By Ed Bruskeaka The Slow Cook
Is it any secret that kids love noodles?
Here's the simple lunch one boy brought to school recently: fettuccine pasta with peas on the side. The pasta appeared to have been dusted with Parmesan cheese, little more, and the boy was wolfing it down.
If the USDA has its way, noodles like this won't be served in the federally-subsidized school meal program. All grain products will have to be "whole grain-rich," meaning at least 51 percent whole grain.
The only problem with that is, kids don't really like whole grains. In fact, I recently witnessed a spaghetti and meatball lunch where the kids inhaled the meatballs and tomato sauce, but wouldn't touch the "whole grain" pasta.
And yet switching to "whole grain-rich" will add a considerable expense to school meals. Do you suppose kids will grow to like whole grains?
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No -- they will not grow to like whole grains ... at least not pasta.
ReplyDeleteI serve whole grain pasta and the kids HATE it. They call it "chocolate pasta" because it is brown.
Many parents have called me to complain that I have served them "burnt" pasta.
I'm paying almost double for whole grains that end up untouched in the trash -- which then also increases my garbage bill.
Perhaps the good people at Boulder and Berkeley could come up with a solution. Or just maybe, adults in the cafeteria helping kids learn to eat would be a place to start.
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