Lunch lady with a mission: getting kids to eat healthy

Many say that involving children in the process of growing and cooking their meals – and learning about food in the classroom – is essential to Cooper's goal of changing their relationship to food. But first one must enlist the support of adults.

Eric Weaver knows all about the significance of social marketing for this cause. Mr. Weaver was part of the original group of Berkeley parents who said "enough" to greasy pizza and canned peaches. About 10 years ago, when he and his colleagues on the Child Nutrition Advisory Committee first proposed their ideas about changing the school menu, they were told, especially by the food service director at the time, that "kids won't eat unless you give them [the garbage] they are used to."

In response, his committee cooked pots of soup, made fresh salad, and bought bread from the best bakery in town and then served the meal to kids – who devoured it with gusto. The school board was convinced. Soon after, a supportive new superintendent came on board, and Alice Waters brought in chef Ann Cooper as the new food service director.

"Ann is a virtuoso chef and had never been a food service director," says Weaver. "So she threw out the whole standard operating procedure and started all over again. She is the essential element to making this happen."

Other school districts can take a page out of "Lunch Lessons," in which Cooper and her coauthor, Lisa Holmes, explain the basics of childhood nutrition and suggest recipes for breakfast, brown-bag lunches, and snacks. They also offer guidance to parents and school workers seeking to bring about program changes.

Most significant, they write, is bringing about change on the national level. Ever since Reagan's presidency, the USDA-approved National School Lunch Program, which was signed into law by President Truman in 1946, has been underfunded, they say. Public school lunches are today subsidized at a rate of $2.42 per child, which includes payroll and benefits (about 60 percent at most schools). In the end, about $1 is spent on school lunches per child. It's no wonder, Cooper says, that school districts buy meals as cheaply as possible, which typically means processed, fast-food choices sold by corporate giants backed by the USDA.

Cooper would like nothing more than to see childhood nutrition and school-lunch subsidies become hot topics on the 2008 presidential trail. Subsidies need to increase by at least $1 per child per day, she says. Currently federal spending on school lunch programs is about $7 billion per year. The Chez Panisse Foundation, which is also paying her salary through a grant, gives Cooper $3.50 per child for each of the fresh meals she serves in Berkeley.

"Sure," says Cooper, "quality food is going to be more costly, but what is the true cost to our environment and our kids' health?"

1 pound orzo pasta
5 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
5 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
6 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Add orzo to generous pot of boiling water and cook until tender. Drain, and put in a large mixing bowl. Add oregano and mint, and toss to combine.

In a small bowl, combine oil and lemon juice and add to orzo mixture, blending well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (Optional: Add pitted olives, feta cheese, or fresh tomatoes.)

Serves 8.

1 teaspoon peeled, grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup leek (1/2 leek), in 1/4-inch slices
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 quart vegetable stock
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2-1/2 cups carrots (3 to 4 large), diced
1 cup celery (1 to 2 stalks), diced
1 tablespoon orange juice

In a large saucepan, sauté ginger and leeks in canola oil until tender. Add stock, soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for 10 minutes.

Add carrots and celery and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and purée with a hand blender or in a standard blender.

Add the orange juice, check seasoning, and serve.

Serves 8.

– Recipes from 'Lunch Lessons' by Ann Cooper and Lisa Holmes

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