Changing School Lunches

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To the Editor: Bettina Elias Siegel makes many excellent points in “The Real Problem With Lunch” (Op-Ed, Jan. 16). Schools and their cafeterias are fighting an uphill battle working with constrained budgets and trying to compete with junk food for students’ affections. She wisely points out that food service directors face the challenge of satisfying two demanding sets of customers at once: federal dietary guidelines intended to get children eating more healthfully, and the children themselves, whose palates have been trained to love pizza and soda. What she leaves out is the critical work that schools can do to change student attitudes and “sell” those healthier options to children. Farm-to-school programs that combine hands-on food education with cafeteria transformation have been shown to shift student demand toward whole grains and veggies. In schools where healthy food is celebrated and served, both sets of customers end up happy. Schools benefit financially, seeing improved bottom lines from rising lunch sales, and our country gets the biggest gain of all: students who arrive at their classes well nourished and ready to learn. CURT ELLIS Portland, Ore. The writer is a co-founder and chief executive of FoodCorps, an AmeriCorps national service group that connects children to healthy food in schools.