Why the single focus on the school cafeteria? What about home ec as Leona asks?

[Fiona Hyde]

I just logged in to add a post and noticed that another member asked about teaching kids in school about nutrition in home economics class. 

My mother was an home ec teacher & her work went beyond just food, but how to balance a checkbook, who credit cards work.  Seems home ec (domestic science as Leona called it) should be on the list of solutions to child nutrition problems.

 

Can anyone answer the question in this post's title?

http://dialogue4health.ning.com/group/child/forum/topics/white-hous... 

[Dexter Kishida]

My thought is the Child Nutrition Act does not cover domestic science, but does cover NSLP, and a host of other food programs for students.

Nutrition should/needs to be integrated into school curriculum from an early age (elementary) through high school. If we are going to teach about nutritious whole food, then we need to offer nutritious whole food. It is difficult to be in a class telling young children to eat well, and we serve reclaimed chicken protein (10 different ways and shapes) for lunch.

[Elaine Corn]

If anyone knows the history of the fate of home ec, let me know. What happened to all those stoves and cooking labs that used to be in public schools? If schools can plant gardens, they can teach boys AND girls to cook. I completely agree there needs to be a retrofit for home ec by any other name, or we'll continue to see kids turn into noncooking adults getting fat eating out.