War On Chicken Nuggets In American Schools

War On Chicken Nuggets In American Schools

Celebrity chefs have joined forces with the First Lady, Michelle Obama, to tackle the state of the food in America's public schools.

Apparently they're worried about the food kids are being given for their lunches - such as chicken nuggets.

A team of chefs visited schools in the Washington DC area earlier this year and tried out some of the school lunches.

Their unanimous conclusion was that they were pretty horrible.

According to the Washington Post, the chefs said most of the food was over-processed and fatty.

One chef told the newspaper he discovered a burrito-type thing being served up for breakfast which had more than 100 ingredients. That can't be a good thing.

The Post reports that there were some salads on offer, but most of the kids chucked them away and ate pizza instead.

Chef Cathal Armstrong, from Restaurant Eve in Alexandria, Va, told the Post: "What we are feeding our children is an outrage. We should be marching with picket signs and pitchforks in revolution."

This week, a group of chefs have got together with Obama and are backing her "Let's Move" campaign.

They want to get together with other culinary experts and pair up with different schools across the country to teach children all about nutrition and how to eat a balanced meal.

They've called this new operation "Chefs Move to Schools".

Some of the First Family's favourite chefs, such as Aquavit's Marcus Samuelsson, who cooked the state dinner in honour of India last year, are involved with the campaign.

The Post reports that Armstrong has already set up a nonprofit catering service to create healthy, affordable meals for schools.

But apparently there are quite a few obstacles in the way - not least the fact that most schools don't even have kitchens.

Then there's the cost. The Post reports that the federal government currently spends about $2.68 per child per lunch.

Ann Cooper, the nutrition director of the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado, told the Post that chefs don't really know how to prepare school lunches, but they can play an important role in educating and inspiring children to eat good food.

"We've grown a generation of children who think chicken nugget is a food group," Cooper told the paper.

This campaign sounds familiar - it sounds very much like Jamie Oliver's campaign over here, which got a lot of media and government attention. But did it really work? What's your opinion of school lunches in this country?

Source: ParentDishUS

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