Crapateria

Students attending Chicago's Little Village Academy public school have two choices for lunch - eat the cafeteria food or go hungry.

Wanna bring your brown bag? Fuck you! Only students with allergies are allowed to bring a homemade lunch! "Nutrition wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school," principal Elsa Carmona said of the policy. "It's about ... the excellent quality food that they are able to serve in the lunchroom. It's milk versus a Coke." Actually, it's about a private school versus a public challenge...for now.  Students said they would rather bring their own lunch, and the $2.25 daily cafeteria price can also tally more than a homemade lunch.

A Chicago public school teacher started a blog to protest the city's school lunches, and last year the schools tightened their nutrition standards for cafeteria-served school lunches. Now, every lunch must contain whole grains, only reduced-fat salad dressings and mayonnaise are offered as condiments, and the meals must feature a different vegetable each day. Meal providers also must reduce sodium content by 5% annually. About 86% of the district's students qualify for free or reduced price school lunches because their families are toeing the poverty line, so they should be happy their kids are getting fed, but the thought of not having the choice for those that can provide is getting added to the already growing debate on student lunches and childhood obesity.

Alabama parents protested a school's rule that barred students from bringing any drinks from home, since ice water was provided at lunch. Eastern New York schools have outlawed cupcakes and other desserts. Nationally, many schools have kicked out chocolate milk and soda vending machines. Over in new-fascist Arizona, the Children's Success Academy allows home-packed lunches, but only if nothing in them contains white flour, refined sugar, or other "processed" foods.  The school has no cafeteria, which makes meeting to restrictions even harder.  And even old white right-winger jerk-off fantasy Sarah Palin got involved in a debate regarding a recommendation that teachers limit the number of times per month sugary treats are eaten in classroom birthday celebrations.

About a third of America's kids are overweight or obese, and since children consume at least 30% of their calories while in school, the thinking is making lunches healthier is seen as one way to counter that problem. And that's great, but if the other 70% of meals they have are pure crap, it's not going to make a difference. But because there are a lot of shitty parents, it's up to the schools to get involved so their kids don't grow up to die sooner.