Given enough time, I can convince myself that I NEED all
kinds of things I don't actually need — upgraded exercise
equipment (for my health), a boatload
of new books (for research), games for our Wii console, (to justify the initial purchase
of the Wii console), a new
kitchen (for entertaining guests), and Starbucks - brand chocolate truffles, (for my sanity).
I get it that JO has brought more attention to the school food issue, but it is so often the wrong
kind of attention, the
kind that seeks to blame those lowest on the food chain — the cafeteria ladies, the local schools, the local nutrition director — for problems which are coming from the top — the criminally low Federal funding that forces schools to rely on cheap processed food; the thicket
of government regulation which must be followed no matter how senseless, and hoops which must be jumped through to get the pitifully low reimbursement; the lack
of ongoing Federal funds to pay for
equipment repair or
kitchen renovation, forcing schools to rely on preprocessed food instead
of scratch cooking, unless they can pass the hat locally to pay for a central
kitchen to cook fresh meals.