Revolution

 After reading the book Fast Food Nation  I was pretty disgusted with the food industry of America. The way so many of our foods, mainly fast food, is prepared is enough to make anyone sick. And that's not including how the workers are treated... it's absolutely ridiculous.

Anyway, enough of that. The real reason for that post is really a wake up call about school lunches in the public school system. UN- BELIEVABLE!!!  Jon and I've been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution if you haven't seen it, you really should. Seriously, stop reading this blog and go see what it's all about.

 Basically what he's trying to do is change school lunches on city at a time. After watching the first few episodes you can't help but feel semi- repulsed and saddened at the same time.  The way this community eats and the horrid school lunches just make you realize how down hill our society has gone when it comes to what we put into our bodies. I think the worst part was realizing how little the parents did with their children. Students couldn't even label the most BASIC vegetables, where are you parents? Another appalling scene was when the lunch lady got upset that Jamie hadn't provided enough veggies in the lunch (his pasta had over 7 types) and yet the french fries were counted as a vegetable? Really? This deep fried potato is honestly considered a vegetable? What has happened!?

Another eye opener has been the blog Fed up with School Lunch: The school Lunch project this teacher has been eating school lunches since January and plans to eat them for all of 2010. She posts a picture everyday, and it's disturbing. Did I seriously eat this when I was a student? I had cold lunches a lot, but I also ate hot school lunch too. In one of her posts she describes that one of those school lunch pizzas has 62 INGREDIENTS! 62! are you kidding me!?  I think when we make homemade pizza I have a total of MAYBE 12 ingredients, that's including everything in the homemade crust, spices, and all the veggies. I mean really it's insane. Where in the world can those 62 ingredients be hiding!? I hate to think about a lot of the other things that are being put into those lunches as well. 

I know I complain about the Korean school lunch but honestly it's much better than anything (nutrition wise) in the States. They are getting numerous vegetables (albeit slathered in red pepper paste) , soup, rice (even if it's white), and usually a fresh fruit. ALL of the ingredients are fresh and you can taste that it's been freshly prepared that day.

I truly think the only way that school lunches are going to change is if parents, students, teachers, and community members make a commitment to changing the system. I think we need to be writing letters to politicians, letting our schools know that it's not ok to putting all sorts of crap into our children. Because honestly at the rate our country is going, our kids will be living the unhealthiest lives. Already this new generation has a LOWER life expectancy than the one before. I don't know about you, but I don't believe that is looking out for our children or their future.

Alright, I'll now get off of my soapbox and let it all sink in. And really, like any revolution this will take work, change, and being open-minded. It won't be easy, but it'll definitely be worth it in the long run.