This is standard fare in school canteens across our nation and school canteens are the most readily available take away food outlets in the country. This fast food culture has our children becoming the fattest in the world. Childhood obesity is running at a staggering 27 per cent and the incidence of Type 2 diabetes, AHDD and asthma in children is also escalating alarmingly.

Whilst there is no doubt that the ultimate responsibility for a child’s health rests with the parents, schools can play a major role in either supporting or undermining it. With creative solutions and support from the community, schools have the opportunity to seriously improve the health of Australian children. A school should be a place where children are nurtured and nourished at every level - emotionally, spiritually, physically and academically. This means that the food offered to the children through the school food service needs to be nutritious, nourishing and sustaining. What we eat affects everything: our mood, our behaviour, our academic performance, our growth, our health and our wellbeing. Poor diet leads to lethargy, lack of concentration, drowsiness and can seriously impede academic progress. It can also lead to behavioural problems in the classroom. On the other hand, a well-nourished student can be bright, energetic, focussed and eager to learn.

It has become increasingly evident that something needs to be done about the appalling food children all around Australia are consuming every day in school canteens. It is well known that generally the food on offer in Australian school canteens is nutritionally poor. The menu is usually made up of high fat, high sugar, high salt fast foods, soft drinks or highly sweetened juices, confectionery and energy dense snack foods. When Jamie Oliver launched his ‘Feed Me Better’ school dinners campaign in the UK in 2005, many Australians were shocked and outraged at the food British children were eating at school. Yet, many of our school canteens are offering much the same choices here.

As the major focus of food in a school and an integral part of the school environment, it is not only ideal that the school canteen sets and maintain standards but fundamental to the whole food education experience in the school. The eating habits of students are greatly influenced by the food available in the school environment and food eaten at school contributes substantially to the students’ daily nutrient intake.

Today, with the ever-increasing reliance on before and after school programs, children can spend anything up to eight or nine hours a day at school. This means that a huge percentage of their dietary intake occurs at school. With everything it serves the school canteen has the potential to teach vital food messages. If children are being taught about the importance of good food at home, then the canteen can reinforce those messages. If the children come from a home where healthy food is not important then it is even more critical that they receive the right messages at school. Either way the school canteen can make an enormous difference.

If we want to effect change and help school children become adults who make wise choices about their environment and the food they eat, they need to be given every chance for healthy and positive eating experiences. This can happen at school. School canteens can serve good food, they can eradicate processed food, they can market and promote food in such a way that the kids will come back for more. And they can make a profit!

It is easily within the power of schools to change the lives of many Australian children by setting and maintaining high standards in the food they choose to serve. The kids will love it, the parents will love it and perhaps we may even see a decline in our childhood obesity rates.

Jacqi Deighan
Natural Kitchen Strategies