Last month, Gary Imhoff of DC Watch had some salty words to say about health and nutrition. Just as the innovative, promising Healthy Schools Act was making its way to become law, Gary objected to the efforts to reduce the consumption of sugar and salt in our schools. These ingredients, Gary claimed, “pose no real dietary or health dangers to the average person.”

Unfortunately, one third of Americans are far beyond average: they are either overweight or obese. A major factor in this health crisis is overconsumption of sodium, which contributes to heart disease among other illness. The Washington Post recently reported that the Center for Disease Control estimates that an average of 77 percent of our sodium intake actually comes from packaged food — the canned, boxed, and bottled foods we buy at the market. That article also reports that the federal government is taking this health threat seriously with a new effort (not yet officially announced, but planned to span a 10-year period) to curb the amount of sodium in processed food and restaurants.

It’s great news, and I hope the federal government follows through. Indeed, here at Bread for the City we’ve already started down that path. In the past few years, we have greatly reduced much of the sodium in the items in our food pantry.

Yet Gary objects to “food police” who he says wants us to live in “a world without flavor.” The good news for Gary is that ours is a wide world full of flavors, with many ways of preparing food that is both tasty and healthy.

Here at Bread for the City, we’re able to go beyond the pantry to explore this world of healthy food. Each month at both the NW and SE sites, BFC holds nutrition and cooking workshops, geared toward helping clients make tasty, easy-to-prepare, healthful, inexpensive foods at home.

Just a few weeks ago, I gathered with Bread for the City clients from age 3 to about 73, as we spent an hour peeling, chopping, stirring, and laughing. We talk a lot about salt in these classes. With chili pepper flakes, vinegar, garlic, onion, and lemon as the seasonings on these dishes, the flavor was plentiful — all without using any salt. Participants knew that if they chose, they could add salt to the food on their own plates. But, remarkably, every participant declined to add any.

Given that many participants struggle with hypertension and other health conditions, it was a pleasure to hear: “I can do this.” “More please!” “I’m going to make this for a potluck!” and more. Everyone ate, everyone was satisfied, and this was without the pervasive shake, shake of the salt shaker.

So we encourage Gary to venture out into the world of healthful flavors! Try cooking with healthful seasonings like natural herbs and spices, low-sodium vinegars, citrus peel, garlic, hot pepper, and onion. Maybe the recipes from our recent workshops could be some inspiration to him. They’re a big hit over here.

(The budget for this meal, by the way, was just $30-35 for the recipes below, which fed about 10 people. Minimizing animal products helped make that possible. And they’re all available at Giant or Safeway, where most of our clients shop; most ingredients are also available at the Latin markets.)

Black Bean Salad

• 1 can of low-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 package of frozen corn, thawed and drained
• 2 large tomatoes, diced
• 1/3 red onion, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro and/or fresh parsley
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• Splash of olive oil
• Splash of red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons of lime juice, plus the zest of one lime
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• red chili pepper flakes (to taste)
• 1 avocado, sliced or diced (optional)

Mix all ingredients except avocado in large bowl. (Can prepare salad one day in advance and keep covered in refrigerator.)

Add optional avocado to bowl immediately before serving.

Kale Salad

• 2 bunches of kale (about 1 pound), center ribs and stems removed, leaves thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons chopped almonds
• 3 tablespoons raisins
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 7 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Parmesan cheese shavings

Place raisins in small bowl with balsamic vinegar. Let soak for several hours or overnight.

After soaking is complete, remove raisins from bowl with a slotted spoon, keeping remaining vinegar in bowl.

Add apple cider vinegar, honey, olive oil, and optional salt to balsamic vinegar in bowl and wisk together.

Add kale, raisins, and almonds. Toss to coat.

Let marinate at least 20 minutes at room temperature, tossing occasionally. Can marinate for a few hours to soften kale even more.

Sprinkle cheese shavings over salad right before serving.

Toasted Pita Triangles

• Whole-wheat pita
• Olive oil
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Parsley

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine olive oil with herbs.

Cut pita into triangles. Open each triangle so there are now two pieces.

Lightly brush each pita triangle with olive oil mixture.

Place on a baking tray.

Warm pita in oven for a couple of minutes, checking frequently so they do not burn.

As a recent American Prospect article made clear, not all farmers markets are geared toward shoppers who need fresh fruits and vegetables the most. Yet two markets in the District have opened or expanded this season to address that critical constituency.

The Howard University Hospital (HUH) began hosting a twice-weekly farmers market Tuesday, May 11, and will continue to feature produce from Pennsylvania and North Carolina farmers each Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the hospital courtyard. The hospital is located in Ward 1 at 2041 Georgia Avenue NW, near the Shaw/Howard University Metro and steps off several Metrobus routes. The market accepts WIC and Senior CSFP vouchers.

The purpose of the market, according to a Howard press release, is to help address the scarcity of fresh fruits and vegetables in African American communities. With its location in Ward 1, the campus is a good place to start. The market is a project of the program HUH CARES, and has been commended by Dr. Denia Tapscott, a bariatrician and program director for the Center for Wellness and Weight Loss Surgery, as a service that can address the obesity epidemic among African Americans. The market may get a mention as part of EBONY Magazine’s year-long coverage of the center.

The Ward 8 Farmers’ Market starts its season on Saturday, June 5. The market, which carries a social justice mission, is now entering its 12^th season of bringing fruits, vegetables, herbs, plants, and more from Pennsylvania and Maryland to the heart of Congress Heights.  The market will be held every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the old Congress Heights School at 500 Alabama Ave. SE, near the Anacostia and Congress Heights Metro stations on the green line. For years, this area suffered from a dearth of grocery stores but an abundance of small corner stores, where fresh food makes up only one percent of the offerings.

The market will expand this year, creating the only weekday farmers market east of the Anacostia River.  Beginning on June 8, it will operate from the parking lot of the United Medical Center at 1310 Southern Ave. SE near the Southern Avenue Metro station on the green line. The market will run each Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. through October. Also new this year is a website for the market: www.ward8farmersmarket.com.

Both Ward 8 Farmers’ Market locations will accept EBT cards issued in D.C., SNAP cards issued in Maryland, the new WIC Cash Value Checks (CVC), and other food assistance coupons such as those offered by the WIC and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program.

The market continues to provide vegetables and fruit to corner stores in Congress Heights, with the help of a grant from the Capital Area Food Bank, in exchange for the promise that they are sold to the public at reasonable prices.

The 1-cent-per-ounce tax was first proposed by the federal government last year– like the D.C. tax, the legislation would increase the cost of a 12-pack of soda by $1.44 and a 2-liter bottle by $0.68. Since then, 30 states have put a small sugary beverage tax into place, although only 2 (Arkansas and West Virginia) have taxes specifically on sodas. D.C. would be the third local government to impose such a tax on the voting public and despite reassurances from the Council, opposition has loomed large.

Mary Cheh, the councilwoman who first proposed the bill as part of her Healthy Schools Act of 2010, says the tax would generate between $6 million and $9 million, money earmarked for improved physical education programs, school nutrition and building grocery stores and farmers markets in the poorest Wards of the District (5, 6, 7, and 8).

The American Beverage Association (ABA), however, says this is not the way to raise money. “We understand that governments are facing tough budget challenges,” Susan K. Neely, president and CEO of the ABA, said, “but singling out one item for taxation completely misses the mark in having an effect on the national challenge of obesity.” And even the council members admit that the tax would have little if any impact on obesity itself. (In fact, studies show a tax would have to be as high as 18% to make any significant dent in obesity in the District). Additionally, opponents argue, the tax would negatively impact low-income families, who now, more than ever, cannot afford to pay more for their groceries.

And here, we get to the heart of the matter. As an employee of a local grocery store and an intern with Bread for the City, a local non-profit that provides food, medical, legal and social service to low-income D.C. residents, I have found this is an issue to be tackled head on, with facts in hand and an open mind. Unfortunately, many are woefully unaware of the intricacies of the issue, much less of the impacts it could have on those who cannot necessarily afford a new tax (as opposed to it being an albeit significant inconvenience).

Rosa Garcia, one of the lab technicians at the Bread for the City medical clinic said that the tax would, in fact, have negative impact on our clients but only because they will continue to make unhealthy choices. People like soda, it is what they like to drink, said Rosa, and it’s just like cigarettes. Just because it costs more doesn’t mean they won’t buy it. (Cheh has a similar response, emphasizing that the money from the beverage tax will help increase the health-food options for families who might otherwise choose soda.)

Rosa also pointed out that if the money does indeed improve food choice options in low-income areas and promote health initiatives in schools, Bread for the City clients would benefit greatly. “Obesity is a big problem here in this clinic, as it is in all clinics everywhere.” In terms of children, Health Affairs published a report in April, 2010 which found the tax “could benefit at-risk children, children who are already obese, come from low-income families, or are African-American, especially when soda is available at schools.” The impact, however, will come from the dedication of the tax revenues to obesity prevention initiatives, rather than a direct effect on the level of childhood obesity in D.C. schools.

So when voting time comes, consider both sides. Will the soda tax hurt or help  families? Will they continue to by expensive beverages or will they opt for healthier choices? But before you call your council-member (which indeed you should do), consider the following: Cheh says that if the beverage tax fails in the face of what has proved to be a staunch opposition, the next step will be an overall increase in the overall sales tax. It doesn’t take a lab technician to see that such a measure will, invariably, affect us all.

• 43% of students enrolled in city public schools are overweight or obese — one of the highest rates in the nation
• The District Government spends more than $400 million annually to treat obesity
• Childhood obesity causes diabetes, hypertension, liver disease, sleep apnea, heart disease and is linked with higher rates of cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer, and can lead to an early death
• For children, each extra can or glass of sugar-sweetened beverage consumed per day increases their chance of becoming obese by 60 percent

What’s a Solution?
On May 4, 2010 the DC City Council unanimously passed a groundbreaking piece of legislation called the ‘DC Healthy Schools Act’ to do more to ensure the health and wellness of District school children. This legislation:

• Increases access to healthier food in schools – the act raises nutritional standards for school meals to include more whole grains, a wider variety of fruits and vegetables including those that are locally grown. It eliminates the reduced-price co-payment for lunch, and provides free breakfast in all schools with breakfast served in the classroom in schools with high poverty rates;
• Raises the bar for physical, health, and nutrition education – sets a goal of 60 minutes of physical activity for students each day and triples the amount of physical and health education;
• Establishes school-based environmental and gardening programs – recycling, energy-reduction, lead water and paint testing, and other environmental programs.

Given the current budgetary constraints, Councilmember Mary Cheh has proposed funding the Healthy Schools Act with a penny-per-ounce soda tax. Revenue from this tax would raise enough money to fund the Healthy Schools Act and will support:

• Food access initiatives,
• Community and faith-based anti-obesity programs, and
• Nutritional programs for seniors

Tax Myths
This tax is nothing new.  Currently, 33 states, including Maryland and Virginia, tax sugar-sweetened beverages. Recent polls have demonstrated that over 70 percent of the city’s population supports implementing the soda tax.  Beverages that would not be taxed include:

• Diet drinks and other non-caloric beverages would not be taxed
• Beverages containing milk, milk alternatives, and greater than 70 percent fruit or vegetable juice would not be taxed

How You Can Make A Difference

We need your help to convince DC’s Council to fund the Healthy Schools Act and other community initiatives.

Stand for healthy children and healthy communities by contacting your Councilmember and signing our petition at www.supporthealthyschools.org.  Support healthy kids now!

For the last eight years, the Washington Youth Garden has hosted a gaggle of families every Saturday morning from early spring until the end of the summer. The program, called Growing Food…Growing Together, brings twenty five to thirty families together to grow and prepare their own organic food. Each week, families work together to tend our communal vegetable area, herb garden, and fruit section. We see community build over the weeks as we all bend down to weed the row of peas or transplant tomato seedlings together.

In addition to gardening, guest presenters – from nutritionists and chefs to beekeepers and agricultural historians – fill in the dots that connect our health, environment, and communities. Throughout the course of the summer, families also participate in a local farmer’s market to sell some of the summer bounty.

At the end of the morning, we gather up the harvested produce and divide it up among the program participants CSA-style. A major focus of this program is on providing access to fresh healthy food, as well as learning how to grow and prepare it.

This program is intended for first-time gardening families who are seeking to gain healthy living skills. Prospective participants should fill out a family questionnaire. If you can help spread the word about this program, download a flyer.

Re-tooled language in “Healthy Schools” legislation scheduled for a public hearing before the D.C. Council this week would require city schools to provide parents each year with a measurement of the body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio of every child, as well as an estimate of the amount of exercise each child engages in. It also calls on city schools to consider extending the school day in order for children to have more time for physical activity, and would offer grants to schools that commit to making students more active.

Schools would also be required to send parents information in English and Spanish explaining how to interpret unhealthy body mass and waist-to-hip information and what steps can be taken to address weight problems.

Drafters of the legislation last week backed away from strict nutrition standards recommended by the Institute of Medicine that would require increased portion sizes of vegetables served in school meals, saying schools cannot guarantee the quality of vegetables offered  in cafeterias or that students won’t throw them in the trash.

Instead, the legislation embraces requirements set forth in the U.S. Department of Agriculture “HealthierUS School Challenge,” which establishes several different levels of stringency in school food nutrition.

 The “Healthy Schools” bill would require all D.C. public schools to adopt the “gold” level of the USDA program, meaning school cafeterias would need to offer 1/4-cup servings of  dark green or orange vegetables three or more days per week, and cooked dry beans or peas once per week.  Schools would also be required to offer a different fruit, either fresh, frozen, canned, dried or 100 percent juice, every day of the week, but 100 percent fruit juice could be counted as fruit only once per week. At least one serving of whole-grain food would be offered each day.

The new bill also drops an attempt to create detailed nutrition standards for foods served outside the reqular food line in school cafeterias–so-called “competitive” foods–as well as those sold in vending machines and in school stores. Again, the “HealthierUS School Challenge” standards would apply. Total fat in those foods could be no more than 35 percent of calories, trans fat must be less than .5 grams per serving, saturated fat less than 10 percent and sugar no more than 35 percent by weight.

The only beverages allowed would be low-fat or skim milk, 100 percent fruit juice with no sweeteners and water, meaning no sugary sodas, sports drinks or ice teas. The standards would not apply to foods and beverages offered at official after-school events.

Among the other major features of the new “Healthy Schools” draft:

* Minimum and maximum limits for calories in school breakfast and lunch at all grade levels.

* Zero trans fats is school meals

* Random testing of school food to ensure that nutrition standards are being met.

* An additional 10 cents in funding for each breakfast and 10 cents for each lunch.

*Full funding for students who qualify for reduced-price meals.

* Offer breakfast in the classroom in all elementary schools where at least 40 percent of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, and other alternative methods of serving breakfast in qualifying middle and high schools.

* Phasing in minimum levels of exercise over a five-year period for elementary and middle-school students, from 30 minutes per week to 150 minutes per week for children in Kindergarten through grade five, and from 45 minutes per week to 225 minutes per week for children in grades six through eight. Sources say the demand for more physical activity is one area where the legislation is meeting some resitance, because it might cut into class time. The most recent draft calls on schools to ”seek to increase physical activity by considering extending the school day.”

As part of better nutrition, the bill requires schools to incorporate local farm products in school meals “whenever possible” and would fund a five-cent bonus for lunches that include local produce. It also calls for a school food gardening program.

Ed Bruske writes The Slow Cook blog.

We are having food donated for the class by the very generous folks at Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-Op, making this a community-wide effort to increase healthy lifestyles and therefore life expectancy. When the donation was secured, the buzz around the clinic resulted in someone suggesting that we invite Michelle Obama, champion of the new Let’s Move campaign to combat childhood obesity and increase access to healthy, affordable food.

It may seem like a long shot to get Michelle Obama to travel the short mile and a half from the White House to the Perry School with one week’s notice, but yesterday when I started to do a little research I found out that the President and First Lady just postponed their trip to Indonesia  so that President Obama could stay in country to do the final push for health care reform.

What are the odds that on the same day we decide to have First Lady Michelle Obama join our nutrition class her schedule opens up for the following week? It seems too good to be true, but it might not be.

That’s why we are doing everything we can to get her to come visit us at Perry next week. Initial inquiries have resulted in a form letter stating that these requests have to be made weeks in advance, but I think they can make an exception for health care and healthy eating alike! You can see my initial letter to Mrs. Obama below – If you have any advice, leads, ins or creative ideas please contact me at emilyroberts@gmail.com

First Lady Michelle Obama
Cc: Franny Starkey Sanguin
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mrs. Obama,
My name is Emily Roberts and I am a Community HealthCorps member in Washington, D.C. Community HealthCorps is a national AmeriCorps program that promotes health care for America’s underserved, while developing tomorrow’s health care workforce. I have been placed by the DC Primary Care Association at the Perry Family Health Center of Providence Hospital, located at 128 M St. NW.

Here at Perry, we serve the uninsured, underinsured and underserved populations in a primary care setting with a comprehensive community-based, family-centered approach. With preventative care in mind, we are beginning a monthly health education series in 2010, with our inaugural class focusing on incorporating more whole grains, fruits and vegetables into one’s diet.

Together with Perry Nutritionist Josephina Giron, this class will include a meal donated to us by the Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-Op , information about how to cook delicious, healthy food on a budget and why whole foods are so critical to a healthy lifestyle.
This class will combine the themes of healthy food access and overall healthcare. I know that this is an important issue to you. Americans everywhere in all communities are becoming more conscious of health disparities related to food justice and your Let’s Move campaign has put a much needed spotlight on the cause.
I know that your schedule just became clear due to President Obama wanting to stay in the country to continue to push for health care reform. We invite you to join us next week, Thursday March 25 at 5:00pm in our celebration of national nutrition month. We really hope that you can lend your support to this important project and help us publicize this issue in our community, in D.C. and around the country.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you so much,
Emily Roberts

For the first time in it’s 3-year history, Rooting DC will feature cooking demonstrations.  Steve Seuser, who planned and coordinated the demonstrations, says that presenters will share how to prepare cooked, raw, and fermented foods, as well as canning basics. In particular, the demonstrations will feature recipes that are fast and affordable for families, as well as processes for gardeners who grow a lot and aren’t sure what to do with the overabundance.

Tracye McQuirter, a nutritionist with the UDC Center for Nutrition, Diet, and Health, will present during Workshop Session 2. We talked with Tracye about the importance of eating healthy and also got a sneak peak of her cooking demonstration.  Read on:

Can you give us a sneak peek into your workshop at Rooting DC? What will you be cooking? What messages will you be focusing on?
I’ll be preparing Spicy Kale Salad, which is usually a big hit wherever I go.  My goal is to show people how easy it is to prepare fresh greens in really satisfying ways that keep the nutrients and flavor alive and dazzling.

Why do you think it’s important to eat local, organic food or grow your own?
Growing and eating your own food gives you a sense of satisfaction in your soul that few things can so easily match.  It’s also cheaper, more convenient, and more sustainable to grow your own food or eat the food grown by your neighbor, community, or local farmer.

It seems like empowerment is an important part of your work. In your classes, how do you use food to empower people?
Most folks in this country are masters at eating unhealthy food.  I empower people by showing them how and why to become masters at eating healthy food.  We look at who profits from our unhealthy eating habits and why what we eat is directly tied to whether or not we will have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, overweight, diabetes, heart disease, and a host of other killer diseases.  Then we look at how to take matters into our own hands by learning to read food labels, choose healthier ingredients, and prepare lots of healthy and delicious dishes.

When teaching people about food and nutrition, what strategies or techniques do you find most effective?
In the course of my work, I teach people who are ages 3 to 83, so the tools that I use vary.  For example, when I do food demos for little ones, I make sure to engage each of the five senses, so that might include singing a healthy food song and identifying the colors of each ingredient in our recipe.

You’ve been working on these issues for years. Do you sense a shift in people’s attitudes toward healthy eating and fresh produce?  If so, how?
I’ve noticed that people are more comfortable saying that they want to eat healthier foods and are less likely to feel defensive about it.  That is a paradigm shift.  I’m hopeful that this shift will continue to grow and evolve into a desire to eat more fresh, plant-based foods and fewer animal foods for the health of ourselves and our planet.

Tracye McQuirter’s new book By Any Greens Necessary will be published on May 1, 2010.  Contact her at www.byanygreensnecessary.com.

Rooting DC 2010 will be held tomorrow, February 20th, at the Historical Society in downtown DC.

[Cross posted to Field to Fork Network]

“My friends and I have learned a lot about change, about eating healthy food, and making the right choices,” the former Bancroft Elementary School student explained. “My classmates and I plan to keep that color on the plate–and I don’t mean M&Ms,” she said.

Nguyen then introduced First Lady Michelle Obama, who summoned all hands on deck to bring the Bancroft students’ experience to every American child in the interest of better health. She outlined a detailed initiative, called Let’s Move, to curb the startling rate of childhood obesity (about one in three children is overweight or obese, she said), and save the nation’s kids from preventable diseases. Such an initiative can also create jobs and help fish the budget out of a deficit. That can only happen, Obama said, if many sectors work together and the action starts immediately.

“Instead of just talking bout this problem, instead of just worrying and wringing our hands about it, let’s do something about it,” said the first lady. “Let’s act…. let’s move.”

A new Task Force on Childhood Obesity will propel the initiative. Once on course, Let’s Move will include $10 billion in funding over 10 years for programs in the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization, and $400 million to infuse “food deserts” with supermarkets and other sources of healthy food. The specific tenets include healthier choices (clearer food labeling, better eating habits), healthier schools (through the Healthier US Schools Challenge Program and the Child Nutrition Act), and physical activity (an hour or more a day, and more opportunities to get that 60 minutes in).

Perhaps the most exciting part for DC Food For All members and readers is the fourth mainstay: Accessible and affordable healthy food for everyone. To achieve this, the task force will identify problem areas with a new USDA Food Environment Atlas, work to eliminate food deserts, and implement more programs for school gardens and urban gardening.

Michelle Obama not only brought the concept of a food desert to national attention; she proclaimed the initiative will banish such wastelands in seven years. And it seeks to push out childhood obesity in a generation. Fresh, local food claims an important place in both efforts.

Also exciting was the way Obama connected the dots. Having Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius commit to the task force and attend the announcement seemed only natural. Including the secretaries of agriculture, education, the interior, HUD, and labor spoke to a paradigm shift. Alleviating childhood obesity will take a multi-pronged effort, the umbrella approach implies, and a new way of thinking about food and well-being.

Obama had recruited former NFL star Tiki Barber—along with key players in the Obama administration, members of Congress, figures in sports and entertainment, and leaders in the business and medical communities—to join her at the announcement. But it was the mayor of a small town in Mississippi and a Milwaukee, Wisc. farmer who talked most convincingly about the power of wholesome food.

Mayor Chip Johnson, of Hernando, Miss., started a farmers market on shaky ground one August. “Everybody said ‘well, it was too late in the season’,” Johnson said. “But we said ‘no, let’s get going. Let’s do it now.’ So we started.” In the next two months, 23 vendors signed on.

Will Allen, who founded the urban farming initiative Growing Power, took the stage soon after Johnson. Allen stressed the importance of access to fresh produce, and explained that urban agriculture can prove very profitable. The average conventional farm produces about $500 or profit per acre, he said, while a  new approach to agriculture that he uses yields $5 per square foot–a total of $200,000 an acre. In addition to eating the fruits of such operations, Allen feels it is crucial for children to take part in growing them.

As DC Food for All reported, urban agriculture is getting a lot of attention in America. District residents have already thrown their energy and ingenuity behind the idea, with initiatives like Common Good City Farm, the Washington Youth Garden at the National Arboretum and the Neighborhood Farm Initiative are doing just that.

It may not matter if it’s at a market or on a farm. When I talked with him later, Allen agreed that D.C. can make high-yield urban agriculture happen. For every challenge, like contaminants in the soil, he seems to know of an advantage—or five. Composting could play a part in soil remediation, and the excess compost could become a lucrative product.

Just like the buy-in Obama garnered from cabinet members, kids will need to take part in getting a move on. As the next generation of eaters and growers ripens, Allen said, the key is having the kids experience real food—like Nguyen’s classmates did. “If they can touch it and feel it,” he said, “they’re bound to go the next step.”

For more:

Watch the full announcement

Read the Washington Post coverage in today’s paper and yesterday’s All We Can Eat blog

Check out the new Let’s Move website

View the new USDA Food Environment Atlas, which identifies “food deserts” that lack sources of fresh food

Photos, from top: Michelle Obama announces the Let’s Move initiative; middle school student Tammy Nguyen recalls planting and learning from the White House Kitchen Garden; Will Allen, of Growing Power. All photos by the author.

Photo courtesy Brynn Grumstrup Slate

Food access is a topic that is gaining attention both nationally and locally.  A few stories this past week have converged on the topics of food access and children.

The momentum for school gardens and for students to have a better understanding of their relationship to food is building–especially in the nation’s capital.  The installment of the White House Kitchen Garden almost a year ago is not only the first large-scale garden on the White House grounds since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden during the Second World War, but is being used by Michelle Obama as a platform to engage national dialogue on health, nutrition, and food security.  In particular, her focus is on kids: “You can affect children’s behavior so much more easily than you can adults,” she said.

In September 2009, Michelle Obama invited students from Bancroft Elementary School to help prepare the garden and plant crops.  The positive response the White House has received on this and a gathering of Obama Administration officials last month to discuss their efforts to improve America’s food system lead many to be hopeful that “every American child can have access to healthy and affordable food.”

With so much rhetoric currently focused on school gardens (spurred on by a recent editorial by Caitline Flanagan criticizing the school garden movement), it is important to remember that food access for children is as much about ensuring kids are eating healthy as it is about ensuring that they are getting enough food.  Problems such as child obesity and child hunger both demand attention.  They are manifestations of the same, complex and immensely-challenging national problem which allows profit interest to push unhealthy and processed foods to children; contributes to an increasingly demanding lifestyle which makes families pick ease and convenience in food preparation (even when they do find time for a family meal); allows healthier options to cost more, which compels parents on a limited budget to buy food that is more likely to make their children sick; or worse, forces families to choose between paying for housing, energy, medical costs and filling their stomachs.

Before he was elected president, Barack Obama set a goal to end hunger among children in the United States by 2015.  Though Michelle Obama’s healthy kids initiative has begun to address some of these problems by bringing awareness to child obesity, emphasizing the importance of learning about local and healthy foods at a young age, encouraging improvements to the  National School Lunch Program, and fueling momentum behind the school garden movement, it is only a beginning.  A recent Washington Post article about child hunger observes that “since his inauguration, Obama has seldom broached the subject. His aides brainstorm weekly with several agencies, but their internal conversations so far have not produced fundamentally new approaches.”

In November 2009, a USDA report on U.S. food insecurity found that:

• The number of food-insecure households sharply increased from 13 million in 2007 to a little more than 17 million in 2008
• The increase was proportionally larger for households with children: the prevalence of food insecurity rose from 15.8 percent in 2007 to 21.0 percent in 2008
• The prevalence of very low food security households–defined as “food intake of some household members is reduced, and their normal eating patterns are disrupted”–more than doubled from 1999 to 2008, increasing from 3.1 to 6.7 million
• In 2008, 16.67 million children (22.5 percent) are affected with low or very low food security among members of their household

How are children in DC affected by all of this? On the one hand, there is some progress: DC Council members recently introduced a bill that would, among other things, establish local nutritional standards for school meals, create monetary incentive and funding for a farm-to-school distribution system, and require teaching about the benefits of local foods.  However, more than 12 percent of all households in the District were food insecure in 2006-2008.  Severe recession and rising home heating costs, coupled with President Obama’s proposed funding reduction for Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in 2010 (from $5.1 million in 2009 to $3.2 million 2010), and recent cutbacks in affordable housing funding in DC are forcing families to make very difficult decisions about basic living needs. “In DC where 1 in 10 households are on the waiting list for affordable housing, it’s no coincidence that 1 in 8 households reported having trouble putting food on the table in 2008.  Hunger in DC has likely become worse since then, as the recession pushed unemployment to an all-time high in 2009,” a recent DC Fiscal Policy Institute report states.

Like other social issues, food insecurity is intricately tied with other problems–such as poverty, poor nutritional education, and economic stratification–and are results of competing political, social and economic interests.  Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of hunger and malnutrition, which can have lasting damages on their health and development.  Michelle Obama’s focus on food access for children is a good start, but food security for children is far more challenging than just any one course of action (such as additional funding to food programs).  Awareness and activism needs to occur at every level between national policy and community action.  Though this is by no means a comprehensive list, here are some ways we as a community can begin to affect change:

• Hold President Obama to his goal of ending child hunger
• Raise local and national awareness on food security and food access through dialogue, forums, letter-writing to Congressmen, blogging, and other forms of online and offline social media
• Volunteer with this year’s DC homeless count on January 27, 2010, which will be especially important because the Fenty administration hasn’t allocated funds to support homeless services past March 2010
• Support local organizations that provide on-the-ground assistance for the community, as well as empower individuals to help themselves in the long term
• Push for expansion of much-needed low-income programs, such as food stamps
• Look out for each other and for neighbors who may need a little extra help, especially in the summer and winter on days with extreme temperatures

Xi Wang helped Neighborhood Farm Initiative on the DC Community Garden Census and works with Food Not Bombs, which shares meals, literature, and other necessities to create community solidarity.

[Cross posted to DC Food Not Bombs]