Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children

by Ann Cooper, Lisa M. Holmes, Mehmet C. Oz (Foreword by)

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 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.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, Parenting, Cookbooks, Cooking, Health, Adult

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 3, 2006

Reviews

[Mara YA Mood Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

More a nonfiction novel than recipe/lunch ideas but I enjoyed reading the history of the school lunch program which actually began in the 1700s.

I’m unhappy with today’s school lunches in the US. At my children’s elementary school they serve pizza on Monday and Friday and a hamburger, breaded chicken burger or corn dog/hot dog the rest of the week. Yes there are also a healthier option available each day (tuna salad box, turkey sandwich, veggie wrap) but of course the kids are going to pick the burger or pizza...

I’m a stay at home mom but I’m not one of those super moms. I do not see myself cooking my kids’ lunches at 7am before school or after dinner the night before.

Does anyone seriously whip up a tofu spinach frittata or grill chicken strips for a wrap before school in the morning or after cooking and cleaning up dinner at night? I don’t know but that does not fit in to our busy hectic lives.

Leftovers in thermoses are most efficient for us. And assembling bento style lunches. This book didn’t help me.

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been following Chef Ann via her informative blog and her weekly podcast and think she is doing some very important work in regards to waking up the country about children's dietary habits and was thrilled when I received the ARC in the mail.

I became interested in the subject when my 2nd grade daughter began developing migraines that made her so ill she'd turn as pale as a ghost, get nauseous, and be unable to do much of anything but take a nap in a dark room until it passed. They were so bad at one point that she seemed to be spending more time in bed or in the school nurse office than in class. After many attempted fixes including limited activity, stress, ear-plugs, her migraines are under control without medication. The main culprit appeared to be the food I was feeding her. Particularly processed snacks like Cheetos & Doritos which are laden with MSG, a major migraine trigger, I soon discovered. I always thought MSG was something used only as a filler in Chinese takeout. Boy, was I mistaken. Aspartame is another biggie used in everything from low-cal puddings to bubble gum. I have since changed our entire dietary habits excluding nearly all of the processed junk (and was that ever painful!) with the exception of organic cookies, snacks and the limited few items that don't contain MSG, *natural* flavor, yeast extract and all of the other names the big food processors "hide" MSG under. And I was stunned to see just how much of this stuff was being served in school.

Lunch Lessons begins by outlining everything that is wrong with our current food system. It clearly explains what children should be eating and explains why children need to stay away from additives, corn syrup, fast food, trans fat, etc. Did you know that children born in 2000 and after who are following the current trend of the fast food, prepared food nation, are facing a shorter life span than their parents? I didn't but it makes since with obesity and diabetes on the rise in the young.

There is a chapter devoted to outlining the caloric needs of a growing child, which food groups are actually necessary for correct development and a helpful chart explaining portion sizes and the number of servings to eat per day based upon the child's age. The book is filled with tools to help anyone learn to change their eating habits and lifestyle (and it is a huge lifestyle change) and I'd bet even those without children would find it a very useful reference and jumping off point for dietary change.

The middle section of the book tells about several schools systems who bravely changed the menu by eliminating pre-packaged processed food and brought in whole foods from local farmers. The stories, especially the comments from the children, are inspiring and hopeful. What surprised me the most were the positive social experiences these children enjoyed while tending to a garden and preparing their healthy meals.

The recipe section is filled with lunch options I've never before considered. I tend to get stuck in a rut with whole grain bread, natural PB&J, turkey cold-cuts, etc. and I'm not sure if my kids will go for some of the more radical options like couscous but I'm going to give it a shot. I never thought of packing home baked mac & cheese or chicken pot pie but those are two faves I'm betting will get them more excited about lunch.

The only negative, and it's hopefully present only in the review copy, is the fact the flow of the text is constantly interrupted by boxes of other information. It's a bit of a pain to be all wrapped up in an idea and then to have to turn a page to get to the end of the article and then have to back track to read the info. in the boxes (similar to reading a magazine).

This is a book that will remain in personal collection and one I'm betting I'm going to be picking up on a weekly basis as I prepare my meals.

Update: I made the Chicken Pot Pie & the potato (minus the chive) biscuits. It took me a mere 2 1/2 hours (she says very sarcastically) what with all the chopping and cooking but my son LOVED it. He had two helpings and ate it again for dinner the 2nd night. It came out more like a hearty chicken soup with biscuits on top rather than the crusty frozen pot pies I used to "bake" but the kids didn't seem to mind and it was so cheap to make! Next time I'm skipping the potato biscuits and dropping some dumplings in instead.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, this is a book about children's lunches, and we have no children. But I am interested in childhood nutrition, and I wanted to check out the "dozens of kid-friendly recipes" advertised by the cover. Well, they are also adult-friendly, as we have found. Cooper and Holmes spend a bit of time describing some of the horrid things that are going on in American school cafeterias, tell you how you can help change that, and end the book with easy, healthy recipes for packed school lunches and home meals. We've made several of the recipes so far with great success, and many others look good: Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes, Autumn Harvest Soup, Red Lentil Burgers, Argula with Steak & Parmesan, and good old Mac 'n Cheese. The bottom line of the book: stop sending your kids to school with trans-fat-filled Lunchables or abandoning them to the fast-food franchises that have now infiltrated most cafeterias. The recipes & ideas are quick and easy to put together, and designed with picky kids in mind, leaving no room for excuses.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took this home because I thought it might give me some healthy, easy lunch ideas. Instead it served, in a round about way, to make me realize again that educating our children is more than just school lessons - everything and every part of life is teaching them lessons they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives. Including how and what they eat and the attitude they have towards food.

And thinking abut that led me to thinking about how I would hope to bring children up to see food as a joy and a way of celebrating life, something to be enjoyed but not be a slave to. I would hope that they would grow up understanding moderation, and esteeming quality ingredients and homemade dishes above the packaged and prepared. I want to raise a fearless eater.

... which led me to realizing that I need to whip some of my own habits into shape before I even think about trying to pass them on to a mini-me, so, yeah.

First the book goes through the numbers - 35% of American children are overweight, a number that has doubled since 1970. 25% are obese. 14% have type 2 diabetes. 40% of all cancers are attributed to diet. The USDA-approved National School Lunch Program is woefully unbalanced nutritionally. 85% of children do not sit down to a meal on a regular basis. (this. is. awful.)

A side note in one of the chapters that I found very interesting was the recommendation to skip all the bland rice cereal and, when babies are ready to start on solid foods, offering them small, mashed portions of whatever the rest of the family is eating. Not only is the classic rice cereal heavily processed (raising a child's insulin and blood sugar levels), but eating habits are formed very early in life and keeping children in a diet of bland, simple foods may lead them to seek less variety in their diets as they get older. Despite the fact that pediatricians have recommended these types of bland baby foods, there's no evidence that normally spiced food causes any harm, and if you look around the world, you'll see that the bland food for babies is really only something you see in western cultures.

Speaking of variety in diet, apparently 99% of today's agriculteral production depends on only 24 different domesticated plant species.

Later it speaks about the horror that is the school lunch room (although on a practical level, how DO you produce, healthy, attractive, tasty meals for hundreds of children on a tight budget and with a very limited amount of time? I know most schools are doing the best they can under the circumstances.) and then goes into some detail on several programs that sought to improve school lunches, such as Alice Waters' (of Chez Panisse fame) Edible Schoolyard program, which actually allows kids to grow, harvest, and prepare much of their own food, providing them with not only better lunches, but also a way to get creative in the kitchen.

[Breanna Weston · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is trying to encourage people to change the school lunch programs, by showing how some schools have changed. However, it seems to ignore the types of difficulty in getting these changes to occur, and how they can be overcome. It seems obvious that school lunches suck and that there are some innovative programs out there, but knowing and handling the adversity of the change would seem more helpful. Also, the lack of citations is disturbing. Statistics are thrown around and there is no works cited page. Half the book is recipes, which seems to be putting the cart before the horse, and the resources page is also lacking. What this book is lacking does not make up for what it has.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

horrifying and exciting at the same time. so far excellent.
the turkey meatloaf recipe is outstanding - looking forward to trying other recipes.

Update - just re-read this. After spending the past 4 months working lunch at my younger child's preschool it is even more clear to me how important this issue is. What most parents appear to consider a healthy lunch is just ... not. And that's not even touching the school cafeteria issue. This book deals with more than just lunch - it offers comprehensive ideas and information about making food growth, preparation, and presentation interesting and healthy.

[Adina · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in organic food and/or in cooking, you should read this book. It's a chronicle of one woman's fight to change the school lunch system at a school in California. When you read about what the public school systems feed children, you will freak out. It's pretty sad. I also saw this woman speak at a book reading in D.C. and I just got a good feeling about her in general.

[Tonya · Rating 3 out of 5]

The recipes looked good but just weren't my style of cooking - a little to high maintenance for me. The book gave depressing information about our school lunch program and lots of information on how to change it. Unfortunatelyu, I have enough energy to pack my own kids lunch and that's about it.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is exactly what the summary indicates- the book is roughly divided into three sections- overall info on health and dietary trends in U.S. children (depressing facts galore), then there's the history of the US school lunch programs, info on how and why they first came about in the U.S. (to combat hunger and malnutrition), and how the nation's diet and health problems have changed in the many decades since its inception, making the program now part of a problem as much as it is part of a solution in many school districts due to poor nutritional quality in the foods served by these programs, and then finally the last section- which describes how some schools and districts are trying to better the problems amd fix them with various local programs. The last 1/4 of the book is all cook-from-scratch recipes.

The research in the book is well done, and the arguments compelling; however, the book seems to imply, without outright saying, that what needs to change more than anything is our country's fast food/convenience food culture. Therein lies the problem with these sorts of books- when we live in a society where most households need 2 incomes to get by, there tends to be a lack of time and energy to cook from scratch. Yes, the recipes are easy to follow, but many of them involve prep time, some even prepped a day before hand, and a lot of families, especially single parent homes, simply are never going to have that kind of extra time most days. The author's obvious distaste for anything processed makes it difficult to envision a home that could follow the guidelines suggested without a stay-at-home parent who actively makes cooking from scratch a top priority. Hell, I only work part-time, and we've been eating mostly at home for a year now since COVID hit, and I still got tired imagining how to incorporate this book's suggestions into our daily lives. I suppose that's why the idea of appealing to the school lunches and breakfast programs to be more mindful of what they're feeding kids may seem like a more obtainable goal than changing what families do.

3 stars for good information and history, but only 3 because the guilt factor in this book is heavy handed.

[Jill Urie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty dry. A lot of good information. (Don't start babies foray into the world of real food with highly processed/super bland rice cereal; get the kids involved as much as possible; variety!!! Etc. So yeah, informative but dry as toast, whole grain toast.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of good ideas about policy. The recipes didn't really stand out. This book is almost twenty years old and outdated in parts of the country who have implemented these ideas already.

[Susannah Skyer Gupta · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not quite what I'd thought it would be. I was hoping for an idea/recipe book full of clever ways to boost the nutrition in kids' lunches perhaps with some guidelines specific to rapidly growing middle schoolers, vegetarians, all sorts of different groups. Maybe some reviews of convenience foods that revealed some of them weren't toxic, maybe some lunch packaging ideas I hadn't thought of yet. While the authors do tout the Laptop Lunch system (which, although pricey seems very cute, but how eco can this really be if it's all plastic?), of which I was already aware, at least half the book is about the US school lunch program and how to advocate for change therein. A noble aspiration, but sign me up as one more busy parent wondering, who has the time? I was appalled to read how little tuna we should be giving our kids (my kids love it) due to mercury levels, just more depressing nutrition news to go along with no high fructose corn syrup (ever looked at the price of canned lemonade that doesn't contain it? close to $5 a can!) and no transfats. The recipes they do include seem wholesome, although hardly groundbreaking. I can recommend the pumpkin biscuits and will try some of the others before returning to the library. Still, my search for easy, nutrition-packed, poison-free lunch ideas continues.

[Erin Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hoping for not only recipes, which there were plenty of, but some suggestions of balanced meals such as the one pictured on the cover. This is something that I find difficult to manage for myself (for any meal, not just lunch!), so I feel that I have little hope of it for my daughter. The information about the nutrition of school lunches was terrifying (and don't I remember surviving on diet Cokes and Swiss cake rolls for lunch in high school, with maybe some fries), but we do seem to be headed in a better direction. I'd be interested to find out how the progress they detailed in some school districts has fared over the five years since the book was published, especially considering the new nutritional guidelines recently published by the USDA.

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

For people who have read books by authors such as Bill McKibben, Barbara Kingsolver, or Michael Pollan, this book doesn't provide much in the way of new information, but the focus on school lunches was valuable. I was surprised to learn that the federal nutrition standards for school lunches are so low and are not really carried out or checked up on. The authors make an excellent point that trying to find the cheapest food out there does not result in serving our nation's children healthy, nutritious lunches. This book also provides guidelines and advice for those who wish to actively challenge the status quo in their local schools-- as I may end up doing.

[jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

i have not yet finished this book, but so far, it's ok. i know about nutrition and i know about the terrible state of public school lunches and so far i feel two things 1) will i be able to raise eaters as varied as myself? 2) what are we doing about ALL the children in this nation who don't have the opportunity to attain an excellent lunch (thank you WK for the liberties with your words), but really! there are places in the bay that do this, but it makes an educator feel depressed about the issues that face our under-resourced students.

[Kristen MacGregor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not as good as the other kids' lunch book I recently read. It didn't seem to have a lot of advice- more just recipes with ingredients I don't use [like tofu]. I don't think that we need to eat vegan in order to have a healthy lifestyle. There were a few good tips, but most of the book was spent explaining things that the authors did to improve schools, families, etc.- there isn't a lot of advice that the reader could take home with them because the situations are so specific and may not apply.

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is roughly divided into 3 parts: the case for changing our kids' lunches, the success stories of districts/schools that have started to implement change, and recipes. I highly recommend reading the first section - the rationale for change and the various facts/figures on nutrition throughout the book are humbling. If you are willing to fight the fight and get involved, section 2 is for you. Since I make my kids' lunches each day, I skimmed that section and will move on to the recipes! Lemon Ricotta Pancakes...sweet potato biscuits...

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had great information and I loved hearing about the schools that have incorporated better school lunch programs. There's some cool stuff out there. I wish I was the kind of person that could make something happen here, but at least it makes me want to be involved in something somehow.

The authors were smart and put a bunch of recipes in the last part, so I feel like in order to truly get the most of out this I would need to buy it....tricky eh?

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was just going to be a book about lunch recipes or something.
I was suprised, however, to see that it is much more.
It goes into the history of the school lunch programs and tells about several schools and districts that have reformed their school lunch programs into truely healthy learning environments.
I wish that all school lunch programs would be so healthy and wonderful.
The book also has some yummy recipes that I want to try out.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked this out of the library because even though I don't have kids I am a nutrition and food policy book. This book looks at the history of school lunches, the basics of good childhood nutrition, recipes and ideas for and example of changes to make. Interesting read and although the book was published in 2006 the info is still pertinent and a bit disheartening to see how little has changed across America.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty quick read. interesting history of school lunches. Some interesting recipes. not exactly what I was looking for, but informative

100s of studies validate that food dyes and additives are a factor in attention and behavior disorders and can increase the incidence of ADHD. In one of these studies, 73% of children on a diet free from chemicals and dyes and artificial sweeteners showed a reduction in hyperactivity and an increase in attention.

[John Beeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tries to be too many things. Starts as a critique of the modern, public school lunchroom. Ends as a recipe book. Somewhere in between are suggestions for raising healthy kids that have to frequent a school cafeteria.

Pretty basic stuff here for anyone that is already trying to shop local and organic. Recipes looked delicious though.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, emphasizing the importance of feeding our children well and teaching them about wellness - good locally-produced food, active lifestyles, and home cooking. The recipes look great - I know I will try some, but some of them look way too time-consuming!

I will probably borrow this one from the library again, if for no other reason, to check out more recipes.

[Debbielarson · Rating 4 out of 5]

If only everyone had equal opportunity to healthy food. I rarely saw my school kids eat fruits and vegetables mainly because they were on free lunch. When they packed a lunch for field trips it was solid processed foods. Fresh food is just too expensive for many. How can we honestly expect these kids to perform as well as kids who have actual balanced diets?

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. I am going to buy a copy for myself sine I checked this one out of library. I enjoyed the recipes in the back.

I expected something different from this, but still enjoyed the way they told us about schools that have transformed their lunch rooms by making them more healthy, vibrant and liked by students at their school.

[Jaime · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars This book had to stretch to fill so many pages. The information it contained was nothing that people with a basic working knowledge of nutrition wouldn't already know. The recipes were not the least bit interesting to me, so I'm assuming the same would go for my children. I think the topic is so very important and I appreciate that the authors are bringing it to light.

[Lindsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't read. So poorly researched.

For example, they talked about how crowded and crazy lunchrooms are and how the NYC teachers' union had just won the right to not work in the lunchroom, to avoid the craziness. And I'm like, no, they want to not work in the lunchroom so that they actually get a lunchbreak.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I more or less skimmed this book as I no longer have children at home. It's pretty hard-core although the recipes do include things that kids will like and they aren't completely anti-fat, etc. Interesting tales of revamping school lunchrooms.

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book- more than I thought it would. A fantastic argument on the importance of helping children create a good relationship with food in the home as well as in the educational system, as well as the importance of what we feed our kids.

[Cari · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some really tasty recipes in there, plus some great tips on how to introduce more wholesome choices into your diet. Of course, I still have to have Jack in the Box tacos now and then, don't ask me why. They are just so-o good!