Tag Archives: Eat-in

Two Great Guests at Slow Food RI’s Eat-in

Slow Food USA’s Time for Lunch launches in just over a week with more than 280 Eat-ins all over the United States.

Here at Slow Food Rhode Island, we’re looking forward to an afternoon of good food and great company for a cause at Tiverton Four Corners Arts Center on Monday, September 7 at 2pm.

In addition to pot-luck dining, we are thrilled to have Deborah Lehmann, one of the editors – with Chef Ann Cooper – of School Lunch Talk, and Kimberly Sporkmann of Kids First RI on hand.

Deborah has spent 8 months traveling the United States researching school lunch. She’ll share her observations and experiences with us at the Eat-in.

Kimberly coordinates the Farm to School program for Kids First RI. If you are unfamiliar with Kids First RI, they are very involved in child nutrition and physical well-being throughout the state. In addition to working to get Rhode Island-grown fruits and vegetables into schools, Kids First has a team of chefs who work with food service directors in every district to improve school lunch. This year, Rhode Island has new nutrition requirements that have been mandated. The standards are high and exceed the USDA requirements for whole grains, the amount and variety of fresh fruit and vegetables, and include sodium limits. Kids First works to help school food service change their practices and offerings to meet these new requirements, and also works with schoolchildren to educate them on nutrition and help them adapt to these changes that are being made.

Please spread the word to your friends, invite them to join you at the Eat-in, and if they are unable to make it, please encourage them to sign the petition and to contact their legislators to let them know that healthy food in schools is important to us all.

If you are able to join us, please rsvp to slowfoodri@gmail.com, and please let us know what dish you’ll be bringing. The Eat-in is BYOU – bring your own utensils (and plates, and cups!) – to cut back on waste at the site.

We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

You’re invited to Slow Food RI’s Time for Lunch Eat-in, Monday, September 7

About a month and a half ago, we announced Slow Food USA’s new campaign to get healthy food into schools, Time for Lunch.

Time for Lunch aims to change the Child Nutrition Act by letting our legislators know that healthy food in schools is important to us all. The Child Nutrition Act governs the National School Lunch Program, which sets the standard for the food that more than 30 million children eat every school day. In the last few decades, as school budgets have been cut, our nation’s schools have struggled to serve children the healthy food they need.

Primary goals of Time for Lunch are to increase the amount allotted for each school lunch by a dollar – from $2.57 to $3.57, to guarantee 50 million dollars in funding for Farm-to-School programs, and to enact high standards for all food sold in schools, including vending machines and fast food outposts.

To read more about the Child Nutrition Act and the National School Lunch program, please visit Slow Food USA’s Time for Lunch website.

Slow Food Rhode Island will be kicking off our Time for Lunch campaign efforts – which will continue throughout the fall – with an Eat-in – a pot-luck get-together held on the beautiful grounds of the Tiverton Four Corners Arts Center on Labor Day. As of today, there are 232 Eat-ins planned in 49 states, all taking place on Labor Day.

The Slow Food RI Eat-in will start at 2pm, and in addition to good food, great company, and supporting an important cause, there will also be live music. State legislators and school administrators have been invited to attend as well.

If you are planning to attend the Eat-in, please email slowfoodri@gmail.com to let us know you’ll be joining us, and to let us know what dish you’re planning to bring. There is no admission for the Eat-in, though donations in any amount are appreciated to offset the facility fees.

If you cannot attend the Slow Food RI Eat-in, please be sure to sign the petition, contact your legislators to let them know that healthy food in schools is important to you, and spread the word to your friends. If you’d like to organize your own Eat-in, information on coordinating Eat-ins is available here.

We look forward to seeing you at the Eat-in!

Details:
Slow Food RI Time for Lunch Eat-in
Monday, September 7, 2009
2pm
Tiverton Four Corners Arts Center
3852 Main Road
Tiverton Four Corners, RI
For directions, click here

Time for Lunch Eat-in, Monday, September 7

By now, you have probably heard about Slow Food USA’s newly-launched initiative for real food in our nation’s schools, Time for Lunch.

Time for Lunch is national campaign to tell Congress to provide America’s children with real food at school. One of the major milestones for the campaign will be orchestrating more than 100 Eat-Ins in communities across the country on Labor Day, September 7, 2009.

Slow Food Rhode Island will be hosting an Eat-in at the Tiverton Four Corners Arts Center on Labor Day, and we’ll be posting up more information on the event throughout the summer.

The Eat-Ins – potluck gatherings – will draw attention to the need for real, healthy food for the more than 30 million children who participate in the National School Lunch Program. The school lunch program is part of the Child Nutrition Act that Congress will reauthorize later this year.

The need for real school food has never been greater. Today, one in four children is overweight or obese, and one in three will develop diabetes in his or her lifetime. In the face of this crisis, our schools are financially struggling to feed children anything but the overly processed fast food that endangers their health. For many children, school lunch is their only guaranteed meal of the day. Right now, those children are forced to choose between going hungry and being unhealthy.

The Child Nutrition Act is a federal law that comes up for reauthorization in Congress every four to five years. It governs the National School Lunch Program, which sets the standard for the food that more than 30 million children eat every school day. In the last few decades, as school budgets have been cut, our nation’s schools have struggled to serve children the real food they need.

The deadline for reauthorizing the current Child Nutrition Act is September 2009. Unless we speak up this summer, “business as usual” on Capitol Hill will let Congress pass a Child Nutrition Act that continues to fail our children.

If you cannot attend the Slow Food RI Eat-in, please be sure to sign the petition, contact your legislators to let them know healthy school lunches are important to you, and spread the word to your friends. If you’d like to organize your own Eat-in, information on coordinating Eat-ins is available here.

Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you at the Eat-in at Tiverton Four Corners Arts Center on Monday, September 7, 2009.