What's for Lunch: Pizza

By Ed Bruske

aka The Slow Cook

Pizza, usually containing donated government commodities, arrives pre-cooked and frozen at D.C. Schools. It's easily transferred to a baking sheet and heated in a convection oven. Pepperoni also arrives frozen in separate bags, so it's no trick to turn plain cheese pizzas into pepperoni pizzas.

The salad is composed of iceberg lettuce shipped in bags from California. Inside the bags of lettuce are smaller bags of processed carrots and shredded red cabbage. Everything is tossed together and served as a "mixed" salad, along with a foil packet of Kraft ranch dressing.

We are grateful for the fresh pear. The pear was not particularly ripe, and it's more than any grade schooler will probably eat. That means lots of waste. But it's better than the canned fruit loaded with sugar the kids usually receive.

Notice the milk: it's not flavored. In fact, I didn't see any flavored milk being served with the pizza. I asked my daughter about this and she said the school does not serve flavored milk with pizza. I've asked the food service director for D.C. schools if, in fact, there is a policy not to serve flavored milk with pizza. I'm still waiting for a reply.