Before the storm

Veg Here I am thinking a lot about Ms El, Zee, Sunflower, everyone at their school and in their neighbourhood. I got sent this post before the storm Sandy hit. I hope they are all ok and we hear from them soon.



Today’s “A” lunch option was grilled cheese. I realize we have not been describing our lunches in much detail, so I will try to fix that with today’s meal. I have been eating the school lunch with the children this week. “American Cheese” is a little hard to describe. Some people insist it is not cheese at all, but a processed dairy product. It is creamy and salty, and it melts very smoothly, but it doesn’t have any strong “cheese-y” or sharp flavor. The whole wheat bread is very soft and toasts up nicely in the oven. The tomatoes were perfectly ripe and sweet; I tried the ranch dressing dip that the children were offered with the tomatoes, but I preferred them plain. And, the peaches were very good. I remember canned peaches being too sweet when I bought school lunch as a kid (I grew up nearby in Queens, New York City), but the peaches schools serve no longer come in heavy syrup. They’re canned in juice and water. I am not, and never have been a milk drinker. I drank it the first three days of our project, but I couldn’t stomach it yesterday, so I had a water.

Zee-
“This sandwich is too hot.”
Zee opened his bag of “veggie straws” from home, and ate that for the rest of the lunch period. With a lot of coaxing he took a nibble of cheese from inside his sandwich. I took a peek at the label on the veggie straws. They are mostly made of potato flour and starch, they’re doesn’t seem to be much to them. I don’t really have an opinion on how “healthy” or “un-healthy,” this snack is. I can tell you that I’ve had them before, and I definitely would not have been full enough after lunch. But, Zee did not seem to be hungry.
The weather has been a little wet in New York this week. The children had a relaxed indoor recess period before lunch. They definitely eat more of their lunches when they run around before coming into the cafeteria. Zee’s class also had a snack break sometime in the morning. I’m sure his parents sent him in with a large morning snack.
“My lunch today was healthy. I ate some cheese. I forgot to drink my milk. But, my lunch was healthy because I had vegetable chips.”

The Veggie Straws are a snack from home.

Food-o-meter: “4/10”
Health meter: “8/10”
Price: $2.60 (£1.62) for students $3.75 (£2.34) for adults (some students are eligible for reduce-fare or free lunch).
Recess: Indoor “I played checkers with my friends inside.”

Sunflower- “Today the grilled cheese was good. It took 20 bites to eat. The peaches are good and the tomatoes are [takes a bite, gives me the thumbs up sign] good. The chips I have aren’t healthy, but I bought them because my sister got some too and she likes them.” Sunflower also did not drink her milk. She did finished her entire sandwich and a good portion of the sides.

Food-o-meter: “10/10”
Health meter: “6/10”
Price: $2.60 (£1.62) for students $3.75 (£2.34) for adults (some students are eligible for reduce-fare or free lunch).
Recess: Indoor “We went to the playroom. I made paper airplanes. My sister taught me how to make them. She learnt from other kids in her class.”