Spotlight on the USDA: Child Hunger and My Plate Icon
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, June 7th, 2011
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been front and center in the headlines this week as it takes aim at the dietary deficiencies plaguing the American public.
The Dude Abides, but not When it Comes to Child Hunger
The Secretary of Agriculture, a governor, and an Academy Award-winning Dude of cult status fame walk into an Arlington elementary school . . . I admit, this may sound like the beginning of a bad joke with a groan-inducing punch line, but really this is anything but a laughing matter. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Gov. Bob McDonnell and actor/spokesperson Jeff Bridges are coming together for the most noble of causes: to fight child hunger. Today at 2:00 p.m., the three gentlemen will formally launch the Virginia No Kid Hungry Campaign at Barcroft Elementary School. Virginia joins the ranks of Maryland, Colorado, Connecticut, and Arkansas in creating this formal state partnership with the national nonprofit organization Share Our Strength. Share Our Strength’s mission is to eradicate child hunger in the United States by the year 2015.
The Federation of Virginia Food Banks, various corporate partners and education leaders, as well as government agencies and community organizations are all on board as part of this campaign to alleviate the suffering of the approximately 218,000 hungry children in our state. Fewer than 20% of Virginia children who do qualify for free and reduced-price meals during the school year do not receive such assistance during the summer months. Which leads us to . . .
School’s Out for Summer, Leaving Kids Hungry
Vilsack has also declared this week the first ever National Summer Food Service Program Week: “Food That’s In When School is Out.” It is meant to promote the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program, a federally funded program that aims to provide assistance to hungry children during the summer months through partnerships created with state agencies and local organizations.
“This Just Feels Like Spinning Plates”
Of course, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s most news-making endeavor as of late has been its retirement of the My Pyramid for the My Plate icon. My earliest memory is of the Basic Four Food Group model, a “hassle-free” and icon-less approach that seemed somewhat vague at the time. I completely forgot about 1984’s so-called Food Wheel until I reviewed this brief and interesting history of the agency’s food guides, so I guess that model did not make any impression on my still impressionable mind. The Pyramid, and the subsequent Pyramid revision, may have been a nice idea in theory, but not so much in practice. Who thinks of pyramids when they are eating, after all? To me, a pyramid connotes sarcophagi and hieroglyphics—dusty and ancient things of the past, but certainly not fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and proteins. The My Plate model is a hallelujah moment for the USDA. It just makes sense. Even a child can understand from looking at it that fruits and vegetables should take up half of your meal plate. And it only took 95 years!
-Johnisha M. Levi
Tags: child hunger, Gut Check, Johnisha levi, Share Our Strength, USDA, Virginia No Kid Hungry Campaign