Twitter's Biz Stone Petitions Congress for Veggie School Menus (Video)
Steve and I are vegans and all three of our kids are vegetarians, so throughout our transition to adopting a cruelty-free lifestyle, one recurring struggle has been making sure that the kids have lunch options at school. Our school district has assured us that there should be at least one vegetarian option available each day, but it is common for them not to keep their word; as many days, the kids report having to pick pepperoni off of pizza or just eating the fruit cup. Lately, they have been bringing lunch with them; which is always cool with us, though the boys seem to prefer the "fun" of eating in the cafeteria for some reason.
Our son Aidan has even started a petition to send to the school district asking for a vegetarian menu in addition to the choices already provided. He already has close to 100 signatures and nearly all of the students who have signed it are omnivores, but wouldn't mind having vegetarian options themselves. Due to our background with the veggie lunch situation, I was quite pleased to hear (via The Huffington Post) that Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, who is a vegan himself, recently lobbied Congress to add vegetarian options to school lunches, and sent a letter to Rep. George Miller, chair of the House of Education and Labor Committee to support the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act.
The Committee on Education and Labor responded to Stone's letter via Twitter, tweeting that the goal of the reauthorization is to "improve children's access to healthy and affordable meals at school."
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has released a video advocating healthier school lunches, which has aired on TV in Rep. Miller's district. Sign the petition here.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 2:30PM
Reader Comments (4)
This is great. If the healthy/cruelty free option was there, kids would not only love it, they could experience tastes that have been long lost in the processed junk served now.
I eat meat (occasionally, like hot dogs and pepperoni, but that's about it), but I wouldn't mind if schools had more vegetarian options. Hey, they'd be getting more veggies, that's for sure! And although they have said they are trying to get healthier menus all around, I see an awful lot of processed, greasy, high-fat foods (I work in the schools almost daily so I know what their menus are like). IN fact, the school I was at in AZ had "fish tacos" listed one day for lunch. Guess what the kids got? A tortilla shell with a fish stick inside of it!! I laughed the whole way into the teacher's lounge at the "fish taco!" That's great that your son is doing something about it.
I love your kids. That is all.
Way to go Aidan!!! that rocks!!!