A Baltimore School’s Cafeteria Bill of Rights

A student council marched down to the City School Board to show them what their school lunches consisted of and to insist that if the students had to eat it every day, then so should their representatives. And as the Civil Eats blog reports, the students were successful in bringing about real change for real food like switching to local produce, reconstructing actual kitchens on school properties, and instituting Meatless Monday. The man hired to help reform the Baltimore school food system, Tony Geraci, has helped not only Baltimore but has also begun to speak to Congress and to the White House Assistant Chef and Food Initiative Coordinator. Not surprisingly, through his contacts, Geraci has been supporting the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act including the steps proposed by the National Farm to School Network. Slow Food supported all of these at our Labor Day Eat-In and with the delayed reauthorization process, we must continue to draw our representatives’ attention to stories like that of the Baltimore public school system. Here are some of the rights listed by the Cafeteria Bill of Rights developed by the students as reported by Ralph Loglisci;

The right to nutritious and delicious food for breakfast and lunch.

The right to fresh fruit and fresh vegetables each day.

The right to choose-more than one main selection each day.

The right to give feedback and have input on the quality and selections made and have our input be given serious consideration.

So, exercise your right to give feedback and let your School Boards and your representatives know what you’re demanding.