We're in WAMU Radio's Report on Obesity

This qualifies as a reimbursable school lunch

By Ed Bruske

aka The Slow Cook

A few weeks ago WAMU radio's education reporter, Kavitha Carodoz, interviewed me for a report on childhood obesity and what people are trying to do about it in the
District of Columbia. I appear in part four of the five-part series that aired last week, talking about some of the nastier food D.C. schools have served and how much it has changed in the last year. Now the challenge is getting the kids to actually eat the improved meals (hint: they're not big fans of vegetables or whole grains).

There's a certain freak show aspect to these reports: kids grossly obese, and doctors trying to figure out what to do with them. And the approach hues to crusted-over ideas about obesity: if only we could get kids to eat less and exercise more. Hello! The latest science points to carbs--especially sugary sodas--as the metabolic villain in this epic story. What we really need is a national conversation about insulin, the fat storage hormone, and how we can change our diet to avoid the insulin response to eating too many carbs.

But give our local public radio station credit for devoting resources to expore this important topic. Just a small correction. It's not a soda tax that' funding the city's Healthy Schools Act, which provides extra cash for school meals. That proposal went down in flames--as it does everywhere when the beverage industry sends in its artillery--and was replaced by extending the regular sales tax to cover carbonated beverages, which previously had been treated as food in D.C., meaning not subject to tax.

Anyway, after listening to the series you can watch some video of the reporters being interviewed about what they took away from this endeavor.

We're on Kojo Today

By Ed Bruske
aka The Slow Cook

I'll be on the Kojo Nnamdi show at noon today with Chef Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve talking about the food in D.C. schools, something we've been writing about quite a lot in recent months.

We've got an entire hour for the discussion, so don't be afraid to call in or e-mail your questions about how we can improve school food for all kids in the District of Columbia. You can listen to the show live either at 88.5 FM on your radio or on the internet. If you miss the show live, you can call it up later and listen to the archived version at Kojo's website.

I recently wrote about Cathal Armstrong and his proposal to use his charitable foundation to take over food service at Tyler Elementary School on Capitol Hill using parent volunteers. Between that, the recently passed "Healthy Schools Act," the hiring of a new food services director at D.C. Public Schools and two new pilot food projects, there's plenty going on in school food to keep the conversation going.

See you on the radio!