Audio By Carbonatix
Even when the USDA rolled out the new, healthier, Michelle Obama-approved version of the National School Lunch Program last year, there were grumblings. Kids complained that the new menu, which includes generous helpings of fruits and vegetables while capping meat, carbohydrates, and overall caloric intake, has “ruined school lunches” and made viral YouTube video. Conservative pundits decried the expansion of the nanny state. The Washington Times declared the response a ““boycott.”
The question now is whether such a well-coordinated collective protest has been able to sustain itself for an entire year, and if it has achieved its lofty goals. The Associated Press brought the answer yesterday: sort of.
The wire service reported that a number of school districts throughout the country are backing out of the revamped lunch plan because kids aren’t eating the healthy food. They were more blunt in Harlan County, Kentucky, where a board member declared that the new menu “tastes like vomit.” (The USDA responded yesterday in a blog post, saying that, actually, kids find the new meals quite delicious.)
The revolt has left North Texas mostly, but not completely, untouched. Socialist functionaries at school districts in Allen, Birdville, Carrollton Farmers-Branch, Denton, Dallas, Duncanville, Grand Prairie, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Lewisville, Mansfield, Midlothian, Richardson, Terrell, and Weathorford all say they’re sticking with the federal lunch program.
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The only exception is Carroll ISD which, KRLD reports, is unhappy with the new program.
“With the new program in place, the new meal pattern, our participation started to drop,” Mary Brunig, the district’s nutrition services director, told the station. “And the other thing was there was food waste. Children were not eating the food. If the children aren’t eating the food, there’s no nutrition.”
Weird, considering how thoroughly the kid in the USDA’s promotional materials seems to be enjoying his salad and fruit bowl.
