There were so many nominations for April’s Titanium Spork Award. Thank you for contributing a very cool mix of famous and unknown people who have one thing in common: they concerned about school lunch and the direction in which American children are headed nutritionally. I tried to find a link for every person on the list so that you can do some research if you want to. So I’ve put up a poll. Please vote!
I thought about cutting down the list, but who am I to say which person you want to see with the spork? Also if you want your name removed or a link updated, let me know. Without further delay here are all of the nominations from the readers in no particular order:
- Jamie Oliver
- Katherine Sims, Executive Director of Green Mountain Farm-to-School.
- Marion Nestle
- Kate Adamick from S’Cool Food.
- Biggie from Lunch in a Box.
- Chef Ann Cooper
- Ali from Brave New Lunch
- Ed Bruske from The Slow Cook
- Healthy Tara
- Mendy Heaps
- Dr. Susan Rubin from Better School Food
- Michelle Obama for the Let’s Move Campaign
- Antonia Demas from Food Studies Institute
- Jill Richardson from La Vida Locavore
- Tamara from BuzzFood: Feed the Obsession
- Alice Waters
- Sherrie Shippen working hard for kids from an itty bitty town (too cute).
- Nick from What’s for School Lunch?
- Alison Forest (who runs the best hot lunch program in the state at Brewster Pierce Elementary School in Huntington, Vermont)
- Kids ReThink New Orleans Schools
- The Farmer’s Daughter, an organic school lunch delivery service in the Winston-Salem/Germanton area of North Carolina.
- Jeremy Miller from Chico, Sustainable
- Jane Holloway–the ultimate lunch lady in IN
- Stacy Reed from Librarian Chick
- Aubree Durfey, the Americorps VISTA volunteer for our Gallatin Valley Farm to School group
- Sydney – a 12 year old kid making changes in her life – nominated by her mom, too sweet.
- Sam Fromartz from Chewswise
- Thianda Manzara from Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids, which puts gardens in schoolyards in Delaware
I am so happy to see all the great links! Thank you everyone!
Fantastic idea. I hope that people choose to support the smaller enterprises here; after all, it's much more difficult for a student like Healthy Tara to make a change than it is for a big-name chef like Jamie Oliver.
Thanks, everyone. Vive la revolution!
Jamie Oliver shouldn't be an option given what is now coming out about his show.
On the subject of Mendy Heaps, local TV in Denver has picked up The Slow Cook's coverage of this food-crusading teacher.
http://tinyurl.com/y6wors9
Jennifer – What did I miss?
Thanks for the links; here's another note for you. One of the students in my district was on the Good Morning America show today talking about the changes she's helped make to lunches here in our county. She's also working with Congressmen and -women on the topic.
Thought I'd let you know that even the students want change and are willing to affect it themselves. Happy Monday 🙂
@ Jennifer: I must be out of the loop! What's been coming out about Jamie Oliver's show??
It might not be the best person who is doing the most to benefit school lunches, but wouldn't that be awesome if Michelle Obama was selected?! Then she and the President might catch on that in order for schools to change we need better standards from the government. It's so hard to see that some schools and principals want to do better, but are tied down to regulations for reimbursable meals that require things that make pizza being counted for two bread servings and french fries for a vegetable. Maybe we, as a US govt, should trust local school districts or local governments to do their own regulations since they are more familiar with what fresh food and products can be utilized for their own area. It might not always work and it might take a few years to get it better, but it could be a start.
Then again, I guess the First Lady probably gets so many awards and mail that she probably wouldn't even notice we voted for her…
I encourage you to review the positive impact that Antonia Demas is having through the Food Studies Institute and to vote for her. Through hands on education about how to prepare delicious plant foods, children are discovering that they actually enjoy healthful foods, and these new habits are what is needed to prevent obesity and other chronic diseases later in life.
@ Jennifer There's nothing coming out of his show that's negative except when written about by disgruntled people who don't want to change their own mindset and habits. What you are trying to do is push a "fear" agenda in order to minimize the influence of something that could make quite a dent in this country's food and obesity problems. I think what Jamie Oliver is doing is quite remarkable, especially when you combine his efforts with those already made by people like Michelle Obama, Mrs. Q and the like.
What about adding the US military? See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_school_lunches_threat