That cheering you heard yesterday was from teenage boys and high school athletes hearing that Obama-era regulations on school lunch programs are being rolled back by the Trump Administration. For the past few years, schools have been strictly regulated as to what they could serve to kids–and how much of that students were allowed to take. That meant that six-foot-five senior boys were provided with the same amount of food as the four-foot-nine-85-pound freshman girl. It was the perfect example of Big Government’s “one size fits all, we know what is right for everyone” approach to regulation.
It also means that schools will no longer be required to put certain foods on kids’ trays as they go through the line. Don’t like the bitter taste of boiled green beans? Too bad kid, you aren’t leaving this kitchen without a half cup of them on your plate. The “logic” behind this major food waste was that if kids are “exposed” to veggies and fruits at a younger age, they are more likely to grow up eating them as a regular part of their diet.
I can tell you from personal experience that even if the lunch ladies of my day had slopped some Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, beans, asparagus, broccoli, bok choi, collard greens, spinach, eggplant, raspberries, turnips, radishes or raw onions on my plate every day for thirteen years–I still wouldn’t eat any of them today, because I doubt it would have changed the way any of them taste.
Actually, today’s kids should consider themselves very lucky to even have Hot Lunch in their schools. I went to grade school at a small, rural Catholic school and we only had hot lunch available on Wednesdays. That was it. That meant four days of the week I had a cold lunchmeat sandwich, a few potato chips and maybe a cookie or a brownie packed in my NFL aluminum lunchbox. That is why as an adult I refuse to eat cold sandwiches for lunch–unless there are absolutely no alternatives.
But I want to congratulate those football, basketball and track athletes that can now go back for “seconds” in the lunch line without fear of penalty from the Federal Government to fuel their bodies for the workouts coming up later in the day. Why don’t you grab an extra chocolate-chip cookie for me while you’re up there.
