Mothership Meals and Satellite Saucers: Baum Forum on School Food

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Baum Forum on School Food

I went to Hilary Baum's Forum on Schools, Foods and Community yesterday up at Teachers' College.

I've gone to a few of these. The first year, Ann Cooper was the keynote speaker. She is this incredible activist-chef who is now working with Alice Waters out in Berkeley trying to figure out a good public school lunch program. She is a powerhouse. She was spitting mad, swearing up on stage, being radical, making huge unyielding demands. I left that conference walking on air, ready to change the world.

The next year was different. They went heavy on the city officials: Office of School Foods (OSF), Dept of Ed, Parks Department. It was one long day of powerpoint presentations, with a couple activists here and there. It was boring and depressing. According to the officials, everything had already been fixed, so if any of us still had a problem with our kids' school food, well it must be something wrong with us.

I wasn't going to even go this year, but I was asked to come and be a panelist, and to speak about starting a school food group. Well in that case, sure.

My first thought was to show a slide show of cooking classes and the CSA farm delivery we get at my son's school... but then I thought, that's bullshit! I hate seeing pretty pictures of what other people have done. It doesn't help me. I want to know how they DID it. Step-by-step instructions, please.

So instead of showing pretty pcitures, I talked about getting past the obstacles and how any social change movement is fraught with resistance, and that the more we were prepared and accepting of these obstacles, the more easily we could stay on course. (By "accepting" I mean like how people in New Hampshire are accepting of black flies in June, and how they swat them away and try fly paper, and try all different kinds of eradication methods, and talk to their neighbors and friends about how they are dealing with it and never stop being totally irritated and pissed off about them, but also never take them personally.)

Susan Rubin, one of the Two Angry Moms, was the moderater of our panel. She emailed me the next day supporting the message I was giving -- and seeming to share my annoyance at the confluence of officials and sales pitches. Our panel was basically three NYC moms, and two salesmen (one for the OSF, one for a private company that does great food service for private schools). One of the salesmen actually talked about how he couldn't believe that parents wanted to get rid of chocolate milk.

Shikes.

Hilary Baum, if you read this? Next year can you put the officials and the DOE people and the OSF people and the salesmen into the audience, and make them listen to us? Please?

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The Mothership Method

(Or, how to sit down for dinner with your family without completely losing your mind)

It would be great if kids AND parents wanted boiled chicken and baby carrots every night for dinner. But, too bad, we picky parents want spicy, exotic, fun foods, and our kids want, well, sorta lame foods.
Here's the solution: break it down. Serve the dish deconstructed, and let everyone put their own dish together at the table. Sort of like tapas, or smorgasbord, or tacos. Or how in some parts of China you get a bowl of rice, and everything else is in the middle of the table and you take what you want for your own little bowl of rice. That way everyone gets to eat what they want, parents don't have to nag their kids, and kids get to feels some ownership over their meals. Plus, kids get exposed to the look and taste of the foods you hope they will one day love. But it's not just tacos. You'll be amazed at what can be served with the Mothership Method.

Ten Tips to Get Through Dinner Without Having A Nervous Breakdown

1. Accept That Kids Are Picky. No need to freak out on your cooking ability, or look at your kids like there is something wrong with them. It's called "neo-phobia", and it's just how they are, especially from ages 3-6.

2. Serve Meals Broken Down. Even grown-up meals like coconut curry or linguine with clams can be served in their elements, making them more appealing to kids. Grown ups can assemble their own jumble of deliciousness at their own plate while kids take on the pared-down elements.

3. Push if it Works, But Don't Nag If It Doesn't. Some kids are okay with being expected to taste everything on their plate. Others aren't. I think it's okay to push kids -- but not if you're turning dinner into a battlefield.

4. Suggest a Smell. Smelling a new food is easier than tasting it, and can sometimes provide a kid with the information needed to take that scary first bite. But don't confine smelling to new foods. Smell favorites, too, and help them develop their sense of smell by making a game out of it.

5. Don't Ask "Do You Like It?" Instead, try, "What does this remind you of?" or, "Would your cousins like this?" or, "Does this taste salty or sweet?". Asking if they like it or not gives kids too much power and ends the conversation. Besides, we don't care if they like it! We just want them to keep tasting it until it is familiar.

6. Don't Get Frustrated. Imagine being in Taiwan, or Nairobi, or Rome for the first time. Would you eat everything on the local menu? New foods are scary and gross. Our kids need time to learn about the foods that we eat.

7. No SubstitutionsThis is family dinner, not a diner. You, in all your wisdom, have provided foods that are healthy and delicious and appropriate for your children. There is something on the table for them to eat. Period.

8. No Snacks Before Dinner. This can be the hardest with our hectic schedules and hungry kids. But children who come to the table hungry are more likely to eat than cause trouble.

9. Put Peer Pressure To Your Advantage. School children are more likely to accept new foods if the alpha girls in their group accept them. Swap healthy food ideas on playdates.

10. Involve Your Kids In Cooking, Shopping, and Gardening. The more experience kids have handling and preparing a variety of foods, the more likely they are to eventually accept the foods. (But don't get upset if they help you make a complicated wonderful meal, and then refuse to eat it.)