This year, Chicago Public Schools decided to give the children in their care healthier food. They threw away the breakfast Pop Tarts and lunchtime nachos, giving the students more veggies, more whole-grain foods and less sodium and sugar. Are kids eating healthier? Well, some may be; but others apparently are not eating at all. According to the CPS, lunch sales decreased 5 percent from September to December—buying “cookies and slushies” from the school canteen or waiting until they get home to eat. Others buy lunch, but immediately throw it out. “If they’re going to feed us healthy, they need to feed us something good that’s healthy,” says Mijoy Roussell, a sixth-grader at Claremont Academy. “This food is disgusting, which is why I’m not eating lunch.”
“They want us to eat healthy food, but the food has no flavor,” adds sophomore Jacob Hernandez, trying to swallow an unsalted rice-and-beans dish. “Last year, they had a yellow Puerto Rican rice. This year it’s all dry, and you can tell they put a lot of stuff in there, but what’s the point if there is no flavor?” The CPS is, thus far, undeterred. “We are thrilled that 70 percent of CPS students choose to eat lunch at school,” says Louise Esaian, who oversees the district’s food service. With proposed federal guidelines mirroring CPS’ new food standards, kids across the country soon could be choosing between a healthy and hot (but arguably not-too-tasty) lunch or a Butterfinger from the vending machine. (Chicago Tribune)