First public school in nation to serve only vegetarian meals

[anothermagyar]

Queens
School 244 in Flushing, Queens, becomes first public school in nation to serve only vegetarian meals: officials

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/queens-school-serves-all-vegetarian-fare-article-1.1331690


‘Garden’-variety: Queens school goes all-vegetarian, in a first

Say so long to sloppy Joes and chicken fingers!

A Queens elementary school has become the first traditional public school in the country to serve all vegetarian all the time, replacing lunchroom legends like meatloaf with organic tofu, spinach wraps and couscous.

Education officials say PS 244 in Flushing was the natural choice to pioneer a meat- and fish-free menu because it has incorporated healthy living and eating into its academics for years.



And with much of its population hailing from East Asian countries, the diverse elementary school is home to plenty of already-committed vegetarians.

“My favorite food has to be rice and beans with mashed potatoes — but not the ones with a lot of salt. The ones with a lot of protein and nutrition,” said third-grader Simran Puri, a 9-year-old who welcomed the menu modifications.

“It’s much more healthier,” she added. “It helps to make our bodies stronger.”

Yesterday’s inaugural meal — which schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott sampled alongside dozens of kids — consisted of black bean and cheddar quesadillas served with salsa, red roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Students were also given a choice of an orange or a banana.

While the food was well received, not all the kids were wild about having their meat consumption restricted to grandpa’s chicken wings or mom’s home-cooked fish.

“The beef and meat is pretty good [at school],” said 9-year-old Mavis Li, a third-grader. “I already miss the meat we had a few months ago.”

School officials said that parents have been consulted every step of the way and that the school began by piloting an all-vegetarian menu three days of the week.

Parents still have the option of packing meaty offerings into their kids’ lunch boxes.

“It’s been received very well; that’s why there’s so much excitement about it,” said Amie Hamlin, director of the school’s partner, the NY Coalition for Healthy School Food.

She said a handful of private schools and public charter schools in the country have all vegetarian menus, but this is the first known foray by a traditional public school.

“We’ve already been approached by other [interested] schools,” said Hamlin.

To make sure kids aren’t scared off by bland, plant-based cafeteria entrees, PS 244 has been serving as a test-kitchen for the school system to help spice things up.

The pint-sized food critics convinced school chefs to ditch the big, square block of unseasoned tofu and instead serve smaller cubes seasoned with jerk sauce and paired with noodles.

“Sometimes, they make something I don’t like, like carrots. I don’t like tomato,” said 6-year-old first-grader Diego Figueroa. “[But] it’s good. I don’t like to eat meat a lot.”

For kids who object to the daintier dishes, childhood staples such as PB&J sandwiches or the simple but sturdy cheese sandwich are offered as daily alternatives.

Additionally, Fridays are now a weekly pizza party at PS 244, which will serve New York-style pizza slices, pizza bagels and French-bread pizza.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/garden_variety_school_lunches_J5vR0TscuZi8QMz71kzNsJ

There is no limit to insanity!!!

Poor kids don't even have a choice!

 

[Carl]

Yet another reason to homeschool, what a tragedy. It may be interesting to see if this influences the grades that the kids get. The thing that surprises me most is that so many people are even still alive; the average nutrition these days is just so poor that it's hard to even fathom.

 

[anothermagyar]

Additionally, Fridays are now a weekly pizza party at PS 244, which will serve New York-style pizza slices, pizza bagels and French-bread pizza.

 

[Bluestar]

This is a crazy direction for a public school to take. Despite our understanding of a veg diet, what about kids that do not want to eat a veg diet? Most kids I know, instinctively do not like veggies, let alone tofu! Oye, poor kids not only are they drinking the tap water from the water fountains at school, now they are being brainwashed into thinking they are eatting healthy with a lie.

 

[Carl]

This is a crazy direction for a public school to take. Despite our understanding of a veg diet, what about kids that do not want to eat a veg diet? Most kids I know, instinctively do not like veggies, let alone tofu! Oye, poor kids not only are they drinking the tap water from the water fountains at school, now they are being brainwashed into thinking they are eatting healthy with a lie.

What about kids who don't want to spend their lives in a creativity-destroying indoctrination center, rife with bullying, while being pumped full of psychotropic drugs? This vegetarian-pushing thing just one more layer of madness on the top of a steaming pile of BS that is our society, and it's a logical next step in the PTB's agenda.

 

[StrangeCaptain]

There is a positive side to this. If more and more public schools get the nerve to start serving "home-made" meals, then it can loosen the hold corporate culture has on education.

It reminds me of the school showcased in... Was it the documentary "The Corporation" or "Super Size Me"? This school started making from-the-ground-up meals at essentially the same cost as the former corporate food service.

Any school that does this is over a hump since they are now logistically prepared to serve any diet, so with new information, they can switch a lot more easily to some sort of meat and vegetables diet.

*sigh* I guess we can not hold our breath for that though. Vegetarians do often seem to be convinced they are saving the world.

Maybe someone can book Lierre Kieth to give a speech there under the guise that "The Vegetarian Myth" is about how to have a proper vegetarian diet. :P

 

[Deleted member 8431]

That is truly revolting but sadly not surprising.

This vegetarian-pushing thing just one more layer of madness on the top of a steaming pile of BS that is our society, and it's a logical next step in the PTB's agenda.

This is one of the worst thing you can do to a developing children - weather you are aware of it (like the PTB) or not (like most mainstream people), osit. Depriving them from essential nutrients that can only be found in meat and animal fats is inadmissible.

Agriculture isn't only destroying the planet but also all of it's habitants (in a way) - ourselves included. Vegetarians/vegans (at least the vast majority) know nothing about the impacts of monoculture on the ecosystem and the impact of a plants/grains/carbs/vegetable oils based diet on the human health. We are anything but herbivores. Indeed, Lierre Keith explains this very well through her work.

 

[anothermagyar]

There is a positive side to this. If more and more public schools get the nerve to start serving "home-made" meals, then it can loosen the hold corporate culture has on education.

It reminds me of the school showcased in... Was it the documentary "The Corporation" or "Super Size Me"? This school started making from-the-ground-up meals at essentially the same cost as the former corporate food service.

Any school that does this is over a hump since they are now logistically prepared to serve any diet, so with new information, they can switch a lot more easily to some sort of meat and vegetables diet.

*sigh* I guess we can not hold our breath for that though. Vegetarians do often seem to be convinced they are saving the world.

Maybe someone can book Lierre Kieth to give a speech there under the guise that "The Vegetarian Myth" is about how to have a proper vegetarian diet. :P

The movie was : "Supersize Me". That school was in Appleton, WI.
Actually who donated a lot of food for this school was our( Jerry and me) boss in Wisconsin. We used to work for his other little company" Healthy Treats" .
He also had a bakery in the same town, "Natural Ovens". Back then we didn't know better and he had a great experience with big food companies and we learned a lot from him and his wife Barbara.
He wrote a number of books:

"Fighting The Food Giants"
" Vitamin D: Is It a Fountain Of Youth?"
" Beating The Food Giants"

It's on Amazon.

He past away 2-3 years ago - colon cancer ( gluten...)
Anyway he was a great guy though, but wasn't aware the of the danger of grains,
but knew about dairy's bad effect.
He also talked about a lot the danger of processed food and what big food companies do is get some chemicals, which causing addiction, sprinkle the food with it and sell it.