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Follow Amy Kalafa's advice and you might insist your kids brown-bag their lunch from now on. "Have lunch with your child in the school cafeteria one day," says the mother-of-two and award-winning documentary filmmaker. "Take a look around at what is being served and what is being eaten. Check in with your gut and see what you feel!"
Amy's guess is that you won't feel great. That's why she teamed up with Chappaqua, N.Y. mom and nutritionist and Susan Rubin to chronicle why schools need to improve their lunches, and how some have already started the process. The resulting film is "Two Angry Moms," a title inspired by former Texas Agricultural Secretary Susan Combs' comment: "It will take two million angry moms to change school food." The plan? To grow from two to two million, of course.
Amy started to get angry when the healthy lunches she packed for her daughters were consistently discarded or ignored in favor of junk food offered at school, but she reached her boiling point when reports of a national children's health crisis made headlines. The statistics were startling: 35% of American children are obese or at risk. 30% of boys born in 2000 and 40% of girls will develop diabetes. 50% of all cancer could be prevented through healthy diet and exercise. The cost of fresh fruits and vegetables has risen 40% in the past twenty years. The cost of soda, sweets, meat, dairy, fats and oils has decreased by as much as 20% in that same time. The CDC reports that "this generation will be the first in our nation's history to live shorter lives than those of their parents." (Incidentally, the American life expectancy ranks 27th in the world.)
"Two Angry Moms" is part exposé, part how-to, according to Amy. The film shows what's wrong with current school lunch programs (high fat, sodium and sugar content, for starters, not to mention artificial ingredients and additives) and chronicles the efforts of pioneering parents and chefs like Alice Waters and Tony Geraci who work to bring healthy, locally-grown, sustainable cuisine to the cafeteria table.
It's easy to join the movement for bettering school food, Amy says. One way to start is by hosting a screening of "Two Angry Moms" for parents and teachers in your school district (to find out how, go to www.angrymoms.org).
"If you're not angry about what is being served in your kid's school, maybe you ought to be!"
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