Put the food back in food!

"There is no food in your food."

-Constance (Say Anything)

Summer vacation from preschool means that I have been scheduling more play dates at parks. We have a standing play date on Monday mornings with some friends from preschool. I think we have been to three since school let out. Around 11:45 a really nice man comes around to announce that there is a free lunch for kids under 18 that is paid for by the mayor and that we were welcome to join. The first week he explained that he would really love for us to come because if he doesn't give away enough lunches then the program would be in danger of being canceled. I know from working in public schools how that goes - if you don't use it you lose it. I also understand the logic behind the free lunch program in the summer. It is targeted at the kids who qualify for free or reduced cost lunch in public schools as often those lunches they get at school are their main meal for the day.

I was a little skeptical of the lunches and by noon we are all fairly wiped out and need some down time at home so we haven't tried the lunch out yet. This past Monday, I was reminded of another reason why I don't want to partake in the free lunch. We saw a few girls come out with the bag lunch and they showed us its contents:

• Chocolate milk (made with high fructose corn syrup)
• Roast beef sandwich on white bread with florescent orange spreadable cheese (if you can call that cheese)
• Carrots

I quickly distracted Ella and we were off to the car. This is what our public schools are serving to our children - and I would hardly call it food. The only redeeming items were the carrots and possibly the roast beef. However, the roast beef is probably from a cow that has been corn fed and pumped full of hormones. So that leaves us with the carrots.

It is no wonder our kids are being diagnosed with diabetes and ADD - there is no food in their food! Their brains and bodies are not being nourished with good food. It is programs like the one at this park sponsored by the SF mayor that are trying to feed the kids that often go without food. Yet we are not feeding them food that will help them grown and think. We are not really even feeding them food that will help their stomach feel satisfied. I am reminded of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and I can't help but wonder how long it will take us to reinvent how we feed our children in our schools.

Homemade Baby Cereal

It has been almost two years since my last post...boy how time goes quickly. My parents always said that but now it is happening to me. My daughter will turn 4 in August, and before I know it she will be a teenager. She is already exhibiting some behaviors of a teenager - changing clothes about 10 times a day. I also had a baby boy last December. He is now 6 months old and I have begun to give him solid food. His first food was avocado and not much went down. We traveled to the East Coast in the first few weeks that Milo was trying solids so I bought some Earth's Best Brown Rice Cereal. Milo didn't take to the cereal much but I figured he was just figuring out this solid food thing.

After we returned from our trip I decided to make my own baby cereal as I had done with Ella. I put some ground rice in the blender for about 2 minutes - as described in Super Baby Food (a great book on introducing solids to babies). Then boil 1 cup of water and mix in 1/4 cup of the ground rice and cook for 10 minutes. While it was cooking I could smell the aroma of rice and thought to myself...this is real food! The rice cereal that you get in a box and mix with water does not have an aroma of food. Needless to say, Milo started to devour the rice cereal. I guess he likes real food too!!!