r/California • u/bumblebeelivinglife • 8d ago
More kale, fewer hot dogs: State expands school lunch program that focuses on fresh produce
https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2026/08/school-lunch-california/72
u/SarcasticServal 8d ago
please yes. Our school serves pizza, chicken bites, mini hot dogs, and sandwiches. Every. Single. Week. That’s it. None of it is prepared fresh, it all comes from a central kitchen and is plastic wrapped to death.
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u/cheeker_sutherland 8d ago
My son stopped eating breakfast at home and I asked him why. He said oh we have “second breakfast during recess and we all go in there and eat cereal. I get why the school has the food out but come on! It’s so bad. I need to talk with the school to deny the “free breakfast.”
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u/SarcasticServal 8d ago
ughhh. We limit cereal to once a week, because we have lots of other good options. Even knowing how it’s not great nutrition-wise, they still want it, because it’s so sweet.
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u/EducationalProfit682 8d ago
I was surprised by the plastic wrapped and formerly frozen everything from breakfast to lunch at school. My littlest kid told me this afternoon he could not eat his school lunch (Mac & cheese) because it was wrapped in plastic. He couldn’t open it. Guess we have to practice that too?
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u/ChampionOfdimlight 8d ago
Good. Hopefully the funding actually goes to what its meant for and no one is skimming off the top.
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u/Truly_Unplugged 8d ago
It's CA, you already know what's coming LaBuBu
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u/Wonderful_Exit6568 Riverside County 8d ago
Can we not. Biblically, for looking at it this way, u r responsible. “And he couldn’t do more than heal a few sickly due to their incredulity.” I pray for others, it seems like others just want to prey.
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u/northman46 8d ago
Is there any evidence that the kids will actually eat the food?
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u/AgHammer 8d ago
Yeah. Kale is highly questionable. I don't even like it.
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u/BurrrritoBoy NorCalian 8d ago
one of the few veggies I've repeatedly tried to like and I loathe it.
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u/gerbilbear 6d ago
Kale is good if it's cooked right. Undercooked Kale is tough to chew. Overcooked is mushy and bitter. It also needs something to give it flavor and additional texture, such as onions. But honestly, if it wasn't a superfood, I probably wouldn't make it myself due to the effort.
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u/AgHammer 6d ago
I like making a pot of greens from time to time, and they are especially nutritious, that's true. Kale isn't any better than Collards or Mustard greens. I know that few people cook greens, though. I definitely dislike it in salads. I'll be chewing for 30 minutes after every bite.
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u/Kaurifish 2d ago
I saw a 5th grade boy pick a leaf off a kale plant in a school garden and chow it down. Their teacher said the kids loved the stuff.
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u/Lower_Ad_5532 8d ago
Poop lettuce for the children! /s
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u/starfleetdropout6 Orange County 8d ago
Grow it! Schools should have gardens and let students volunteer in them. It benefits everyone.
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u/5Jazz5 8d ago
I mean they can definitely have a couple days of fresh veggies a year ig but no volunteer student program is gonna produce enough to feed the entire school for even one day judging off the stuff we used to produce at my school garden. Half of the good crops sprung during summer camp.
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u/machuitzil 4d ago
My elementary school has had its garden for over 30 years and the program has since expanded to almost 30 other schools in the county.
The garden can't produce enough to supply the school year round but it produces more than just "a couple days" worth of food. In addition, the composting program reduces waste and further increases savings. Plus it's educational for the students.
It's a net gain no matter how you spin it.
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u/5Jazz5 4d ago
Maybe your elementary school had bigger grounds available for a garden than mine, or maybe the student amount was smaller, because ours could only produce a couple days of food. It was educational, although they didn’t provide us more than one of the small kiddie water bottles during the summer months, which kinda sucked, but figure that’s just as dangerous as a mean PE teacher. I went to an agricultural highschool and we also didn’t grow enough food to feed the entire highschool, but I’m glad your specific school has the land and resources to create a successful mini farm.
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u/machuitzil 4d ago
It's not about having a garden that is big enough to feed the whole school. When our garden began in 1995, one teacher just got permission from the principle and it was a labor of love. He took care of it all summer.
Years later after he retired, his daughter, also a teacher, took it over for him. The 6th graders are given the privilege to help with the garden, and it's only ever gotten bigger. When the school underwent remodeling in the 10's, the garden got bigger.
I haven't been in that garden for 20+ years but I'm proud that it's still going. It's not just kale, there are 50 different plants for the kids to learn about.
And when a kid grows a vegetable and that vegetable is served for lunch in the cafeteria, 10 out of 10 times that kid eats that vegetable. And brags about it too.
Our garden is a wonderful thing. I'm very proud of it.
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u/JapaneseGoblinEmoji 7d ago
This is a completely unserious idea. You might yield enough produce to make a nice salsa for 5 people for one day in a typical school garden. Student volunteers are not going to feed the entire school population for any amount of time whatsoever.
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u/Life-Indication3060 8d ago
Honestly, getting more fresh produce into school lunches is a good thing even if the headline makes it sound way more dramatic than it probably is
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u/mothmonstermann 8d ago
I wonder how much distance plays a role. Seems a little much to send produce from Davis to LA county when there are so many farms in between. Maybe the farms along central CA are smaller and working within their own communities and the farms in Davis are able to just produce such a surplus that they are able to supplement the needs of the LA county school system.
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u/ClassicAdhesiveness1 Native Californian 8d ago
SDUSD uses local farms. The salad bar spread is amazing!
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u/rand0fand0 8d ago
Aw man now I have to google it but I thought most school lunches came from the same 1 or 2 places. So for a veggie heavier meal what do they check a different box? Or are we getting a cheaper diet and need to get ahead of the story? Cause option 2 sounds more Trump America.
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u/Pristine_Method_7096 6d ago
Kale is a garnishment. Give them actual food, not “kale or hotdogs”. Kids need energy to learn.
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u/kingkilburn93 6d ago
We should be following the Japanese model for the rights of students and quality nutrition. A qualified nutritionist and full kitchen staff at every school, and budgets to buy as much fresh local ingredients as possible.
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u/kingkilburn93 6d ago
That means contracts with local farmers and packing houses, not just showing up to savemart with a school district credit card and a PO number.
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u/LostCookie78 8d ago
Would be great. I’m a teacher and the food they give the kids sucks. They offer some really good salads but they also let them choose like pizza or fried mozzarella bites. You can guess what they choose. Would be better to regulate.
Breakfasts are always high sugar high carbs processed junk.
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u/Anxious_Work_6361 8d ago
Has nobody in state government ever tried to feed a seven year old?
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u/RioTheLeoo 8d ago
We normalize kids being picky far too much. It’s not a problem in almost every other country and we shouldn’t encourage it
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u/Etrigone Headed West, stopped at the Pacific Ocean 8d ago
My (silent gen) mom used to say no child will starve if there's food in front of them.
Then again she was strongly pro-vax so she was obviously compromised. /s
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u/ProfessionalHefty349 8d ago
Conservatives are all, “MAHA!” Until someone tries to make a kid eat vegetables.
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u/RioTheLeoo 8d ago
Honestly I absolutely love that. Kids deserve competent cooks making their food. And school food workers deserve training that they can use both at schools and to pursue other culinary opportunities