School Lunches Evoke Strong Feelings: Here’s What You Had to Say
Rob Bluey /
Schools across America are celebrating Thanksgiving with their annual feast of turkey and vegetables. And this year, students are giving thanks in another way—with a touch of sarcasm.
First lady Michelle Obama, champion of healthy eating, was on the receiving end of the “thanks” when students shared photos of their unappetizing lunches and skimpy servings.
my school lunch today #ThanksMichelleObama pic.twitter.com/2jeYlJF0wu
— josh russell (@josh_emerson) November 21, 2014
Using the hashtag #ThanksMichelleObama, students posted photos of their food, prompting widespread media coverage. The Daily Signal’s story sparked quite a discussion on social media and in our comments section.
Several people sent us letters to the editor, a few of which we’ve printed below along with Facebook comments and tweets.
#ThanksMichelleObama just what a 16 year old girl needs pic.twitter.com/yFtk2BQao1
— Amber Schroeder (@aureviorlune) November 21, 2014
Throw an apple on & makes everything all better. No.@RobertBluey
— Carole Gilman (@CaroleGilman) November 22, 2014
Dear Editor:
It is really a shame what these children are getting in the schools to eat.
Most of it goes in the trash due to the fact that the bread, buns, spaghetti noodles, etc., are wheat and children do not like the wheat. Most households do not eat wheat items at home and the children are not accustomed to it and do not like it. The children do not eat, and throw the food in the trash.
When school is out, they come in the house starved to death and eating everything they can find as a snack. Then, three hours later they have dinner—if they are lucky enough to have dinner—all within a period of about three to four hours.
What do you think makes them fatter? Having a good school lunch in the middle of the day so they do not have to have a huge snack when they get home and then have dinner on top of that or having the “healthy food” that they are serving in the lunchrooms that no one is eating?
Plus, it is expensive for the parents to have to pay for lunches that are going in the trash. I had Thanksgiving lunch with my granddaughter last week and I was shocked about the food that they put on her tray. Most went in the trash and she was starved when she got home.
Someone needs to do something about this and not let the president dictate what the schools feed the children. I understand government regulations and I am all for the balanced diet and the food groups, but this is ridiculous.
First lady Michelle Obama needs to understand that children’s lunches are not what is making them obese or heavy. It is lack of exercise from playing games, cell phones, etc., and not playing outside and getting exercise like riding a bike.
Please give the children their school lunches back. Maybe when a new president gets into office, they will amend the school lunch program.
Trina N. Rupe
Pulaski, Va.
Had a very #healthylunch today. The apple definitely made up for the "mystery mush" #ThanksMichelleObama pic.twitter.com/RWCnQRCxJK
— Hunter Whitney (@huntwhitney4) November 13, 2014
@RobertBluey if i could describe this in one word it would be slop
— johnsmith (@JamesRamboSmith) November 22, 2014
What in the world is that, "mystery meat"?@RobertBluey
— Carole Gilman (@CaroleGilman) November 22, 2014
@RobertBluey @Heritage What the …. That is disgusting looking; I can't believe they chose orange trays. Let alone the crap on it.
— Timothy Marston (@timothy_marston) November 22, 2014
@RobertBluey @Heritage what is God's name is that crap? Hardly looks edible.
— Amy O'Connell (@amyoco1968) November 22, 2014
Dear Editor:
The Heritage Foundation report by students, with photographs, protesting school lunches, just landed in my inbox and struck a nerve.
I taught high school for 30 years in a very upscale community outside Philadelphia. The lunches were horrible with the exception of the turkey dinner at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the addition late in my career of a salad bar.
Fruit was available, but the bananas, for example, were either so green the skins would not come off or they were so mushy they should have been thrown away. Apples were frequently soft and mushy with soft brown spots in them. Who would eat that?
There was an almost criminal level of food waste, of students purchasing food because they were hungry and then finding it inedible. Michelle Obama has simply made the problem worse.
There was a recent article about a high school senior in Wisconsin who led a student protest by encouraging her classmates to pack their own lunches and pack a lunch for someone who could not afford to pack their own. I can only wish her great success.
Our faculty was also very unimpressed by the school lunch program. Whom do they think they are kidding? The lunch program is one of many debacles in what should have been the finest educational institution below college level in the entire state of Pennsylvania.
It is all a big political football designed to allow the higher ups (who do not have to eat the stuff they mandate) to pat themselves on the back and declare that they have made a positive difference.
Linda Renick
Columbus, N.C.
@RobertBluey @Heritage yes let's just get them to eat Processed food!! Propaganda wow
— MomVet Norma (@etty430) November 22, 2014
@RobertBluey @Heritage don't like it, don't buy it, no one is forcing those kids to do it
— Laura Gelezunas (@LauraGelezunas) November 22, 2014
@RobertBluey @Heritage How in the world does ANYONE expect kids to eat THIS???
— Heidi Marie Campbell (@looking4rabboni) November 22, 2014
@RobertBluey @Heritage well thanks republicans for constantly saying we need to slash school funding
— Aneel Chattar (@IHateAneel) November 22, 2014
@RobertBluey @Heritage looks better then the nasty crap they use to serve us in the 80s. Parents want to whine they came make juniors food:)
— Susan Quintero (@mssurvivorsq) November 22, 2014
Dear Editor:
How wonderful that The Heritage Foundation has a watchdog like you! I thank God for The Heritage Foundation and heroes like Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin and Glenn Beck every day.
These lunches are as disgusting as the Obama policies—they are tailored by criminals for innocents.
Marta Le Fave
Vernon, N.J.
@RobertBluey @FBRASWELL You mean to TELL ME that our kids are NOT Getting TEA with their lunches>>>> ? pic.twitter.com/HZyhGAV7fY
— Our Home Tea L.L.C. (@OurHomeTea) November 22, 2014
@Heritage What is that "mush?"
— William Young (@CaliCard1) November 22, 2014
@Heritage I didn't know they served haggis in America – thought it was only served in Scotland the brave!
— Stephen J. Higgins (@tbgstephen) November 22, 2014
@Heritage @rkylesmith the Whitehouse staff should be eating these meals..
— Wm Curtis 2020 (@2020_wm) November 22, 2014
@Heritage @FBRASWELL forgive me but I'm poor the lunch looks pretty good to me
— george boseman (@cat7912) November 22, 2014
Dear Editor:
As a 65-year old grandmother who attended public schools from 1954-1967 and whose eight grandchildren are attending public schools now and who has served as a professional educator since 1970 and owned an inn with a restaurant since 2011, I’m a little sad about the state of school lunches in the past but much sadder about the effort of the federal bureaucracy (which includes Michelle Obama) to fix the the problem with school lunches in the present.
The first step is getting the feds out of the lunchroom.
Schools are local and should be local enterprises who might VOLUNTARILY cooperate with other schools at the town, county, state and federal level—but forcing cooperation with bureaucratic, uninformed, and often corrupt federal mandates is counter-productive to providing good school lunches for students—as well as providing any other government services to anyone who needs government services.
Please continue the campaign to educate the people about the disastrous result of the federal government “stepping in” to solve problems that are best resolved at the town, county and state level.
Karan Townsend
Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
@Heritage @toddschnitt This CANNOT be true….IF SO, which brand of dog food is it, it's hard to tell from pic???
— KarenSL (@KarenSL) November 22, 2014
@CaliCard1 @Heritage Looks like dog vomit.
— Lynn Davis (@LynnDavisWV) November 22, 2014
@Heritage No wonder kids won't eat this food. It looks like dog food. And I bet my dog won't even eat it. #ThanksMichelleObama
— Jeffrey Segal (@Dr_Decible_Jr) November 22, 2014
@Heritage @StupidBoomers Geez! I thought Barf w an Apple was on Mondays! (SARC)
— Mike Barr (@maxnrgmike) November 22, 2014
@Heritage @rebelgirl1213 Why all the hype? It is called recycled lunches…. Good for the planet…
— Hubris Serendipity (@theOstapBender) November 22, 2014
@Heritage @mkues65 I'm sure Obama's daughters eat the same thing.
— Aleister (@AmericanGlob) November 23, 2014