Eight-year-old Giobanni trots into the dining room of his public school in Naples, Italy. Today's lunch is his favourite – pesto lasagna. He plops down at a table for six in a chair beside his teacher, Signorina Rossi, who asks him if he saw the big soccer match on television last night. Teacher and students chat quietly as they eat – first the lasagna and then a mozzarella, tomato and basil salad made from organic products grown on a local farm. There's no rush – the lunch period is 45 minutes long.
On this side of the Atlantic, Giovanni's six-year-old Canadian cousin Sarah sits on the floor of a noisy gym in Winnipeg, surrounded by a hundred other kids eating their lunches.
Usually it's a cheese slice sandwich, a packaged granola bar and some limp carrot sticks. Her mom only packs food that won't spoil and that her small daughter can open by herself and eat without making too much mess. Some days Sarah doesn't eat at school at all. She tells her mom that at lunchtime she gets a stomachache. As soon as the 15- minute lunch period is over, she lines up to throw the food wrappers – and, often, the uneaten food – into the garbage bins.
School food in the United States
American children have been fed at school under the National School Lunch Act since 1946. Generations of British kids have grown up on school dinners (recently made more nutritious at the insistence of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver). In food-loving Italy, children such as Giovanni tucked into a million organic school meals last year. And the governments of countries such as Finland and Sweden – where the vast majority of children take part in school meal programs – see the programs as investments in children's health, not as tax drains.
But in Canada, despite the remarkable work of nonprofit groups, it's estimated that only 10 to 15 per cent of children have access to school meals. And those meals are not provided by a well-funded national program, but by a patchwork of individual volunteer efforts, some provincial government funding and corporate donations.
It's time for change
The need to start a national school food program is urgent, says Mary McKenna, professor of nutrition at the University of New Brunswick. McKenna is also a registered dietitian and a member of the board of directors of Breakfast for Learning (BFL), a Canadian Living foundation that provides breakfast, lunch and snack programs for kids across Canada. With academic precision, she ticks off how school food programs help children: they encourage healthier eating (research shows children who eat school meals are more likely to consume milk, fruits and vegetables); they can help reduce child obesity rates (which have almost tripled in the past 25 years); they help ensure access to food for all students; they improve kids' concentration and ability to learn; they reduce financial and time pressures on parents, many of whom are facing job loss and steeply rising food prices; they lower student absenteeism; they improve student behaviour; and they teach children about good nutrition. So what is Canada waiting for?
Page 1 of 4 - Check out page two to read about people who are truly committed to school food programs.
Comment reported
Thank you for reporting this comment as inappropriate.
Back to Comments »