The last generation of children has virtually grown up on fast foods and convenience meals. First finger foods are now McDonald’s French fries and chicken McNuggets. Sugary cereals and fattier foods are now present in school breakfasts and lunches. In many schools children can buy chips and so called juices in the school cafeterias. Children and snacks have always found a way to get together but now there is less monitoring of what kids eat by most parents. Students of all ages seem to have a quarter or two to buy snacks on a daily basis.
With more single parent families and working moms there is less monitoring of snacks and daily meals. It is not unusual to have students come with MacDonald’s bags filled with junk food on days they need to bring lunch. There are also usually more chips and that blue juice. Add to wrong food choices the pollutants that make their way into our food supply and it is easy to see that there is much to discuss with children and their parents. Of course the nutritional value of these foods has long been questioned and now fast food and convenience food producers are trying to market their products as nutritional with different claims about, additives, sugar and fat content. I believe that the important thing about speaking to children or even adults for that matter is that we all enjoy the occasional cheeseburger and fries or that bag of chips. Eradicating these things is not our goal but having students make wise choices about how much of these things they eat is the realistic approach.
Having been brought up in this fast food and pop it in the oven kind of eating many students do not have the faintest idea what they are eating and where it comes from. Say to many of them that pigs are used as food and many will groan and go “yuck.” However, on closer conversation they will all admit to eating bacon, or pork chops. An education of where their food comes from is a bit of a shock. To most the food chain stops at Stop and Shop or Super Kmart.
I would like my students to see just how fragile the food supply is. I want them to see how we depend on our natural environment to provide our nutritional needs. They should also understand that community as it relates to food production is not only Connecticut, or even the United States, but now extends to a world wide operation. More and more of our foods are coming from outside of the United States; thus, throwing us into a global economy where food production is not always held up to strictest environmental standards. I believe this unit can make students more aware of the global relationships we now have, and their need to be careful consumers. Hopefully students will develop a sense of respect for the fragility of our environment, and the need for them to be advocates for government laws regarding pollution, pesticide, and waste disposal reduction.