Jamie Oliver’s "Food Revolution" has been a real eye-opener for me on the depth and breadth of the nutrition problem in our school cafeterias. If you haven’t seen it, take a look.
While changing school lunches and education campaigns are a big part of the puzzle, I think caregiver involvement at some level is a necessary part of the potential solution as well... both in terms of the pressure they can put on the schools to change as well as assuring the children are eating nutritiously in the home. Oliver’s approach tackles all aspects of the problem simultaneously: Educate caregivers and school officials about the problem, change what children are eating in the schools, and teach them about how to prepare and eat a more healthy diet so they can help to influence their caregivers' decisions in the home.
We need a Jamie Oliver in every district!
-- MJ Bishop
Associate professor of teaching, learning and technology