Changes to school lunches

[Lilith7]

In which David Seymour does his best to appear as the saviour of school lunches, despite having previously expressed his distaste for them...
Suddenly they're just fine - but there will be changes. Eventually no hot lunches, but  sandwiches instead.

Hmm, reeks of the old 'Chuck the peasants a crust" attitude.


https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/...er-5s.html

Seymour has been working on a proposition on the fate of the programme, however, his comments surrounding the scheme have prompted concern from schools. He has previously said it was a "huge waste of money" and "it should be gone". 

In a shocking twist, Seymour has now announced the programme will continue - and in fact, be extended to some under five-year-olds. 
An expert advisory group will assist the Ministry of Education in determining the details of the new model. The expert group and the Ministry will engage with representatives from affected schools. 
While the programme will be universal in schools that receive it, parents and students will be able to opt-out of receiving the lunches if they wish. 
The new model will also allow schools to align their ordering with attendance. 
"In many schools, taxpayers are catering and paying for lunches for students who do not appear to be there to eat them. It is estimated that this cost approximately $15 million in the first three terms of 2023," the Government said. 
The type of food students will receive is also likely to change. 
"It will be made up of the sorts of food items thousands of mums and dads put into lunch boxes every day for their kids – forget quinoa, couscous, and hummus, it will be more like sandwiches and fruit," Seymour said.
The range of food on offer will depend on the suppliers selected and the nutritional value of the food will be a consideration of this process.

 

[harm_less]

For added context the wording of a Twitter post made by ACT:

We just saved you $107 million on school lunches. Despite the shrieking from the left, we’re not cancelling the programme. We'll be doing more with less money to feed kids the fruit and sandwiches their parents would, not woke food like quinoa and sushi. Bon appétit.

So narrow minded Seymour and co are now defining any food beyond a sandwich and fruit as being "woke". These people are unbelievably ignorant of contemporary dietary choices including the significant portion of our population to whom wheat and dairy dominant foods are essentially poisonous due to health issues.

The lunch packs in this NZ Herald report are near useless to a gluten intolerant person and would see any such pupil severely compromised mentally and possibly digestion wise for hours following eating it. If I consumed one of those lunches it would see me good for fuck all for the rest of the day.

Seymour and his devotees are in total ignorance of the health implications of denying student the 'woke' foods he is denigrating. Not everyone lives in his blinkered perfect little world.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Gosh. I wonder which fruit will be classified as woke... red kiwi anyone?

[king1]

I'm no nutritionist but i'm pretty sure this will wipe out a good chunk of the nutritional benefit...

The “smarter, cheaper” version will possibly include packaged foods such as tinned fruit, muesli bars, bread and canned beans, NZME’s BusinessDesk reports.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/free-sch...f=readmore

[harm_less]

I'm no nutritionist but i'm pretty sure this will wipe out a good chunk of the nutritional benefit...

The “smarter, cheaper” version will possibly include packaged foods such as tinned fruit, muesli bars, bread and canned beans, NZME’s BusinessDesk reports.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/free-sch...f=readmore

Make no mistake, this is about maximum spend to divert as much from the government coffers as possible for tax cuts and landlord handouts. This CoC have proved that they have no interest in public health already by their tobacco promoting, cycleway cancelling and fossil fuel promoting policies.

[Lilith7]

I'm no nutritionist but i'm pretty sure this will wipe out a good chunk of the nutritional benefit...

Make no mistake, this is about maximum spend to divert as much from the government coffers as possible for tax cuts and landlord handouts. This CoC have proved that they have no interest in public health already by their tobacco promoting, cycleway cancelling and fossil fuel promoting policies.

It certainly looks that way; they have to prove their worth to their donors & aren't bothered about a little thing like kids having rubbish food, or more people dying from being addicted to tobacco, as long as they can be seen to be providing it.

I think its time to look seriously at donations. It might be an idea to have a pool of donations from various sources which is divided evenyl between all parties; although I suspect that idea will go down like the proverbial balloon with parties who gain large donations from unscrupulous idiots - but we do need to change it.
This lot have shown clearly how divisive & unfair the donation system is now.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

That sushi comment was a bit racist wasn't it? Is all Asian food woke now?

[harm_less]

That sushi comment was a bit racist wasn't it? Is all Asian food woke now?

Depends what "woke" means I guess. I've yet to get a straight answer from anyone who uses the term as so what the actual definition of woke is. The nearest is that it is the opposite of bigoted or racist so I guess by that measure you're correct.

[Olive]

That sushi comment was a bit racist wasn't it? Is all Asian food woke now?

It seems that any food that wasn't around here in the 50s is too woke for today's children.   

They clearly know nothing about nutrition, nor about the practicalities of food manufacturing.   Millions of sandwiches will be much more labour intensive than vats of hummus or cooked quinoa.   

I think this is a successful attempt to divert attention from all the other horrors that are about to be unveiled between now and the 2024 Budget..

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Thank goodness, The Spinoff has sorted it for us. My dinner I see was woke, not woke, not woke, woke and woke.

A well balanced meal I spose...

https://thespinoff.co.nz/kai/08-05-2024/...GDSNNFLGxC

[Olive]

I'm afraid my dinner was almost completely woke: (pilaf with [gasp] cardamom, cumin, fennel, coriander, cinnamon, garlic and home made chicken stock; retrieved perhaps by the presence of beef in the accompanying meatballs (but they were marred by the addition of a seven-spice mix and [double gasp] tomatillos.   The leeks might have been acceptable except they were home grown, which I'm sure makes them unspeakably woke.  And I can hardly bring myself to confess the home made chili sauce made with home grown chillis and limes.

Should I do penance by having white bread, margarine and golden syrup sandwiches for dinner for the next week?

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Well, yes, if you want to ruin your gut...

I did think Seymour missed a grand opportunity though. He could've tackled several issues with this one policy by organising the Food Rescue programme to take over school lunches. And Bellamys for that matter. Just think, he could have employed several tv media personalities in retraining positions, challenged the supermarket industry, boosted agriculture, gained environmental points, and saved public dollars.

No imagination that boy!

[harm_less]

Thank goodness, The Spinoff has sorted it for us. My dinner I see was woke, not woke, not woke, woke and woke.

A well balanced meal I spose...

https://thespinoff.co.nz/kai/08-05-2024/...GDSNNFLGxC

Thanks for that breakfast chortle   The comments that follow contain some real gems!

[Olive]

Well, yes, if you want to ruin your gut...

I did think Seymour missed a grand opportunity though. He could've tackled several issues with this one policy by organising the Food Rescue programme to take over school lunches. And Bellamys for that matter. Just think, he could have employed several tv media personalities in retraining positions, challenged the supermarket industry, boosted agriculture, gained environmental points, and saved public dollars.

No imagination that boy!

Yes!   A perfect solution.

[Lilith7]

Apparently dinner tonight is 'woke' & so is my favourite chocolate, Whittakers.

That boy's an idiot...

---

Well, yes, if you want to ruin your gut...

I did think Seymour missed a grand opportunity though. He could've tackled several issues with this one policy by organising the Food Rescue programme to take over school lunches. And Bellamys for that matter. Just think, he could have employed several tv media personalities in retraining positions, challenged the supermarket industry, boosted agriculture, gained environmental points, and saved public dollars.

No imagination that boy!

And it would  require common sense; apparently also something  David Seymour lacks....

[nzoomed]

Probably the best thing to do is provide all schools with fresh fruit to give the kids.
When I was at school they also had days where they made vegetable soup in class.
That sort of thing should be encouraged.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Yup. Supply the makings and let the kids learn to feed themselves. Double pay off...

[harm_less]

Yup. Supply the makings and let the kids learn to feed themselves. Double pay off...

A big part of food poverty is the inability of much of our population to prepare a meal from basic ingredients. Give them a kilo of mince and some basic veges and they don't possess the skills to turn it into a nutritionally dense meal. Unless it comes out of a can or packet with reheating instructions printed on the back they just can't cope. And most are more likely to dial up a takeaway through sheer ignorance or laziness, or both.

Back in my high school days 'home economics' was a base subject for the girls at least, and an elective subject for us blokes. I thoroughly enjoyed cooking up a storm back then and it proved to be valuable knowledge into my flatting days. It seems that such basic skills aren't part of the education system nowadays but they bloody should be!

[Lilith7]

Yup. Supply the makings and let the kids learn to feed themselves. Double pay off...

A big part of food poverty is the inability of much of our population to prepare a meal from basic ingredients. Give them a kilo of mince and some basic veges and they don't possess the skills to turn it into a nutritionally dense meal. Unless it comes out of a can or packet with reheating instructions printed on the back they just can't cope. And most are more likely to dial up a takeaway through sheer ignorance or laziness, or both.

Back in my high school days 'home economics' was a base subject for the girls at least, and an elective subject for us blokes. I thoroughly enjoyed cooking up a storm back then and it proved to be valuable knowledge into my flatting days. It seems that such basic skills aren't part of the education system nowadays but they bloody should be!

There are basic skills which ought to be taught in schools - budgeting, parenting & cooking so that every last person is capable of making a meal of some kind.

And empathy too in every school throughout all their years of schooling.

[harm_less]