Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /home/customer/www/13roads.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Divi/functions.php on line 5483
Select Page

The school-food movie “Two Angry Moms” was released in 2007, and I saw it probably two years ago, but its message still resonates. That’s both good and bad.

Sadly, school food in the United States remains a mess (no surprise to anyone who watched “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” or, frankly, to anyone who’s walked into almost any school cafeteria in this country). But there also is momentum on the issue like never before. And for the first time it feels like we might really be getting somewhere. I’m choosing optimism and advising you to check it out. It’s an important film.

For local readers, a group of Pittsford parents will be hosting a screening this Thursday, May 6, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Pittsford library. The event is free, no registration required. For others, check out the website for details on hosting your own screening. And for all, here’s a 10-minute preview:

Did that get you all riled up? Here’s some more fuel for the fire:

  • Kate Adamick, a school-food consultant featured in the movie, has been blogging about Jamie Oliver’s show for The Atlantic. This post is an eye-opening look at why it’s so hard to get processed food out of our schools. A hint: “The USDA is not just the overseer of the National School Lunch Program. It also acts as the federal government’s marketing arm for industrial agriculture and its progeny, the processed food and beverage industry.” (But you already knew that, right? Still, check out the post. It’s actually shocking.)
  • Mrs. Q, an anonymous teacher in Illinois, is blogging about her pledge to eat school lunch every day in 2010. Not long ago she had a Q&A with a lunch lady (no, Alice Gue, she doesn’t mind being called “lunch lady”). It was both fascinating and heartbreaking. It’s long and some of the questions are repetitive, but you’ll be so glad you read it. (And a little sad.)
  • Susan Rubin, the dentist and nutritionist who’s also one of the moms in “Two Angry Moms,” guest posted today on Ed Bruske’s The Slow Cook blog. She tackles the serious (and seriously maddening) problem of sugar in school food.

Have you seen “Two Angry Moms”? What did you think? Any thoughts on school food in general? I’ll be watching the movie again Thursday, then posting a follow-up.

Update on May 7: Saw “Two Angry Moms” last night, and I was struck again by the similarities between these moms’ battle and the drama that played out on Jamie Oliver’s show in Huntington, W.Va. It was disheartening, honestly, given that the stories were filmed probably four years apart. (And especially given Susan Rubin’s update about what has happened with the “Two Angry Moms” school in the interim. See her comment below.) But I do feel as though the tide is shifting. And no one ever said that change (or reform or revolution) is easy. More on that later.

 

Digiprove sealCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2010 Christina Le Beau