Cooper Ann - Lunch lessons: changing the way we feed our children

Dedication:

Lunch Lessons is dedicated to all the lunch ladies and parents across this country who are working to provide children with wholesome, nutritious, delicious food. It is your passion and commitment that will rescue future generations from a lifetime of poor health. Keep fighting the good fightit is one we simply cannot afford to lose.

Acknowledgments:

First and foremost we would like to thank Courtney Ross-Holst and the Ross School. It was Rosss vision for her extraordinary school that ultimately inspired us to take on the challenge of improving the National School Lunch Program and changing the way our children eatforever. None of our work would have been possible without Anns remarkable Ross School culinary team (specifically Beth Collins, Deena Chafetz, Colleen Donnelly, Chad Vanderslice, and Robin Volinski) and the support of the schools faculty, staff, students, and parents. We thank each and every one of you for all youve done and continue to do. We are fortunate for the opportunity to share some of the schools recipes with the rest of the world in the pages of this book. We are grateful to Hailey London, the schools Registered Dietician who collaborated with us on Chapter I, Basic Childhood Nutrition, and helped Ann create the Healthy Kids Meal Wheel.

Over the past several years we have met and worked with some extraordinary individuals who have inspired, educated, and generously given us their time, help, and guidance during the writing of Lunch Lessons . Working with Toni Liquori and Kate Adamick formerly of FoodChange, all of the EATWISE kids, and the Kellogg Foundation afforded us tremendous insight and gave us access to still more wonderful recipes for this book. Our gratitude, also, to Stephanie Sarka, an independent consultant working with the NYC Department of Education, Children First Initiative, for helping Toni reach her goals.

We are indebted to Alice Waters, Marsha Guerrerro, Chelsea Chapman, and Esther Cook with the Chez Panisse Foundation who also shared their favorite recipes and anecdotes as well as Zenobia Barlow and Janet Brown with the Center for Ecoliteracy for Rethinking School Lunch and sharing their vision with us. Michele Lawrence, superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District, and Karen Trilevsky, founder of FullBloom Baking Company both played vital roles in shaping our thoughts for this project. FullBloom also generously donated recipes for the book. Many thanks, also, to all the others who gave their time for interviews and contributed their thoughts and ideas to the writing of this book.

A big thank-you also to Steve Murch at BigOven for his unparalleled help in getting our recipes moved and analyzed. All of our nutritional analyses were done using his fantastic software.

We are grateful for Herb Schaffner, our editor whose passion and dedication to this book have been unflagging, as well as to our agent, Lisa Ekus.

Finally we want to thank Lisa Macon, Michelle Wiesner, Alice Legarde, Nicole Findlay, and Jenny Hops who helped test recipes in their kitchens and at their dinner tables. Our heartfelt thanks also go out to Lisas family, husband, John, and children, Ben and Kaia, who not only shared in the process of this work by tasting and critiquing recipes, but who also supported and brought into clearer focus the necessity of this work.

Today we are in the throes of an obesity pandemic. Life expectancies are shorter. Thirty to forty percent of children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes, and a great many of them will have other health problems resulting from obesity. As a surgeon who has dedicated my career to eradicating heart disease and other preventable diseases in adults, I cannot stress enough the importance of healthy diets for your children.

In order for us to combat the health impacts of the diseases related to obesity, we must change the way we feed children, as well as the way we educate them about food and how it relates to their health. The importance of this connection between diet and health cannot be overstressed.

Ann Cooper and Lisa M. Holmes are to be commended for taking a leadership role in the war to improve our childrens health. As they raise their fists against the overuse of chemicals by agribusiness and the corporate infiltration of schools by fast food and processed-foods manufacturers, they present us with a wonderful guide, filled with in-depth research and delicious recipes, to changing our childrens eating habits both at home and in school. Whether you are a parent, a teacher, a lunch lady, a school administrator, or just a caring individual, this book will change the way you think about school lunch.

Mehmet Oz

Professor and Vice Chair of Surgery

New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University

A mans palate can,
in time,
become accustomed
to anything.

N APOLEON B ONAPARTE