Running head: WHAT ARE YOU HAVING FOR LUNCH?
What Are You Having for Lunch? Kelly Snider University of Kentucky
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WHAT ARE YOU HAVING FOR LUNCH? What Are You Having for Lunch? The following proposal addresses the issue currently plaguing the United States, obesity. The paper begins by discussing the rising rates of obesity in adults in the past few years and then examines how school cafeterias are partly to blame for unhealthy decisionmaking because they allow kids to eat processed and fried foods. The paper then goes on to suggest a pilot program at Mason High School, where local vendors would come during the lunch period and sell produce and specialty meals as if it were a farmers market. The paper divides at several points to best explain the implementation of a trial program beginning with recruitment and ending with the actual trial. Furthermore, the paper discusses the implications of starting a vendor-exchange program and what the future would hold (in the context of health-related stances) regardless of the success of the pilot program.
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WHAT ARE YOU HAVING FOR LUNCH?
What are you having for lunch? Jenny, a high school student, enters the cafeteria and sees a line forming for the daily special, her personal favorite meal for lunch, pancakes and tater tots. She grabs a spot in the line and then waves at her best friend Kelsey, who is picking between chips or cookies as a side for her lunch of pizza and fries. Next to Kelsey is John, whose tray is loaded with chicken tenders, two ice cream bars, and some macaroni and cheese. Everyday, Jenny, Kelsey, and John's money, the money their parents entrusted with them to spend on a healthy lunch, is being wasted on meals like these.
Current Issue Raising children to eat healthily goes beyond just telling them to finish their broccoli if they want dessert. Kids eventually reach the age where they get to make their own food choices--the earliest example of this being the school cafeteria. In order to empower these children to choose wisely, the food options provided should be nutritious. Instead, kids choose from an onslaught of processed and sugar-laced meals. According to a study from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, "94 percent of school lunches failed to meet the U.S. Agriculture Departments' regulatory standards" (Christensen, 2010, para. 6). Entrusting schools to provide nutrition to their children, parents assume their children are choosing from healthy options. But how can kids eat with fruit and vegetables in mind when fried paradise is on the menu? Obesity is the issue, but obesity escalates in children due in part to malnourishment. Yet schools have the opportunity to help reduce their role in this problem as a study from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation showed that schools that restrict the sale of junk food have lower obesity levels (Tanner, 2012). Schools, therefore, shouldn't be enablers of unhealthy habits as they willingly serve substandard food; instead, they should offer meals that delight the taste buds while retaining nutritional value. Starting children on the right path early is more necessary now than ever. Obesity rates have spiked significantly in just years. The current estimate for how many United States adults are obese stands at 35.7% (CDC, 2013). As shown in Figure 1, many states have more than 30% of citizens who identify as obese. With the scale
Figure 1: Obesity rates in the U.S.
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WHAT ARE YOU HAVING FOR LUNCH? tipping so heavily in obesity's favor and so much weighing on health care providers to help eradicate this problem, schools should be the instrument that reduces, or at least delays, the beginning of obesity in adults. Changing the Way Students Choose In order to make genuine strides towards promoting healthy food, schools need to establish that they are committed to promoting these choices. When schools don't offer fresh food, students are left to pick from what is given. Kids ultimately make their own decisions regarding nutrition, but if schools advocate for nutrition and provide the opportunities to follow a recommend diet, they no longer bear the burden of obesity. Instead of relying on pre-packaged cafeteria food alone to provide sustenance for students, schools should begin to shift the focus to organic produce alongside specialty meals created by locals. With so much focus on domestic jobs, allowing local farmers and vendors to supply food to students would be a boost to the economic slump. Furthermore, these vendors would grant access to freshness in food that a school can't feasibly provide on its own. Symbiotically, school and vendors would profit from each other—schools would support efforts to promote healthy eating while vendors would have the opportunity to sell their signature dishes. In order to ensure that the cafeteria doesn't lose money, a cut of the profit from the vendors would go to the school in exchange for selling on school property. Pilot Program: Mason High School Mason High School, located in Mason, Ohio, provides the perfect starting ground for a vendor-school partnership. Being the largest school in Ohio, with over 3,300 students, the chance of success for this program would be higher here than at a smaller school due to the quantity, and therefore variety, of students (Clark, 2013). The school, containing two cafeterias and a snack shop, has three different lunch periods, demonstrating the sheer volume of students who rely on the cafeteria for lunch. Furthermore, given that this would begin at the high school, it can be expected that students will have a better grasp on nutrition, which then allows them to better understand the impact of their personal habits. Implementation: Recruitment The first step in creating a cafeteria-vendor exchange program would begin with recruitment. To create a successful program, the school would need to choose vendors who not only make quality produce and meals, but also are punctual considering that lunch is a set time each day. The vendors would need to be prepared to deal with a rush of kids at three different times, so adaptability is also key. Furthermore, finances should be dealt with carefully as neither the school nor the sellers would want to run into any problems filing taxes. Finally, as it is the school's responsibility to provide adequate nutrition for students, any outsider
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WHAT ARE YOU HAVING FOR LUNCH? selling does provide a liability risk, but if the vendors can prove quality assurance, schools should be able to enter into an agreement with minimal risk. As it turns out, the community of Mason already has a farmers market on Saturday mornings. These markets would be the perfect place to advertise for potential vendors. Since a school cafeteria is a different setting from a local marketplace, the school board should host a meeting where local vendors have the opportunity to showcase why they specifically are fit to sell food to the high school students. After hearing all the appeals, the school board can then choose the most apt candidates and enter into a financial agreement with them, deciding on an individual case basis what share of profits the vendor and school receives. The vendors then would attend a meeting where they would be trained in selling to the students, ensuring appropriateness on-sight. Implementation: Awareness Before having the vendors come to the school, parents and students would need to be informed of the new program. Since some parents may be concerned about an outside source providing lunches to their children, they would be the first to receive notice about this idea. Sending out a newsletter would open the floor for discussion and any questions prior to the actual event. The newsletter would also provide the opportunity to reassure parents of the school's continuous commitment to giving students the best nutrition possible. By explaining the recruitment process and training of the vendors, schools could ease any apprehension parents may display. Next, students would need to be informed as to the change being made within lunch. Since the school needs cafeteria profits and many students will probably want to stick with the normal lunches (at least at the start of the program), students will receive the option to choose either the typical lunch or the vendors' lunch on the day of the program. Students will need to understand this in order to appease any fears about taking away their usual options. Creating awareness for the program will also help draw students into buying their lunch with the vendors. Implementation: First Trial The day of the program will begin by having the program announced over the intercom that morning, so that students remember their options later. During the lunch period, signs will direct students who hope to purchase food from the vendors to booths, which will be set up outside in the courtyard (see Figure 2). This spot is practical because it has enough room for multiple stands, yet is boxed off by
Figure 2: Mason High School courtyard
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WHAT ARE YOU HAVING FOR LUNCH? the school, so students won't be able to sneak off the premises. Each stand will have a money-registering device like the ones in the cafeterias where students can put in their ID number and pay for lunch via their meal account. Ideally, three to five vendors will be present because this offers students selection without overwhelming them with options. Furthermore, because this program is only in the trial phase, having a limited number of vendors will ensure less commitment if the program fails. Students then will have the option during lunch to eat from any of the regular cafeterias or to go into the courtyard to sample vendor food or come away with one of the specialties the vendors created, such as a vegetable pasta cooked only this morning, grilled chicken salad made with fresh greens, or whole grain bread cooked hours earlier. After students make their selections, they can go back in the cafeteria to eat as they normally would. After the Trial When all three lunches are finished, the booths will pack up and head home. As agreed earlier, the profits will split between school and vendors according to the percentage cut for each side. Hopefully, the vendors will make a worthwhile profit given the time it takes to prepare. Likewise, the schools will ideally also profit rather than lose money from their cafeterias. Once the profits are compared, the school and vendors will have to choose whether to continue the program. For obvious reasons, the exchange will be cancelled if it doesn't prove lucrative, but with such a big school, the event should be able to turn a profit. Conclusion Regardless of the further implementation of the program, Mason High School, by starting this program as a pilot, takes a stand on the obesity crisis. Finding opportunities to intervene early, such as classes on nutrition or local food stands, helps at least question the decisions of kids as they become increasingly more responsible. When "the No. 1 meal served to children in U.S. schools is chicken fingers and fries", schools have a responsibility to Figure 3: Interaction over food halt further unhealthy decision-making (Christensen, 2010, para. 5). Schools clearly can't control what kids choose to eat or what portion size; rather, schools give the selection. If the options they provide aren't that healthy, why should we blame students for choosing to indulge in them daily? Shouldn't some of the responsibility rest on the adults and leaders who decided what was on the menu?
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WHAT ARE YOU HAVING FOR LUNCH? All in all, making changes in order to promote healthy-living is what the vendorschool exchange program is about. Allowing kids to eat more than just processed food at lunch, vendors offer students an opportunity to learn new foods and try new dishes. Students would have the opportunity to speak directly to the producers of their food (as Figure 3 shows), something cafeterias lack. This conversation allows for students to better understand the starting place of their food while also learning about its associated health benefits. By expanding the food groups to contain more than just starch and sugar, students receive knowledge about the options beyond the cafeteria and can then more confidently approach food at the store, rather than heading straight for the frozen pizza aisle.
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WHAT ARE YOU HAVING FOR LUNCH? References Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System [BRFSS]. (2012). Prevalence of selfreported obesity among U.S. adults [diagram], Retrieved November 26, 2013 from: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]. (2013, August 16). Overweight and obesity. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html Christensen, J. (2010, September 29). Schools struggle to feed kids healthy food. CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/09/29/school.food.investigation/ Clark, M. (2013, March 11). Mason High's strategy - big is best. Cincinnati.com. Retrieved from http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130311/NEWS10/303110035/ Tanner, L. (2012, February 6). Junk foods widely available at elementary schools, study shows. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/06/junk-foods-widelyavailab_0_n_1258200.html VSWC Architects. (n.d.). [Photograph of Mason High School courtyard]. Retrieved November 26, 2013 from: http://www.vswc.com/masonhs Wright, T. (n.d.). [Photograph of conversation between vendor and buyer]. Retrieved from: http://news.ifas.ufl.edu/2012/09/farmers-market-phonies-raise-ire-of-somecustomers-but-not-all-uf-researchers-say/
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