We're From The Government

Y'know, I always figured that tasty food would sell well. Fries are easy to make & are tasty, too. I bet if they made healthy food taste great, they'd do better.

School cafeterias are legendary for serving bland, tasteless food. Not that it's easy to serve large quantities of healthy food. But they've got to be able to do better than that! Even serving salsa with a meal would spice things up.

A little imagination & thinking outside the box would do them well. 'Cause burgers beat bland every time. Kids'll just cross the street to get their salt & fat.

I noticed they spun the issue by insinuating that a more gradual introduction of these elite foodstuffs would cause acceptance. I think it's more likely that the gradual introduction has not run full cycle yet and that drops in revenue have been less visible due to the longer time span of implementation. Of course this will cause the kids to lose weight since they will mostly not eat the c##p or get good aerobic workouts by walking to off site vending machine areas during lunch.

I do not know if Ontario pulls the same kinds of stunts some states do in regard to the cafeteria lunch.
Most certainly they preach'healthy' meals and I think we all saw what happened to the four year old who had her lunch taken away and served chicken nuggets instead. And her mother was sent the bill.
Outraged, the mother conked a few heads and found out that the cafeteria monitor worked for the company supplying the chicken nuggets for the school lunch program.
I do not know where they got the idea chicken nuggets are healthier than a sandwich and a piece of fruit, but there you go.
They can call the lunch program in Ontario whatever they like.

If the kids won't eat it, and apparently they won't considering the shortfall, they needn't bother with a lunch program at all.
Save everybody a ton of money and the kids can eat whatever their parents say they can eat.

And they can tell all those 'co-parents' where to stick it. Carrots and all.

If a guy was smart,s/he would set up a Timmie's or Mac's franchise about half a block from any school in Moronronto. The turn-over would be great,and the GR 11's/12's with free periods could even get a part time job there. It would get them ready for the "you want fries with that" they'll need with the basket-weaving courses the leftards are teaching them.

This reminds me of a dog food company that recently came out with what they considered a wonderful, tasty, nutritious, shiny hair, skin and teeth promoting dog food.

At a regional meeting the president of the company stood up and demanded why we salesmen were not selling more of the company's wonderful, tasty, nutritious, shiny hair, skin,
and teeth promoting dog food.

"Can anyone tell me what the problem is?"

"Why are you not selling more of this wonderful dog food"
demanded the president.

An old salesman in the back of the room raised his hand,
and the president of the company said:

"Yes"

"Sir,"
the salesman said,

"The Damn dogs won't eat it!"

When I was young there was usually one heavier kid in each class who might not even be considered obese today. Everyone ate high fat/high carb diets in large quantities. When I was a kid I probably averaged an hour of two daily in sports. I'd grab a 22 and go for a 5 mile walk and kill things or maybe go for a 10 mile bike ride on gravel roads. Kids didn't spend 24/7 sitting on their a$$es. I sure think obesity is a function of exercise more than a function of diet. I think diet is pretty much irrelevant.

This is more statist idiocy. I happened to be stuck in the hospital late in the evening without food last week and decided to try the vending machines and found out there wasn't a single chocolate bar in the place nor a single non-diet pop. When I need to fuel my brain in a situation like this I need a ready source of glucose, not a tiny piece of fruit for a dollar a pop. Managed to get buy with a bag of "healthy" chips and a couple of caffeine tablets which I've gotten into carrying with me. Normally I eat a high protein and fat diet but when liver glycogen stores are getting exhausted, I'd much rather ingest exogenous carbs rather than breaking down muscle for gluconeogenesis.

The "healthy" diet the Ontario moonbats are proposing for schools have absolutely no consideration for individual variability. Back in my high school days, I estimate I ate 5000 calories/day and still had a hard time keeping my weight steady. That was in the days when we'd walk 4 miles each way to school and be active during physed class and track practice after school. There were lots of grumblings on my mothers part about the high food bill when I was growing up.

Vegetables are a very inefficient source of calories and most herbivores spend the whole day eating in order to get enough energy to survive. That's why humans have come up with far more concentrated caloric refueling sources. If there is a problem with physically inactive grossly obese kids, then those are the ones that should be pushed towards the celery lunches (which have negative calories) and limited in how many calories they're allowed to ingest. If they don't like it, they can walk to the nearest fast food restaurant which will at least give them some exercise. This system is penalizing students with fast metabolisms.

Also, the low salt meme seems to have permeated the moonbat weltanschauung with absolutely no thought given to those people who need a high salt diet. 5% of the population of Canada has a single copy of one of the cystic fibrosis genes which means that they lose way more salt when they sweat than someone who doesn't have this gene. Thus, such individuals need way more salt than is considered "good for them" by the safety Nazi's. That is if they exercise in the heat; if they're sessile and air conditioned then they can get by with the low salt diet.

The best thing is to have a choice of foods available and those individuals who don't wish to spend the whole day masticating a few thousand calories of low quality vegetarian food can quickly refuel with high caloric food leaving the moonbats to ingest the low caloric crap. If there's a problem with obesity, it's due to insufficient physical activity and simple ways of dealing with this are prohibiting parents from driving their kids to school, raising the driving age to 25, compulsory physical education and low calorie meals for the fat kids. When I was in school the high school cafeteria would probably have been condemned for the meals it served but there was very little obesity.

Scar, just saw your post after I posted mine and my school days were similar to yours. One of my school lunches was bacon fat thickly smeared on bread with ketchup. A nice high calorie meal for a kid who had to walk to and from school in -40 F weather (no parent then would have ever considered driving their kids to school unless they were in a wheelchair).

Simple ban home lunches and don't allow the students to leave school at lunch!

The mind of a leftie is a curious thing. They want to ban Coke, they want to ban McDonalds, Yet the want to make drugs legal. Liberalism is surely a mental defect.

Justthinkin 1:51a.m.:

As it happens, the scenario you project is precisely the one that exists here in Stratford ON (with both Tim's and Mac's across the street from one another -- 10 minutes' walk from both the public and Roman Catholic high schools) with precisely the results you predict.

You did miss a beat, however (we're not so stupid here in Ontario as you make out, you know) -- right next door to the Tim's there's a beer store!

The predictably inevitable result of the financial failure of the school food policy will be Dalton's idea for a cure for the "Dutch Disease" -- ban apple fritters from Tim's. Let the regulation of the corner store and coffee shop industries begin! All he has to do is emulate the regulation of the alcohol industry here in Ontario (government-run or sanctioned monopoly/duopoly). Not a thought required! Just change the names in the documents!

I thought the article ironic in that the school authority where there is an NDP government (Nova Scotia) is criticizing the school authorities where there is a Liberal government (Ontario) for not implementing the policy in stages! Normally, it's the other way around isn't it? But who knows, in this age of NDP Liberal leaders and Liberal NDP leaders.

And, speaking of which, you should know that I almost didn't mention the public and Roman Catholic high school stuff above, for fear of provoking a debate about why we have four sets of publicly-funded school boards in Ontario, brought to you courtesy of Bob Rae when he as NDP premier (that would be way off topic)!

This is all predicated on crappy "BMI", which was invented by a social scientist and statistician, not a medical authority. http://ndt.oxfordjournals.org/content/23/1/47.full

While current studies show that those who are "overweight" with a BMI of 25 to 30 actually have about the same or lower mortality rate than the "normal" from 20 to 25, and better than those who are under 20 and over 30.http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v18/n1/abs/oby2009191a.html

I give anything based on BMI about the same amount of thought that I give to the Humidex and Wind Chill nonsense you hear every day. IE, using just height and weight, with a non-moving fudge factor, to determine something about a 3 dimensional object is nonsense.

It's like the temperature and wind speed only matters when it's wind chill you are talking about, the humidity supposedly has no influence.

And it's only humidity and temperature that matter when it's the humidex you are talking about, but somehow that nice breeze that was able to make us feel cold in the winter has no effect on how we perceive temperatures in the summer.

Social science drivel.

They could put Subway franchises in the Ontario schools,they're popular with the kids. Alternately they could pull the cafeterias altogether and tote the insulated lunch sacks with whatever their parents allow them. It's no business of the state to be telling people what to eat or what to feed their kids. It's nanny state socialism out of control.

Oh well, they're going to turn the cafeterias into mosques anyways...if not with parental consent, certainly with parental acquiescence.

Turkey peperoni and whole wheat pizza dough, no more hot dog days as even chicken wieners (yuck!0 with whole wheat buns do meet the Healthy lunches criteria. Soups? Forgetaboutit...

So parent councils that used to provide a hot lunch (run by volunteers) to the children as a means to finance and implement programs on behalf of their own children ...forgetaboutit...

its all about taking away any means of the parent influencing their schools, all the while the buracrates and Dolton yap about how they need more parental involvement, it takes a village, yadda yadda. All it really takes is a bunch of mindless village idiots to follow rules with out protest..

You are the borg you have been assimilated.

Funny this as anyone familiar with military service will attest. The epitomy of a captive audience.

The main complaint about the MRE's when they first appeared was this "healthy" food thing....leaving the men hungry...

Anyone who has spent time in the boonies, knows that the men didn't waste anything from their C-rats.....but in static situations the grease from such entries as "ham & hash dinner" was used to water-proof boots....in the field it got wolfed down....probably an instinctive survival mechanism.

School cafeterias have the same problem as any institutional cook-shack....the problem of delivery savoury food in big quantities....

I recall in University the adage "the way to a girls heart was through her gut." Take her off campus for a nice restaurant meal was sure way to impress.

That said the military is very adept in meeting the nutricinal needs of it's members....based on long experience. It is key to performance and morale.

An army marches on it's stomach...
Napolean Bonoparte

"Ottawa and Toronto schools both reporting million-dollar drop in cafeterias sales"

I'm actually all for this, because I think public schools SHOULD have less money to play with. The more $$$, the more mischief they get into...

Mguinty will like my new invention, along with all the other misguided do-gooders, it is reflective, "industrial strength bubble wrap". I think all of us should be forced to wear helmets and reflective bubble wrap, for everything from backyard chicken feeding to gardening and eating in school cafeterias, and when nothing gets done, ever, maybe these morons will get it, but I doubt it.

Scar and Loki, well said. Lack of modern normal day to day living exercise among children as well as adults is a major factor in rising obesity levels. When I was a kid there was no TV or computers and we spent hours out in the bush or fields rounding up the bad guys with the black hats.

Kate has an excellent idea for bringing back revenue in the school cafeterias.

sasquatch is right. Long exercises at Petawawa generally had a fourth meal the size of a big supper around midnight and a big breakfast at 6 am.

But... but... but... It's HALAL!

"'We put a man on the moon 40 years ago. Don’t tell me that we can’t make healthy, delicious, tasty, attractive food for teenagers in the province of Ontario in 2012,' he said in a press conference last month."

Wait... when did Ontario put a man on the moon?

Fat is an essential nutrient for brain development, so lets cut that out first...

Whatever happened to taking your own lunch to school? I could count on one hand the number of times I bought lunch at the school cafeteria. Control freaks? Yes, but it's not difficult to work around them. Unless, of course, the lunch bag Nazis are loosed.

They banned junk food at the school near where I work.

At lunch time hundreds of kids make the trek to the nearest corner store.

But instead of a 350ml coke or 40g bag of chips, they buy the biggest bag of chips and largest pop possible. For the same money practically.

sasquatch "The main complaint about the MRE's when they first appeared was this "healthy" food thing....leaving the men hungry"

I think you had to eat every scrap including the big crackers and maybe the box.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

“We put a man on the moon 40 years ago. Don’t tell me that we can’t make healthy, delicious, tasty, attractive food for teenagers in the province of Ontario in 2012,” he said in a press conference last month."

You didn't put anything on the moon and Gubment statist bureaufats like you "can’t make healthy, delicious, tasty, attractive food for teenagers in the province of Ontario in 2012” because you're too stupid.

Cut my taxes and fire half of them.

Never interfere with the enemy while he is in the process of making a mistake.

A few astute kids (the ones worth saving) will get a practical lesson in the danger of a nanny state and a few of the thirteen years of indoctrination will be undone.

"Why should anyone but myself decide what's to eat."

Re: Nova Scotia's implementation. Catching wise to thin-edge-of-the-wedge tactics is only going to help too.

IMP's need to be eaten in the dark; then they're not bad. mmmmmmm.... Ham Omlette......

Apparently, none of you have seen any of Jamie Oliver's programs about school food. (Oliver is a noted British chef). Disgusted with what he saw in school cafs (burgers, pizza, and chips), he worked very hard to change what was served, starting with one school.

The programs are instructive for anyone seeking to change an entrenched bureaucracy; he encounters roadblocks at every turn. From the high ranking officials, who all agree 'in principle' that it's a great idea but 'needs more study', to the "lunch ladies" who actually cook the food and object to any changes to 'that's way we always dunnit', to the kids who'd have to eat it, all he finds is resistance.

The kids, in particular, were revealing. From the 14 year old who boasted "I've never eaten vegetables in my life" to the girls who, while admitting they worry about their complexions and figures, still would rather scarf down a burger and fries than have chicken breast and pasta primavera, their ignorance about food and their reluctance to even try anything new was breathtaking. In one episode, he offers free lunches of his tasty food (Oliver, for those who don't know, is not some fussy constructor of composed plates decorated with mousses and coulis; his food is simple and rustic, and his favourite expression in the kitchen is "have a bash at.."), only to watch the kids take a single bite and pitch the rest in a bin.

He was, after a time, able to win over a few students at each of the schools he tried, but the majority stuck with what they knew. Then, he repeated his experiment in America, with much the same results. Kids like what they know.

Which doesn't surprise me. Children, for all we think they are wild and free, are deeply conservative creatures who resist change, especially from above. Stories of children who only ate PB&J, or only egg salad, or only bologna sandwiches for lunch are legion. It's not until their later teens that they will willingly experiment with an adult's ideas (unless it's something illegal, of course - then it's all bets off!).

The answer to childhood obesity is not restricting food - it's childhood activity. Yet when my daughters were in elementary school and the PTA focus was on "the healthy child", my girls told me the first thing ditched at the slightest provocation was the daily 15-minute exercise period proscribed.

I remember my elementary schools day - 15 minute recess in the morning, an hour for lunch, 15 minute recess in the afternoon. We only stayed in if it was pouring rain. My kids tell me recess was cancelled if it was too cold, too snowy, too hot, or even if it was "too windy". (The latter must have been particularly effective, as in four years there were zero instances of a child being taken by an errant gust.) After school, we poured into the fields and streets to play road hockey, softball, soccer, kick the can, etc. My kids curl up on the couch with the TV on, their laptops open, and their cellphones close at hand.

If they really cared at MiniEducation, they'd be mandating 45 minutes of phys ed every day, instead of teaching kids about homosexuality and 'alternate family arrangements'. And the EFTO, if they could tear themselves away from airing smarmy ads about how much adults venerate their old elementary school teachers, might realize that a child who's been running around for 30 minutes might be a bit less disruptive and a bit more receptive in class. But with those two dinosaurs in the way, change will be glacial at best.

"Perhaps they could make up the shortfall selling "Screw you, McGuinty" t-shirts. "

I'd buy enough to outfit the whole family and make sure the kids had a clean one to wear every day for school.

And don't forget when we all walked to school it was uphill BOTH ways;-)

Since when do Ontario schools have cafeterias? We brought our own when I was a kid...

...or we killed a mammoth on the playing field and ate it raw. Didn't have this newfangled "fire" thing, no sir. Kids these days. Feh!