In spite of the relative bubble of wealth, education and privilege that insulates our little town of Davis, my son's preschool served Otterpops instead of afternoon snack last week. Yesterday, one of his teachers told my husband she believes raw cashews are poisonous (their shells are, but they don't make the raw nut toxic). I'm starting to get a little disheartened.
If you read no other blogpost for the rest of the year, please look at this brilliant one from KristenM at FoodRenegade.com.
*weak smile* Really missing my Prozac this week, folks! xox
ReplyDeleteOops! My D-i-L would have to enlighten some people...didn't see you in the River before - nice to read your posts.
ReplyDeleteO M G, lis. I looked at the otter pops. wow. I really think we should get together for a drink (I'll get a frickin half glass of wine) and talk about nothing but preschool food. We just decided on a preschool (Rainbow Daycar) here in Sac for Nico... I'm actually really excited about it, but the food is the one thing I have reservations about. Can we get some kind of a grant to develop a "curriculum" for schools & preschools that addresses this stuff? The funny thing with Nico's new school is that they think they're doing a really great job -- they pride themselves on the food... how it follows various guidelines like 1 veg, 1 whole grain, limited sweets, no more than one juice/ day, no red meat (only fish & chicken)... but I think they're clueless about additives/ preservatives/ artificial flavors & colors, humanely raised meats, etc. I think fish sticks & something like chicken nuggets were on the rotation... probably a la Costco. When I asked about organic milk, the poor woman seemed unable to distinguish that from "2%" !!!!! (Luckily, Nico only has to survive 2 of their lunches /week -- I'm pretty sure brown bag alternatives are not okay in the spirit of maintaining order... however, in "defense" of my temporarily accepting this, those examples were the worst offenders, I think.) Anyway, I would love to rant/brainstorm on this sometime.
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ReplyDeleteAndrea, we must rant and w(h)ine soon. I was just thinking we're overdue! Regarding the confusion surrounding the word organic... A friend, who also sends her child to our preschool, recently overheard this explanation from a teacher who was opening up a new (non-homogenized) jar of peanut butter. "Oh" she said with a sigh, when the kids asked why she had to stir it. "Because it's organic."
ReplyDeleteThe demonization of healthy food, not to mention food that is actually *tastier* (as is the case with almost anything organic), is very lucrative for industrial food corporations and their lobbyists. I am fascinated, lately, by just how entrenched the notion that "organic food costs more" has become. It's complete brainwashing. Organic food doesn't cost more--when you break it down, it could actually save us a bundle in healthcare. But. The power of branding and a good pitch... Honestly, it's as if people have forgotten what major corporations do best: they convince you that you need things you don't. Marketing teams are very, very clever, and reach far beyond slogans like "our product smells better!" They've been spinning this organic-is-pricey and healthy-food-costs-more mythology like straw into gold. And people are actually buying it--and buying "cheap" (processed) food, instead of real food, out of resignation.
Aaaaand let's not forget that even if organic food does "cost more" on the front end, it's partly because the Farm Bill, in its infinite wisdom, is heavily subsidizing the production of conventionally grown/corporate food.(Where's Suzanne when we need her to chime in on the ranting and whining?!?)
ReplyDeleteAlso: The peanut butter story kinda makes me want to cry. On top of the demonization of healthy food, there's a somewhat disturbing lack of critical thinking skills going on in that story.
(Also: A & L, I'm hereby inviting myself along for the ranting and w(h)ining--loop me in!)
REally need the rant/whine... even more now... I'm still sticking by our decision to go to this Rainbow daycare, but when we went today for a 90 minute transition visit, I saw that the "juice" they limit to 1x/day was actally something the color of an orange traffic cone in a plastic pitcher... AAAAAH! help!
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