L.A. Schools' Healthful Lunch Menu Panned By Students [Meals Rejected "En Masse"!]

LATimes ^ | December 17, 2011 | Teresa Watanabe,

[Steelfish]

L.A. Schools' Healthful Lunch Menu Panned By Students For many students, Los Angeles Unified's introduction of healthful lunches — part of a campaign against obesity, diabetes and other problems — has been a flop. The district says the menu will be revised.

By Teresa Watanabe December 17, 2011 It's lunchtime at Van Nuys High School and students stream into the cafeteria to check out the day's fare: black bean burgers, tostada salad, fresh pears and other items on a new healthful menu introduced this year by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

But Iraides Renteria and Mayra Gutierrez don't even bother to line up. Iraides said the school food previously made her throw up, and Mayra calls it "nasty, rotty stuff." So what do they eat? The juniors pull three bags of Flamin' Hot Cheetos and soda from their backpacks.

"This is our daily lunch," Iraides says. "We're eating more junk food now than last year."

For many students, L.A. Unified's trailblazing introduction of healthful school lunches has been a flop. Earlier this year, the district got rid of chocolate and strawberry milk, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, nachos and other food high in fat, sugar and sodium. Instead, district chefs concocted such healthful alternatives as vegetarian curries and tamales, quinoa salads and pad Thai noodles.

There's just one problem: Many of the meals are being rejected en masse. Participation in the school lunch program has dropped by thousands of students. Principals report massive waste, with unopened milk cartons and uneaten entrees being thrown away. Students are ditching lunch, and some say they're suffering from headaches, stomach pains and even anemia. At many campuses, an underground market for chips, candy, fast-food burgers and other taboo fare is thriving.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***C Rations in the Air Force made me appreciate almost anything that did not come out of an OD Green can. ****

I liked the USAF C rations! I loved the canned hamburgers I got in SE ASia (Ban Utapao)at the BX. Tried to find them stateside with no luck.

I was too far from the chow hall so I cooked up my own meals with a sterno cooker, C-rations and other goodies I got at the BX.

[ReagansShinyHair]

But the free meal ticket folks just got cake with their free meal ticket.

I taught in LAUSD for one year. The kids ALL got "free" lunch and the majority of them had money for flamin' hot cheetos and soda every day. JUNK FOOD.

If you have $2.50 for junk food every day, you can pay for your own damn lunch. Eat PB&J like all the rest of us.

[massmike]

Meals Rejected "En Masse"!