School lunches uniformly described by students in Rosemary Elliott’s Allied Health class at Swenson High School as “nasty” launched them into a project looking at nutrition and health. Globs of frozen cheese and uncooked French fries topped the list of complaints. Working with Earth Force Coordinator Evelyn Christian, the students examined the menu and set up a meeting with the school’s food service provider, Aramark.
At the meeting with an Aramark employee, student representatives proposed a salad bar and encountered the tastiness versus healthiness issue. Should salty fried potato chips replace the baked potato chips being offered? They explored the new food pyramid promoted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, setting forth suggested portions of grains, fruits, vegetables, milk, meat and beans tailored to age, gender, and lifestyle at mypyramid.gov, learned how the school district and government regulates school lunches and confronted the public health issue of obesity.
While they experienced some frustration getting the school lunch modified and conducting surveys of other students, they have a lot of food for thought now about the consequences of their food choices.