school food

What is Michelle Obama's Role in US Food Reform?
Kaitlin Haskins Feb 01, 2013 school food 2 comments
We at FarmPlate are thrilled to have a first lady in The White House who cares enough about public health to make food a priority. She has made great strides over the past four years to put more nutritious food in schools, promote growing your own and encourage kids to be active. Do you think she's doing enough? Any suggestions for her next four years in DC? Just how much leverage does Michelle Obama have? Feel free to leave notes in the comment section below. Take Part has some thoughts on the matter. Check out this excerpt from an article on their website:  Food reform—specifically reducing the ballooning childhood obesity rate—was a priority of the First Lady and the President from...
Industry Lobbies to Keep Pizza a Vegetable
Remy Franklin Nov 18, 2011 school food 0 comments
If you’re interested in seeing healthier food in school lunches, you probably watched eagerly as President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law last December, and the USDA followed by announcing upgraded nutrition standards for meals served through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program. After 15 years of stagnant school lunch policy, the Obama Administration’s efforts to promote healthy food seemed to finally be bringing about change. But if you followed the news this week, you’ve probably been seeing headlines like, “Congress says Pizza and French Fries Are Vegetables” or “At Schools, Making Pizza A Vegetable.” The articles all present pretty...
Senate Passes Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act
FarmPlate Aug 09, 2010 school food 0 comments
The Senate passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on Thursday, a bill that will provide $4.5 billion to make school food more nutritious. The New York Times reports the bill was passed unanimously by the Senate and will now move to the House of Representatives, where it is also expected to pass. The current school nutrition legislation will expire on September 30. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act will continue the existing nutrition programs in schools and add the first non-inflationary increase in funding since 1973. The funding will allow schools to update their menus with healthier choices and set higher health standards that include more fruits and vegetables and less salt and fat....
Goldman Prize Goes to Anti-CAFO Family Farmer
FarmPlate Apr 20, 2010 school food 0 comments
Lynn Henning, a 52-year-old family farmer from Clayton, Michigan, has been recognized as the North American winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work tracking the effects of factory farm pollution in rural Michigan. The Goldman Environmental Prize honors grassroots environmentalists and is annually awarded to six recipients, one from each inhabited continent. The prestigious award is often regarded as the Nobel Prize for environmental work. In the late 1990s, CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) started opening near the Henning Farm in rural Michigan. Twelve ended up within a ten-mile radius of her small farm, where Henning has lived and farmed with her husband and...
Healthy Food Awareness Continues to Hit Mainstream Media
FarmPlate Mar 30, 2010 school food 0 comments
Naked Chef Jamie Oliver's new prime-time reality show Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution premiered on ABC last week to high ratings. The show chronicles Oliver's attempt to revamp eating habits in Huntington, West Virginia, a community that is one of the most statistically unhealthy in the U.S. Oliver is a Food Network chef, healthy food advocate and TED prize winner. In the first two episodes, he tackles the Huntington cafeteria lunch menu, quizzes elementary students on their knowledge of vegetable basics and attempts to break one family of their reliance on deep-fried foods by introducing healthy recipes. [caption id="attachment_2962" align="alignleft" width="279" caption="Jamie Oliver,...
Allez Cuisine!
FarmPlate Mar 26, 2010 school food 0 comments
The culinary battle of the spring is almost here. Tomorrow morning, the Sizzling Falcons, Chefhawks, Nutritious Hippos and 54 more teams of middle school and high school junior chefs--all with knives honed and whisks at the ready--will head to the Champlain Valley Expo to compete in the 3rd Annual Jr. Iron Chef VT cook-off. [caption id="attachment_2937" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Harwood Union High School's team"][/caption] Hosted by the Burlington School Food Project and Vermont FEED, the competition challenges teams of middle and high school students to prepare a delicious main dish using at least five local, farm-fresh ingredients. And that's not all—recipes must also be...