Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children - Hardcover

Cooper, Ann; Holmes, Lisa M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060783699 ISBN 13: 9780060783693

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 2006

Synopsis

Remember how simple school lunches used to be? You'd have something from every major food group, run around the playground for a while, and you looked and felt fine. But today it's not so simple. Schools are actually feeding the American crisis of childhood obesity and malnutrition. Most cafeterias serve a veritable buffet of processed, fried, and sugary foods, and although many schools have attempted to improve, they are still not measuring up: 78 percent of the school lunch programs in America do not meet the USDA's nutritional guidelines.

Chef Ann Cooper has emerged as one of the nation's most influential and most respected advocates for changing how our kids eat. In fact, she is something of a renegade lunch lady, minus the hairnet and scooper of mashed potatoes. Ann has worked to transform cafeterias into culinary classrooms. In Lunch Lessons, she and Lisa Holmes spell out how parents and school employees can help instill healthy habits in children.

They explain the basics of good childhood nutrition and suggest dozens of tasty, home-tested recipes for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. The pages are also packed with recommendations on how to eliminate potential hazards from the home, bring gardening and composting into daily life, and how to support businesses that provide local, organic food.

Yet learning about nutrition and changing the way you run your home will not cure the plague of obesity and poor health for this generation of children. Only parental activism can spark widespread change. With inspirational examples and analysis, Lunch Lessons is more than just a recipe book—it gives readers the tools to transform the way children everywhere interact with food.

About this title

Review

"Perfect for working parents who believe they're far too busy to pack a school lunch for their child"--Publishers Weekly

Perfect for working parents who believe they re far too busy to pack a school lunch for their child --Publishers Weekly"

Synopsis

"Lunch Lessons" is a recipe-filled guide that inspires us to reconnect with the origins and importance of good food in our lives. It is divided into seven chapters. Chapter One is a primer on basic childhood nutrition. The middle chapters offer healthful home-tested recipes arranged by season according to the school year (Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer), and recipes will be further categorized in Breakfast, Snacks, and Lunch sections to reflect seasonal availability.Chapter VII is a jumping off point for starting and maintaining organic gardens as well as composting and will address what parents can do in and around their homes to reduce their children's exposure to harmful chemicals. Chapter VIII, A Season for Change, will be full of information on how parents can begin to affect change in their local school lunch programs. "Lunch Lessons" offers delightful alternatives to the school lunch frustrations, and helps parents help kids learn how to identify and appreciate healthful foods, and make better choices about their lives in the future.

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060783699
• ISBN 13: 9780060783693
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 265