Fed up with lunch: How one teacher went undercover to expose state of the nation's school food

Daily Mail ^ | 10/10/11 | Wil Longbottom

[Nachum]

As a mother, the nutritional needs of her own son would always have been on her mind.

But for one woman, teaching in a Chicago elementary school brought home just how important meals were for growing children, and how badly they were being let down.

Sarah Wu, 34, a speech pathologist working in public schools in the city, began a blog in January 2010 in which she described the school lunch every day for a year.

She secretly photographed each meal, and then described the taste and texture of each dish for her site, Fed Up With Lunch.

In it, she reveals how a couple of bites of one peanut butter and jelly sandwich made her sick, describes eating 'mystery' meat patties and unknown reheated vegetables at her school.

Mrs Wu began her project after she bought a school lunch when she ran out of time to pack her own.

[Future Snake Eater]

Wasn’t there a school (or was it a state?) that banned children from bringing their own food to eat since it may not be nearly as healthy as the food the school served? I wonder how that’s working out...

[RC2]

Is it not the responsibility of parents to feed their children?

[HiTech RedNeck]

When I was in school the mystery meat wasn’t in patties. It was served as meatloaf.

What could possibly constitute unknown mixed vegetables? Not possible to distinguish a pea, a piece of carrot, etc.?

The only thing I remember truly getting ill from was a batch of chili that had salmonella in it, in the fifth grade. I loved chili up to that point, but I couldn’t stand the sight of it (even at home) for years after that.

[ClearCase_guy]

Okay, listen. There is a very reasonable explanation for this. It's true that the Chicago School system is extremely well funded. But a lot of that money went to Arizona to block state legislation against illegal immigration, and much of the money went to New York to push for homosexual marriage, and most of the remainder of the money went straight to Barack Obama.

With the money that's left, they are trying their best to feed the kids. Maybe if we'd just tax the rich more, the schools could pursue their goals more successfully.

[Mygirlsmom]

Maybe if we'd just tax the rich more, the schools could pursue their goals more successfully

I'm sure that is the solution outlined in her book.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Having bad flashbacks to school lunches now. Jimmy Carter bailed out the turkey farmers after an off year and we were served breaded, reconstituted turkey patties 3 days out of every 5 for a couple of years.

[Signalman]

describes eating 'mystery' meat patties

Hey, when I was stationed at Ft. Devens in 1966, that's what Cookie used to give us for dinner 3 times/wk.

[discostu]

Well yeah. Welcome to lowest bidder food. Eating school cafeteria food is each generation’s introduction to the idea of food as pleasureless sustenance, it tastes bad, it looks bad, it smells bad, but it will probably keep you alive until tomorrow’s lunch... probably.

[Cowgirl of Justice]

So this is in Chicago? The pb&j made with graham crackers?

Isn’t this Michelle Obama’s neck of the woods? Could it be that she is just as much of a fraud as her husband? Masquerading as a ‘healthy lunch’ type of gal, forcing farms in the bankruptcy as she roils against the potato but yet, the minority children that she loves so much - in her back yard, no less- are most likely suffering from malnutrition, obesity and prediabetes from this slop.

Disgusting fraud. Fraud. Fraud. Fraud. With a big fat butt.

[blondee123]

Living south of Chicago, my grandkids reported public school lunches were often:
1. cold corn dogs

2. cold, frozen fish sticks

3. pizza so greasy they threw it away

4. stale, hard bread

 Only thing they could eat were usually the veggies & fruit out of the meal.

They are now in private school & we pack their lunches!

[kosciusko51]

If we tried to feed this to inmates, some bleeding heart would call it “cruel and unusual punishment”.

[pfflier]

There is another side to this. In our high school district we used to have our own cooks. They would get their ingredients and concoct some pretty tasty dishes. These included fresh bakery items, fresh salads and appetizing dishes (mostly casseroles).

Later we switched over to a food service contractor and the lunches started looking like the ones in the article, prepacked and frozen. They underbid the district's own costs and eliminated about 20 jobs. They replaced these 20 employees with 20 food servers who in many cases couldn't speak English and were just shoveling the stuff around.

After I retired, the hue and cry from the employees and parents caused the high school distict to dump the food service and prepare their own meals again. Things are much better from what I hear.

[DTogo]

Is it not the responsibility of parents to feed their children?

But... what about those parents unable to feed their own children... isn't it our collective responsibility as a socially just country to ensure the rich are taxed heaviliy to pay for the meals of those downtrodden by fat cat Wall Street bankers?

[NewHampshireDuo]

Never ate a school lunch. My mother always packed a sandwich, fruit and a drink. My favorite was when I got a bacon and lettuce sandwich. Something about sitting around for a few hours that made it taste extra good.

[MarineMom613]

bm

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Is it not the responsibility of parents to feed their children?

That's my take on it.

[MarineMom613]

bm

[momtothree]

Was it Detroit?! I remember the story that all school children will be receiving free lunches and no one was allowed to bring food from home.

[ltc8k6]

I hear that Michelle serves up a lovely mushroom risotto...