“Why do we have to make kids take food they don't want?” That was the question from a teacher to a cafeteria lead, expressed (we’ll assume) with good intentions to reduce food waste. That said, we know that if children are not taking the required meal components the meal is not reimbursable, and that puts nutrition professionals in a bind. It also throws in the towel trying to establish lifelong healthy eating patterns.
While the easiest (and fastest) answer to the “Why?” question may have been, “It’s the law and we don’t get reimbursed for the meal if it isn’t complete,” that doesn’t do much more than create frustration at “the system” and it doesn’t address the real purpose of school meals.
We had to look at ways to frame the answer so that teachers could connect the experiences of school nutrition professionals to their own; we are, ideally, partners in education. So we looked at framing answers to create those connections. Here’s an example of what we could say:
Think About It Like This
A full meal is like a full day of attendance. In California, schools are funded for each day a student is present (or has an excused absence). Unexcused absences mean no funding for that student on that day.
A school meal without the required items cannot be reimbursed; in other words, empty trays are not excused absences, and we are all affected by it.
“empty trays are not excused absences”
“But kids aren't eating the food.”
Instead of responding by repeating that USDA regulations require that children take (at least) three of five meal components, including at least ½ cup of fruits and vegetables, we had to frame it with empathy and a parallel to a teacher’s experiences.
“Trust us - we understand the challenge of encouraging children to take and eat the amazing food we offer (many from local and organic farms), and we don’t like wasted food. But if we tell them they don’t have to take food out of our fear that it will be wasted, we may well be creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
We then cited a Harvard/USDA study showing that since the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act went into effect, consumption of fruits has increased by 23% and vegetables by 16%. Change happens slower than we want, but it is happening and we need everyone’s help.
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Look At It Another Way
This is where we made a tie to the classroom. “If a student isn’t doing their classwork, you aren’t going to respond by not assigning that student classwork anymore, are you? It’s hard to develop and encourage lifelong learners (and healthy eaters), but we have to be persistent, and we can support one another in doing that as partners in education.”
Successful framing creates empathy, connection, and concrete examples that can be easily understood and shared. That, in turn, fosters more trust, respect, and understanding between school nutrition professionals and other school staff.
If you’d like to talk more about how you can better frame your school meal program so that all stakeholders can have a deeper understanding of the vital work you do, we’d be happy to help! Schedule a free consultation today and see how to level up your school meal marketing.