Too many fingers spoil the pudding

School lunch used to be fun and nutritional. Then government stuck its finger in the pudding. As with many government regulations, the impact is the opposite of what they were intended to accomplish. Rules that schools must follow have caused lots of those meals to go in the trash cans.

Former Georgia governor and now U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue was in Atlanta this week speaking to the School Nutrition Association. The secretary commented, “Food that’s thrown into the trash cannot nourish any child, and frankly that trash can doesn’t need any nourishment.” Mr. Secretary you are correct when you say, “Hungry children cannot learn.”

When I was in school during the 1960s and ’70s we looked forward to lunchtime. It was a time to eat, talk to friends and have fun. That’s what meals are for. You don’t have to look very far to find a church that uses fellowship and food to attract folks to its programs.

The school “lunch ladies” prepared our appetites all morning with smells of good food coming from the kitchen. Those delicious yeast rolls, fried chicken, meat loaf, homemade pizza, vegetable soup with real beef, delicious cinnamon rolls, and usually something that we did not recognize like Brussels sprouts. (We had the same reaction as kids today, YUCK.) Friday was fish sticks because those from Catholic homes ate fish each Friday. In addition to healthy meals, we learned to respect other beliefs and faith practices. We probably did not realize that at the time, but we sure loved those fish sticks. After all were served we were allowed to go back for seconds and most took advantage of the treat.

I am aware that times have changed, and schools now offer breakfast and have OTIS RAYBON rules and regulations to follow. That does not mean the meal times should not be fun and the food tasty.

There are many things schools can do, and I am sure, already do, to liven up the lunchroom in an effort to get the food into children’s tummies and not in the trash.

There are many very highly qualified chefs in Rome and Floyd County. Georgia Northwestern Technical College has one of the best Culinary Arts programs in the Technical College System of Georgia. Rome High and other local high schools also have very good programs.

It might be fun to occasionally bring one of those chefs into a school and let the kids work alongside college and high school students and prepare something tasty. While there they could discuss Culinary Arts as a profession seeking qualified and well-trained employees.

Invite school administrators, business and community leaders, and parents to increase awareness of the meals being offered to their children. When adults eat lunch or participate in other ways at local schools, kids pay attention.

The upshot to Secretary Perdue’s comments is “a full child is capable of learning.” Your involvement and interest may be just the spark a kid needs to have a clean plate and work harder in the classroom.