Revolution Comes to School Lunches

Since I haven't been in a school cafeteria for more than 20 years, I have no idea what it's like these days. For all I know, robots serve kids their meals. I mean, this is the 21st century, right? My guess, though, is that there haven't been tremendous advances made, which is why the partnership between Whole Foods Market and Chef Ann Cooper is a welcome one.

According to this Whole Foods press release, the natural and organic food market has joined with the "Renegade Lunch Lady" in the "School Lunch Revolution" campaign. This campaign is hoping to get schools to serve better lunches to its kids. A big part of that is the website thelunchbox.org, a free site that offers tools so that schools can switch from processed to natural foods without breaking the bank. The site includes recipes, training videos, educational tools and information on buying natural foods on the cheap.

The release quoted Cooper, who said, "One in three children born in the year 2000 will have diabetes, and 30 percent of them are overweight, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC also says that the cost of treating diabetes in the United States is estimated at $174 billion each year."

And, according to the release, more than 30 million kids eat federally funded school lunches every day. That means it's up to the schools to do their part in providing healthy lunch options, so hopefully they will take advantage of this free resource.

If you want to help build out the Lunch Box site, you can donate here. To find out more about the project, check out the School Lunch Revolution section of the Whole Foods website.

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