LAUSD Considers New Lunch Menu: "Food For Lunch" Wants Your Opinion

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What will our kids be eating next year?

LAUSD is currently considering a new menu created by their executive chef Mark Baida for the 2011-2012 school year, and Food for Lunch, the local grassroots organization working to create healthy menu options in our schools, is asking you to weigh in.

The proposed menu, which can be viewed here, includes such dishes as Vegetable Curry, Quinoa Salad, a Spinach and Avocado Wrap and Roast Turkey Au Jus, with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables on the side, and seems quite different from the current menu, which is heavier on pizza, cheeseburgers and burritos.

Still, Jennie Cook, founding member of Food for Lunch tells us there's a long way to go:

It still needs to simplify to include more whole foods especially fruits, legumes and grains, cut the meat in 1/2, and oatmeal for breakfast. This processed food is not the answer. And I really think they need to start testing a simpler menu in elementary schools if they want to set up for success. Middle and high school is not the right place for massive change, (although the proposed menu could work for that age group) and in the end, that's what we want. Massive MASSIVE change.

Cook will be presenting her critiques of the menu to Chef Baida, and she invites you to add to the conversation. Email her at jennie@jenniecooks.com by Saturday, Nov. 6th and let her know your thoughts on how the menu could improve.