Chicago Public Schools Ban Lunches From Home

Chicago Public Schools Ban Brown-Bag Lunches

April 14, 2011

Paging Jamie Oliver: the latest brouhaha in the school lunch debate is taking place in the Midwest, where a number of Chicago-area schools have banned parents from sending kids to school with brown-bag lunches.

As Chicago Public Schools have attempted to improve the nutritional value of their lunches, they've also witnessed a decline in the amount of food being eaten. To remedy this, administrators have handed down an edict against lunches brought from home.

Are the new bans a good idea or a bad one? See what Chicago's schools have to say about their new policy when you read the whole story on Slashfood.

Source: Thinkstock

7 Comments

danakscully64 2 years 4 weeks

Have you seen what they server in public school cafeterias? Holy cow, what's worse than that? 16 oz of chocolate or strawberry milk, deep fried tots with sugary ketchup, hormone filled meat and dairy, enriched flour bread products. It's HORRIBLE. How is that better than a whole grain PB&J sandwich, water/soy milk, fresh veggies, an apple/banana/pear/peach, and maybe a tiny dessert? The main meals I can remember from my elementary school were burgers, chips covered in cheese and chili, microwave burritos, tater tots, and a salad bar with brown lettuce and ranch dressing.

fuzzles 2 years 5 weeks

GummiBears, Well said! I am split as well. I am not a parent but, if I had a child, I wouldn't let them anywhere near what I recall "school lunches" to be back in the day. My folks would send me off with a brown bag that contained a healthy sandwich, a piece of fresh fruit, and a packet of raw carrot and celery sticks--no dips, chips, juice drinks or sodas. The change in my pocket was used to purchase a small carton of milk from the the cafeteria. Simple and nothing fancy. I would much rather see an emphasis on teaching better nutrition as opposed to banning home-packed lunches. In the end, who learns anything about nutrition when no choices are required? Then again, who do we teach or encourage? The parents? The students? Truly a slippery slope.

GummiBears 2 years 5 weeks

I am split over this decision. I was a substitute teacher for a brief moment in Chicago and what some students brought from home or in some cases from McDonald's or whatever fast food restaurant nearby (usually the gas station) is just deplorable. Loaded with salt, saturated fats, etc. One set of students have the audacity to ask their father to bring them some McDonalds, but in hindsight that is probably all they were exposed to *shrugs*. When I would eat with the students (mainly to keep the peace) they tend to be in awe of what I eat, which usually healthy (usually some Chinese vegetable stir fry and a fruit). Heck even some of the teachers are impressed. I remember bringing a sandwich (I think it was a turkey and alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, etc) and I had half an avocado (with the pit and I don't pack mayo when carting a sandwich) and the students were asking me what kind of fruit/vegetable it was. One student asked me if she can have the seed. But on the other hand, I attended and graduated from the CPS system and if the lunches was anything they tried to serve me, I don't freaking blame those kids for brown bagging it. The cafeteria workers do not prepare the food, the CPS has some contract with some food manufacturer, whose name escapes me. So most of the time the food would have freezer burns, undercooked, overcooked, or tasted like s!#t. Now my friend who attended a different HS in the city but still part of the CPS said that her school had menu where you can purchase tasty foods like pizza, gyro sandwiches, etc. The free lunch version of gyro sandwich is a pale imitation of the Chicago gyro sandwich I grew up eating. So you can see where I am split on this.

2 years 5 weeks

So, you're telling me that you're going to fill up my child's classrooms with the ratio being 1 to 50, teacher to student, meaning you don't care about how they're being taught or how much or little they're being taught... BUT, you are going to worry about what I am sending them to school with in their brown bags? I'm sorry, but I disagree with this. We, as a nation, need to worry about how we're going to get children graduated and find them jobs, as opposed to spending money on the food. That's the parents' jobs.

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