Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has a passion for more than 140 character tweets. He is a strong supporter of vegetarian school lunch options for kids. In fact, he is lobbying Congress to add vegetarian lunch options to schools, reports the Huffington Post. Click ahead for my thoughts and to see a video of a celeb-kid lobbying for vegetarian friendly options in her school…
All Kids Gotta Eat. As a former child who used to reject meat options at school, I found myself eating all the fruit, veggies, chips and other ‘junk food’ veggie snacks around. Wow, what a difference it would’ve made if I were offered some brown rice and veggie bean tacos, a pizza with natural whole grain crust and all fresh organic veggies on top or even a yummy tofu lasagna instead of the mystery beef lasagna I remember. Kids are going to eat. And if you forget about their individual needs and food restrictions, they just might fill up on foods that are much worse than smart schools could offer. And yes, veggie options are healthy for all kids-not just the vegetarians…
Extreme Measures. I recently spoke with a Pennsylvania middle school teacher who said that they do not allow ANY outside food in schools. None. They are trying to implement a wellness food program and outside food is simply not allowed. She wanted to do a lesson on foods from around the world, but was prevented to do so because of the strict school laws. I am very supportive of school wellness programs, but sometimes common sense interventions should be allowed. If a teacher wants to discuss foods and cultures in a lesson plan, I think they should get a green light. Food is culture, is society, is life and is part of learning about the world around us.
visit www.healthyschoollunches.org for more on this cause.
I think food can turn into peer pressure at school. If all the cool kids are eating junk, then it becomes a trend. I remember the salad bar became trendy for the ‘cool kids’ to eat at and low and behold, the salad bar became a student favorite. S yes, the restrictions and food guidance can be good. Who knows what trend will pop up.
I do not think the schools or government should have any hand in what students eat. This should be the parents job. Eating one thing at school doesn’t mean the values change at home.
I fully support healthy vegetarian options at schools. Great post.
I like the idea of posting about a movement to include vegetarian options at school cafeterias, but think the whole Twitter lead-in is an offensive, annoying stretch of a news tie-in. What does Twitter’s co-founder have to do with anything in the food or healthy eating movement? Nothing! That’s like announcing that some pop star endorses a brand or lifestyle on this blog and at least for me, I’ve come to hold this blog’s news stories in higher regard than the tabloid junk that passes for news nowadays. So please consider how you frame your news notes! Thanks!
Heather,
I greatly appreciate your view and comment.
I understand your argument that using the twitter co-founder’s ‘celebrity’ to make headlines is a bit of a ‘grab-n-go’ PR technique. BUT, I am simply trying to report on a subject that I am incredibly passionate about: healthy kids. And I greatly respect any celebrity OR average person who is speaking out to government officials to improve the current state of student lunch programs. If the person just happens to be a twitter co-founder I say-yay! Twitter is on everyone’s “HOT MEDIA LIST” right now, and to string the issue of veggie-friendly student school lunches onto the twitter publicity blitz is an OK thing to me.
Improving school lunches and healthy eating-vegetarian options for kids is a topic I want to be headline news–no matter who is talking about it (celebrity or not).
Thanks for your comment Heather, reader views are very important to me!
Kathy
ps: If you look at my past news reports, I often report on no-name teachers and individuals who are making headlines in healthy kids news. So rest assured, my occasional celebrity-tie-in is just a variation-not the norm.
Thanks for the response, Kathy! I do see what you mean that there are benefits to linking this issue to the Twitter or other media dujour bandwagon of the moment, it’s just that the tendency for so many media outlets to do this has kind of left me skeptical of it.
Thanks for posting all of these important issues!
Interesting post – I never knew the founder of Twitter wore so many hats! But now that I think about it, of course he must do something besides tweet all day 🙂