School lunches; in the U.S. VS more advanced countries

When I was growing up in Washington, we had crappy school lunches. This is because our schools are fed through vendors in crappy and unhealthy foods that make children obese, schools also have a problem with debts from lunches. When I was older, in high school, I went to Nova. We had a garden program there where we grew the food for our school lunches. Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA also does this. When I was in AmeriCorps, We helped make garden infrastructure for kids at Denver Green School. We can give our kids and schools more power by having them start their own food programs, and by contracting with small, local farmers and possible ranchers.

Many of them probably don’t want to be growing for corporations and would rather take money from schools to feed children, and would help if the government would also subsidize organic farms that were not grown with toxic chemicals. It would make our waterways cleaner for when the rain comes as well. There are organic ways to control pests in large fields, that I will cover in a later post, and this will also not hurt the balance of nature, not poison our water.

As seen in the below links, many other countries have much healthier lunches, which get their students full and better able to focus on school work. Food is fresh and local and looks much better than ours. The problem also, with clearing pests out with chemicals, is that it gives the survivors resistances. Killed in the chemicals as well, are helpful organisms, that keep them at bay. Better food for lunches also results in less being thrown away.

Gardening programs in schools for kids, would not only teach them applicable skills in other areas of their lives, but would make schools more independent. Leftovers from the school lunches could also be used as compost. Furthermore, eating locally and growing locally cuts down on the gas from travel for the food for our lunches. Healthier students are happier students, which could also cut down on our mental health problem in the U.S. Happier students are also better able to focus in school.

https://www.businessinsider.com/school-lunches-in-the-us-compared-to-other-countries-2015-2?op=1#greece-baked-chicken-over-orzo-stuffed-grape-leaves-tomato-and-cucumber-salad-fresh-oranges-yogurt-with-pomegranate-seeds-9

https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/us-school-cafeterias-waste-more-food-those-other-developed-countries/

https://www.eatthis.com/school-lunch-debt-in-america/