (preferably fresh) — will arrive squarely on the tray of every student receiving lunch. Every day.

Provo’s lunch ladies are riding the wave of a nationwide trend. New regulations for school lunches, which are funded by the federal government, were proposed by the United States Department of Agriculture last month and will be officially announced in January. The new rules are based on recommendations from the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine, and may take effect as early as July.

But not only are lunches themselves changing; who eats them is also in flux. A lot more students — in Provo, in Utah, and all over the country — are going to be affected by the new regulations than ever before. In an age of recession, when parents are losing jobs and homes, millions more children qualify for the free and reduced-price lunches the government provides when the families cannot.

The question remains, how will child nutrition programs grapple with these two transformations in tandem? How will the lunch ladies of 2012 feed more kids, and how will they feed them better?

Click here to read the rest of the article at deseretnews.com

The film examines the impact of food insecurity that affects more than 49 million Americans everyday through three profiles: Rosie, a fifth-grader from Colorado who struggles with hunger, Tremonica, a second-grader from Mississippi who has health issues exacerbated by a poor and insufficient diet, and Barbie Izquierdo of Witnesses to Hunger, a single mother of two who is striving to ensure her children have a better life that is free of hunger. The film also features the Witnesses to Hunger project and Dr. Mariana Chilton, Director of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities, who provides insight on the issue of hunger in America and strategies to end it through advocacy and policy change.

To read more about the film, please see Julie Makinen’s article in the Los Angeles Times movie blog:

Sundance 2012: ‘Finding North’ looks at hunger in America 

On Tuesday, Jan. 24, she will give a talk on “Food Security and Climate Change: A Comparison of EU and US Policy Debates.” This will be held at 10:45 am in the Hinckley Caucus Room (Room 255 Orson Spencer Hall) at the University of Utah. For a map of the location on campus, CLICK HERE.

The event is free and open to the public.