Posts Tagged ‘lunch’
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, March 18th, 2010
Image: National School Lunch Program
A few weeks ago I wrote about the current food revolution regarding school lunch programs. But how many parents, or teachers, are aware of what students are actually eating?
An anonymous teacher somewhere in the US has decided to eat a school lunch every day during 2010 and blog about it in Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project. It’s an interesting read and occasionally has guest bloggers, including one food service director and teachers from other areas of the country.
American Lunchroom and Better D.C. School Food are just two blogs focused on reforming the school lunch issue; the first focuses on nation-wide lunches with submissions by teachers.
To get a child’s perspective, visit School Lunch Found Guilty, a blog about New York’s school lunches.
There is hope, however, as some school systems have implemented a ‘Food is Elementary’ curriculum.
The state of Virginia posts its school lunch menus online. Below is a list of some Northern Virginia counties and their online menus.
-Arlington County. Apparently most of the produce in Arlington Public Schools is provided by local farms and milk has no artificial growth hormones.
-Fairfax County menus are determined based on Dietary Guidelines for Americans (MyPyramid) and student preference (or food tasting parties), with no more than an average of 30% calories from fat and 10% calories from saturated fat over the course of a week.
-Loudoun County has a list of ingredients online; each lunch contains 1 serving of meat, 3 servings of fruits and vegetables, 1 serving of milk, and at least 1 serving of bread or grain.
-Prince William County. Tonight (March 18) parents and children can vote on their favorite school menu options at Hylton High School in the PWC Annual School Food Show. Call 703-791-7314 for a reservation.
A new documentary, Lunch Line, will debut this spring and highlights the history and development of the school lunch program and the politics behind feeding millions of children through the National School Lunch Program.
(Video: Lunch Line)
For a look closer to home, check out Lunch at the Environmental Film Festival on Monday, March 22nd.
While schools may offer affordable and nutritious options for student lunch meals, the decision ultimately comes down to the child. If a child does not learn at home or in school what is healthy, he will continue eating whatever looks good or is easily accessible—usually foods that are high in sugar or fat.
–Aisha Salazar
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
Image: Dining Out For Life
This year I have decided to be a Restaurant Ambassador for Dining Out For Life, a national event that raises money to benefit patients with life challenging illnesses.
Dining Out For Life will kick off in the Washington, DC area on Thursday, March 11th. 147 restaurants around DC, Virginia, and Maryland will be participating. Almost 40 restaurants will be participating in Northern Virginia. Reservations are recommended to reduce the wait time.
In the DC area, Dining Out For Life partners with Food & Friends, an organization that provides nutritious meals to individuals battling HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other life threatening illnesses.
On March 11, all food and beverage sales at participating restaurants will benefit Food & Friends. 25-110% of your bill will be donated to this great organization. All you have to do is dine out!
Three restaurants—Annie’s Paramount Steak House, Posto, and Tosca—are donating 100% of their sales. Freddie’s Beach Bar is donating 110% of its sales!
Any donation of $35 or more will be matched dollar for dollar by the Food & Friends’ Board of Directors. $35 will provide an individual with 1.5 to 2 days worth of meals; that’s almost 6 meals!!!
Stacey England, Special Events Manager of Food & Friends, hopes people, “Get together with friends and do something great for a local non-profit. It’s an amazing event and just by eating you’re helping out.” She encourages people to volunteer their time, in addition to dining out on March 11th.
So grab your friends, family or co-workers and enjoy some lunch or dinner while helping out your neighbors!
Image: Food and Friends
On a daily basis, Food & Friends prepares, packages and delivers more than 3,000 free meals to children and adults within Washington, DC and 14 counties in Maryland and Virginia. Eleven specialized meal plans are offered and tailored to different illnesses, treatment programs and client preferences.
This year marks Food & Friends’ 14th year participating in Dining Out for Life. Last year Dining Out For Life raised over $270,000 for Food & Friends; $85,000 was just from diner contributions. Each participating restaurant is in an area served by Food & Friends.
Food & Friends needs volunteers daily in the kitchen and especially for deliveries. Deliveries take place 10am to 3pm Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 202-269-6835.
My personal goal is to raise $500 for Food & Friends. If you would like to help me out, visit my Dining Out For Life page.
I will meet and greet guests and take donations at Open Kitchen and Vespucci, which was included in our Best New Restaurants roundup in 2007.
I will be at Open Kitchen (donating 35%) for lunch and Vespucci (donating 25%) for dinner.
Hope to see you on the 11th!
–Aisha Salazar
Films Connect Food and the Environment
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Image: Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital
The 18th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital will be held March 16-28 in Washington, DC and will feature 155 films. One of the main themes at the festival this year is the connection between food and the environment. 32 of the films will be part of the Food & Agriculture Film Series.
Topics include school food programs, the sustainable organic movement, biodiversity, the slow food movement, food security, migrant farm workers, and urban agriculture. Bonus: The majority of the films are free!
Below is a list of films that relate to our region.
If you haven’t seen Fresh, which features Virginia farmer Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms, you can watch it on March 17 at 7:30pm at the National Geographic Society. Following the screening, you can participate in a discussion featuring the filmmaker Ana Sofia Joanes, Ann Yonkers, Co-director of FRESHFARM Markets, and by phone, Joel Salatin.
Lunch is a short documentary co-presented by the Earth Day Network & Center for Environmental Filmmaking. The film takes a look at school lunch programs, particularly within the Baltimore, MD public school system. It will be shown with the film Potato Heads at American University with a discussion afterwards with the Potato Heads filmmaker and the Director, Avis Richards of Earth Day Network. The film can be seen on March 22 at 7pm and is free to the public.
NORA! A film about Nora Pouillon, DC’s pioneer in the organic and local-food movement and owner of the nation’s first certified organic restaurant. Following the film there will be a discussion with the star herself. The film can be seen for free on March 23 at 7pm and will be screened at the International Student House.
Who Killed Crassostrea Virginica: The Fall and Rise of Chesapeake Bay Oysters. A whodunit film about the decline of the Chesapeake Bay oyster population. Was it the watermen, the oyster farmers, or the scientists who study them? The film can be seen for free on March 21 at 1:30pm at the Carnegie Institution for Science and will be followed by a discussion with filmmaker Michael Fincham and oyster biologist Ken Paynter and Captain Ed Farley.
There will also be films on global water issues, including a film on the restoration of the Anacostia River in Washington, DC (The Meaningful Watershed Education Experience), and a fifteen minute excerpt on chemical contaminants within the Chesapeake Bay (Poisoned Waters: Chesapeake Bay).
For a complete list, visit the film festival 2010 Films page.
Reston Preps Pre-Emptive Restaurant Week
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, August 7th, 2009
The discount dining carnival continues with the unveiling of the Observer’s Restaurant Week (Aug. 15- Aug. 22)–a hyper-local hospitality promotion poised to get the jump on the broader D.C. restaurant push.
Observer editor Chris Moore said the paper ran a pilot project this past January with great success.
“The restaurants asked us to do another one,” he said, noting that roughly two dozen local properties participated in the winter promotion.
This time around, the paper has recruited nearly 20 restaurants from across the service spectrum, including:
* Clyde’s
* Mayuri
* Morton’s
* San Vito
* Vinifera
According to Moore each restaurant is free to set their own menu and prices. But he stressed that “every restaurant is providing deals and three-course meals.”
Moore expects to upload the Reston Restaurant Week menus to the Observer site over the weekend. Reston residents will also receive a detailed guide in the Observer’s August 14 print edition.
–Warren
POTUS Crosses the River for Ray’s Hell Burger
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and the White House press corps made a pit stop in Arlington earlier today so the leader of the free world could indulge in the meaty masterpieces put forth by Ray’s Hell Burger (any chance Obama is a Food Network Magazine subscriber?):
(Video: NBC)
POTUS played it pretty safe, ordering up a medium-well cheddar burger with spicy mustard for himself, while Biden went with a medium-well Swiss burger dressed with jalapenos and ketchup. Obama inquired about fries, but was forced to split an order of Hell Burger’s “cheesy tater puffs” with Biden. The powerful pair also ordered up another mushroom-Swiss burger and two standard cheese burgers to go.
When staff attempted to play the “your-money’s-no-good-here” card, Obama started waving around his wad, stating:
“We gotta pay. See all these people here? [motioning to the reporters on hand during the surprise visit] They’ll write about how we were freeloading.”
While still at the register, Obama shot the kitchen crew a playful wink and uttered a pleasant, “hola!” And you better believe he dropped a finski into the tip jar–Change we can believe in!–before adjourning to the dining room to await the char-grilled spoils.
Ray’s owner Michael Landrum was understandably thrilled by the visit, dubbing it “the most exciting day of my career” and stressing how “generous” and “outgoing” Obama and Biden were with his crew and the patrons.
“My neighbors couldn’t be happier,” Landrum said of the incredible exposure Arlington is likely to receive post-presidential dining jaunt.
But wasn’t Landrum even a little disappointed that he didn’t get to dazzle the Prez with his cave-aged cheeses, cognac-soaked mushrooms or uber rich foie gras?
“It was a working lunch,” Landrum suggested. “They kept it simple, got a great burger and then got back to work.”
Guess this makes Hell Burger the current “hot seat” of power…
–Warren
Heat Eat Review: A Convenience Food Guide for Busy Lunchers
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Photo Credit: danorth1
Whether or not we’d admit it, many of us probably have some Lean Cuisines stashed away in the freezer for emergencies (or for lunch…and sometimes dinner).
Those microwavable meals stacked neatly in the grocery freezer aisles are constantly on massive sales (Giant, for example, features Stouffer’s entrees at 5 for $11 in its circular this week), making it even easier to give in and pick up a few boxes to supplement the nutritious, preservative-free, lovingly homemade meals that otherwise sustain you.
How do you decide which convenience foods to buy and which to leave on the shelves to marinate in their own sodium benzoates?
You certainly can’t judge these books by their deceptively stylized covers or even rely on brand names for consistency. At lunchtime, you’re left playing a rather unpleasant game of trial-and-error.
Abi Jones, a former volunteer at Teach for America Corps, has come up with a better way. On her website Heat Eat Review, she and her team of 30 writers from all over the U.S. very nicely offer to play guinea pig for us and report thoughtfully on all varieties of nuke-able fare.
In keeping with Jones’ day job in user-centered design, her website is a pleasure to navigate. Want to search for only five-star products (or the scary zero-star products)? You can do that. Counting Weight Watcher’s points? You can sort her reviews by WW point value. There are even reviews on food for vegans (like Heather’s review of Tofurkey) and others on specialty diets.
What’s more, the site is fun to read. Here’s a sample review for an unfortunate kid’s fish sticks meal (check out the play-by-play video review as well):
This meal wasn’t so much a lunch as an act of vengeance. If you’ve been doing some sinning lately (Fat Tuesday festivities and poor voting choices on Super Tuesday both come to mind), you could always choose this meal as part of a Friday Lenten penance. It must be worth at least 40 Hail Marys.
I’m happy to report that reviewer Daria gave Campbell’s Select Harvest 98% Fat-Free New England Clam Chowder a five out of five rating. That very can of soup has been sitting in my desk drawer (next to the tea bags and the bus schedules) for a over week now. I’ve been putting off the inevitable in case it turns out to be one of the many evil-tasting convenience foods that I loathe. With that positive review from Heat Eat Review, I think I might crack it open today and give it a try.
What are your go-to convenience meals? Alternatively, what’s the worst microwaved meal you’ve ever eaten?
– Christina Lee