Jasmine Messiah, age 8, wrote letters to the first daughters, which said:

“A lot of schools, including mine, don’t offer enough healthy fruits, vegetables and vegetarian meals.”

Way to go, Jasmine!

She’s right, you know. Not enough kids have access to healthy foods at school.

My ten-year-old nephew is an ethical vegetarian. When he doesn’t bring a lunch, he can choose between two vegetarian options: a cheese sandwich or peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Obviously, there’s only one vegan option: PB&J. And that option is healthful, cheap, and easy, but it isn’t suitable for a lactose-intolerant child with a nut allergy, a vegan child with Celiac disease, a vegan with a nut allergy, or a child with dairy and gluten sensitivities. Moreover, it doesn’t come with a salad or fresh fruit, it comes with canned fruit or canned vegetables.

While that’s a lot better than the choices available to me as a child (there were NO vegetarian or vegan options at all), and the choices available to many children across the nation, it’s still not good enough. We can – and should – do better.

Let me explain. Even if you think PB&J is an adequate option, there is the problem that there aren’t enough fresh fruits and vegetables available. Even if you think there’s no problem with the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables available, there’s the problem of disrespect. School administrators often encourage the consumption of unhealthy foods, even when kids ask for healthy foods. Many elementary school administrators routinely disrespect vegetarian children and their parents.

Here’s an example:

My nephew earned student of the week, a title awarded with a “Happy Meal” provided for free by a local McDonald’s. That’s right, fast food and plenty of elementary schools are BFFs.

But let’s just ignore that part for a minute and get back to the story. My nephew – and his mother – told the school administrators that he’s a vegetarian. My nephew asked for a salad instead of a “Happy Meal.” They said OK. They came back without a salad, with a Happy Meal. And they didn’t bother to order a special one without the patty, they ordered a regular one and told my vegetarian nephew, “Take the meat off.” When asked why they didn’t get a salad they told him, “The salad was too expensive.”

My nephew was “rewarded” for good behavior by having his moral principles stomped on by school administrators.

Do you want to get involved? Go to healthyschoollunches.org to get active!

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Sections: Vegan News
Topics: health, jasmine messiah, kids, lunches, Obama, pcrm, politics, respect, school, veg