Family Farmed Expo

Organic School Project will be set up at the Family Farmed EXPO this Friday & Saturday with info on our programs. Please stop by and see us!


"The Midwest’s Premier Local Food Event returns featuring 3 great days of programming at the fantastic UIC Forum on the campus of University of Illinois at Chicago.

The MUST ATTEND EVENT for: Family Farmers ~ Local Food Businesses ~ Foodies ~ Industry/Trade Professionals ~ Restaurants ~ Artisan Food Producers ~ Investors ~ Food Policy Advocates Local Food System Stakeholders

Please check out our newly announced programming for the sixth FamilyFarmed EXPO – it’s three full days packed full of workshops, chef demo’s, exhibits, parties, business to business conferences, and more! We invite you to join us for the Midwest’s leading good food conference and festival."

Please see their website for more info. Tickets are still for sale and it is open to anyone! http://www.familyfarmedexpo.com/

Interview with Monica Eng

For those of you interested anything food related in Chicago, chances are you’ve read an article by Chicago Tribune reporter, Monica Eng. Writing stories on food in Chicago for the better part of 20 years now, she has become a well-known and trusted source in the journalism community. In her travels covering food news in Chicago, Monica has written many in-depth stories on food policy, and in recent years, the food policies of the Chicago Public School (CPS) system. Since we here at the Organic School Project have worked closely with a number of CPS schools and administrators to work toward serving better foods to kids, we were excited to sit and speak with Monica about her experience covering stories like these, and how she’s seen the efforts to improve school food progress over the years.

Organic School Project (OSP): How did you get started reporting stories like these? and making relationships with people in the food business in the interest of serving better food to kids?

Monica Eng (ME): In terms of looking at school food policy and efforts to improve it, it started with a piece I wrote on Greg Christian for the Chicago Tribune magazine, which is no longer in existence. I was asked to go interview a chef that was trying to make school food better. Then I did a news story right around the same time that looked like he was going to leave the program at Alcott because CPS was not allowing him to expand the feeding portion of the program to their schools, I think that was in 2007.

OSP: Did you start writing these revealing food stories to follow a trend in the media, or was it something that you found yourself to be passionate about, and pursued it?

ME: It was an assignment. I really had not looked at this issue at all. I was a feature writer, basically writing about restaurants, recipes, and restaurant trends, leisurely topics. But the editors of the magazine asked me to interview Mr. Christian.

OSP: Since you’ve been following the movement here in Chicago as a reporter for quite a few years now, do you see any changes? improvements? lessons learned? in the way that organizations (like OSP) go about making changes to the food that we’re feeding our children in school?

ME: There is certainly much more attention nationally and locally, that sort of has to do with the First Lady’s Let’s Move campaign. Some of it has to do with the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which has profited a lot of the campaigns out there. And Jamie Oliver didn’t hurt either, with his TV show. So, I think that there has definitely been an increase in coverage of it and I think OSP was a real pioneer that predated a lot of these other efforts.

We would like to thank Monica Eng for taking the time to speak with us here at OSP, and are glad to be in such great media company as we continue to work toward serving better food to our nation’s kids!

Check out some of her articles featuring the betterment of school food:

Most school garden produce is forbidden fruit in CPS lunchrooms

Changes in store for school vending machines

Red tape tangles chefs wanting to improve school lunch

Chicago chefs spice up schools' new push for healthy eating

CPS unveils push for healthier school meals

Tom Colicchio Addresses Food in Schools

Photo Credit: http://www.dccentralkitchen.org/article.php?id=219

Tom Colicchio, restaurateur and head judge of Bravo TV’s Top Chef, sat down for an interview with CNN’s Eatocracy to discuss food in schools and children’s access to food. As the son of a school cafeteria manager, Colicchio understands the importance of school food, as it may be the only meal of the day for many children.

Prior to sitting down for this interview, Colicchio spoke out in support of the Child Nutrition Act as it came up in the House.

In the interview, Colicchio emphasizes the importance of ensuring access to meals at school for all children, and to making those meals healthy. We at The Organic School Project feel the same way. Check out the interview, and peruse Eatocracy’s website for more food news.

New Research on the Negative Effects of Vending Machines in Schools

The results from a new study published in Journal of School Health which assesses competitive food and beverage use among students in schools and the nutrient intakes derived from these competitive foods are staggering!

About 22% of students in grades 1 through 12 buy food in vending machines each day – and these purchases add an average of 253 calories to their diets, accumulating an extra 14 pounds per child per school year!!

According to the study, vending machines are found in 16% of U.S. elementary schools, 52% of middle schools and 88% of high schools allowing these energy-dense competitive foods, such as sweetened beverages, snack chips, and candy, to be accessible to students in 97% of US schools! The effects of the poor nutritional snacks are detrimental to children’s diets. As the study indicates, kids who utilized vending machines consumed more sugar and less dietary fiber, iron and B vitamins like thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and folate compared to those who abstained.

With results like these, it’s unthinkable that school wellness programs do not adequately address the quality of food and beverages sold in competitive food sources. Guidelines for the nutritional quality of items available are essential to ensure kids are getting the proper daily nutrients. By selling unhealthy options, children become at risk for poor nutrition by choosing these items over a USDA meal or a meal packed from home.

One reason schools are slow to change is because serving healthier options can come at a cost for the school; and in this economic environment, not all are willing to make the change. It is often the case that healthier snack options bring in less money to the school distract than deals with big name companies that sell less healthy options. With government funding for schools declining, districts are not in a rush to remove these high sources of added revenue.

To avoid the negative impact of competitive foods on your child’s diet, parents should provide plenty of healthful snacks from home to get their kids through the school day and if possible, start talking to your school about removing unhealthy options, finding alternative sources of income and getting your school involved in healthy initiatives.