What’s for Lunch? Marcia Amidon Lusted

Zachary Maxwell was tired of trying to explain to his parents why he wanted to bring lunch to school instead of eating hot lunch. They couldn’t understand why he didn’t want to eat the gourmet food described on the school’s online menu, which sounded both nutritious and interesting. Zachary just couldn’t convince them that the food wasn’t as great as it sounded. So in the fall of 2011, he began sneaking a small video camera into the cafeteria at his school, to show his parents what the lunches were really like. Six months and 75 school lunches later, Zachary made a documentary film about his lunch called Yuck: A 4th Grader’s Short Documentary About School Lunch.

Truth in Advertising?
"The city’s Department of Education says that it’s committed to providing ‘delicious and nutritious meals’ through their food service program. But the lunch being served at my school was nothing like what they were advertising on their web site," Zachary, now 11, says in the documentary’s trailer. "I told [my parents] that’s not what they were actually serving me," he said. "But I don’t think they believed me." For example, an "oven-baked pizza bagel with tricolor salad" was really nothing more than a slice of pizza and a wisp of lettuce. Sometimes there was no connection between the menu and what Zachary actually got. "Cheesy lasagna rolls with tomato basil sauce, roasted spinach with garlic and herbs" was, in reality, just a plastic-wrapped grilled cheese sandwich, all alone on a foam plate.
"When I came back home and showed them the footage, they were like, ugh!" Zachary said. His dad, an amateur filmmaker, started helping Zachary transform his video footage into a film. It won several awards, and Zachary also made appearances on television shows like Good Morning America.

Not Perfect, But Better
Let’s face it: many times school lunches just aren’t going to taste as good as they sound. Students also complain that with lunches that follow the new school lunch guidelines, there just isn’t enough food. Smaller portions, more fruits and veggies, and fewer calories leave some kids, especially teenagers, still hungry after eating their lunch. A group of students in Kansas even wrote a music video called "We Are Hungry," where they sing about their stomachs growling after lunch and how they’re collapsing on the sports field because they haven’t eaten enough.
However, the new federal lunch guidelines do mandate meals that are better for students, with less sodium, more whole grains, fewer calories, and more fruits and vegetables, as well as skim or 1 percent milk. These are a definite improvement over school lunches of not that many years ago, which once stuck with fare like burgers, French fries, and chicken nuggets. Some schools even allowed fast food outlets like McDonald’s and Pizza Hut to operate mini-restaurants in their cafeterias, or supply their products for students. Many schools have also reconsidered vending machines filled with sugary sodas, candy, and chips, replacing them with water and healthy snacks.

The Lunch Forecast
The new school lunches are designed to help students eat better, and combat health problems like obesity in kids. Ideally, a healthy school lunch should also taste good ... or at least as good as the description on the menu. It should also keep students from taking a trip to the vending machine or a nearby convenience store as soon as lunch is over, because they’re still hungry. But will the lunches served in your cafeteria ever taste as good as a fast food burger or a gourmet meal cooked at home? You be the judge.