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A journalist recently asked us this question:
"How would VSCA describe a perfect lunch box?"
Got us thinking! It's an interesting question
and we found it raised more questions than answers.
Are we talking about a lunch for primary or for
secondary students? Brought from home, or commercially
provided (whether from within or outside the school)?
How would you begin to assess a lunch box? Nutritionally?
Educationally? Safety?
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And from whose viewpoint? In a child's
or an adult's perspective? A student, a
parent, a teacher, a nutritionist, a dentist
or an overworked and under-resourced canteen
worker may have quite different perceptions!
Then, if and when you did manage to define
a "perfect lunch box", whose job would it
be to "sell" this concept - to schools,
parents, school canteens, the food industry,
community health educators and others interested?
How could it be communicated so that it
could be usefully understood and implemented,
and not misinterpreted or manipulated, either
wilfully or unwittingly?
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How would you begin
to assess a lunchbox?
And from whose perspective?
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Our experience of working with authorities setting
school canteen policies in Victoria over the decades
has proven the difficulty of pinning down just
what is - and isn't - an "acceptable" school lunch
- a fraught and enormous task. Then there is the
further challenge of spreading the message in
a way that actually will lead to healthier eating
at school, and health benefits for society. Three
years after the launch of the Victorian government's
'Go for your life' policy for school food, one
thing is clear - we have seen many "creative"
interpretations of which canteen or lunch box
foods constitute 'Green', 'Amber' or 'Red' choices.
One thing VSCA has observed, in working with
canteens and schools for the best part of 30 years,
is that decisions about school food are complex!
Food and eating are complex for each of us, with
far more functions than simply nourishing the
body. And even that is not a straightforward matter
to adjudicate! One body's meat is quite literally
another body's poison - for example, when it comes
to allergens like peanuts.
Food can mean many things to many people - survival,
social, multicultural, political, interesting,
comforting, divisive, pleasurable, celebratory.
It can be an expression of emotion, an integral
aspect of identity and family life. Perhaps most
controversially of all for schools - food can
be seen as a "treat" or reward.
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...who is responsible
for deciding what children can, should,
or do, eat at school?
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Food at school is further complicated by
matters such as profit and loss, and the
allocation and availability (or otherwise)
of resources such as equipment and labour.
And then there's the question of who is
responsible for deciding what children can,
should, or do, eat at school? Parents, education
authorities, the food and advertising industries,
the government, or hands-on service providers
such as school canteens or commercial canteen
lessees, local shops, or out of school hours
carers?
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What could VSCA say about the content of a perfect
lunch box? It looks good, smells good, tastes
good, is fresh, is hygienically prepared and is
safe to eat, is fun and appealing and appetising,
is affordable, is varied, is nutritionally balanced,
is just right for that individual student at that
time on that day as part of a total food intake,
is washed down with a good drink of water ....
and is made with love and care?
But is this really the question we should be
asking? Is there such a thing as a 'perfect' lunch
box, a 'perfect' meal, or 'perfect' food, in this
far-from-perfect world? What do you think?
Email your comments to blog@vsca.org.au
© VSCA 27 January 2010
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