Slow Food East Bay: Time For Lunch!

USDA announces Farm to School initiative

2009-09-15T13:47:00.001-07:00

Elections have consequences, sometimes even good ones. The Gummint getting the Slow Food - Time for Lunch! message? I'll score this one a WIN for our side, in any case.

USDA announces Farm to School initiative - "New Farm-to-School Tactical Teams Will Assist School Administrators Transition to Purchasing More Locally Grown Foods as Part of USDA's 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative'"

Link: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2009/09/0441.xml

Thanks to the Time for Lunch! participants

2009-09-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

The great success of our Time for Lunch! Eat-In/Potluck would not have been possible without the tremendous support we got from our participants. Our heartfelt gratitude and thanks go out to all who joined us for this great event. There will be more eat-in/potlucks and other events to help improve school lunches.

Again, thanks to all our Time for Lunch! participants
Revolution Foods
La-Lo's Ice Cream
Magnolia Photo Booth
Garden Fare
Three Stone Hearth
HOPE Collaborative
Center for Ecoliteracy
Youth Radio
Ecology Center
Events Etc.
Acme Bread
Nana Mae's
Piedmont Party Rental
American Audio Visual
Kijiji Grows

And everyone who volunteered and shared their food with us. Thank you!

Time for Lunch! Campaign continues

2009-09-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

After the fantastic success of the Time for Lunch! Eat-In/Potluck Monday Sept. 7, we're not resting on our laurels (or anything else)! We're continuing our campaign for REAL FOOD for school lunches. The Time for Lunch! Eat-In/Potluck has allowed us to reach out to our community and make many new friends. We will join with them to continue our campaign. Check back here for updates and events.

Join Slow Food in September

2009-09-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

"We are making a world where everyone can eat food that is good for them, good for the people who grow it and good for the planet."

If any of you have not yet joined Slow Food, now is definitely the time! If you ...are a member, send this message out to anyone interested.

Slow Food USA is doing a special membership outreach this month. For the month of September 2009, a gift of any size will make you a member. ...Give more if you can, less if you can't.

Click the title or this link to join Slow Food.

Slow Food East Bay Time for Lunch! event photo album

2009-09-09T12:49:00.000-07:00

The complete Slow Food East Bay: Time for Lunch! photo album. We had a great event! Thanks to all of you who helped make this event such a rousing success; volunteers, participants and attendees! Continue to work for better school lunches, get involved with the Slow Food USA Time for Lunch! campaign.

Join Slow Food this month (September 2009) and a gift of any size will make you a member. Give more if you can, less if you can't.
Membership rates will return to $60 on October 1st.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee at East Bay Time for Lunch!

2009-09-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

Time for Lunch! in The Atlantic

2009-09-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

The Atlantic online published a piece on the Slow Food Time for Lunch! Eat-In/Potluck events. The author of this piece, Gordon Jenkins, was in our leadership here in Berkeley until he moved on to Slow Food USA.

Join the Time for Lunch! campaign for better school lunches (we need volunteers!) and our Labor Day potluck at MLK Jr. Park* in Berkeley 11:30-3:00PM Labor Day, Monday Sept. 7 (more details in an earlier post). Go to slowfoodusa.org for more info and to locate a Labor Day potluck near you.

* Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park
2151 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, (between Allston Way and Center Street)
Berkeley, CA map

Slow Food - Time for Lunch! in the New York Times

2009-08-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

Big shout-out from the NY Times for school lunch reform! And a hefty mention for the Slow Food - Time for Lunch! campaign for school lunch reform and our Eat-In/Potluck Labor Day.

Join the Time for Lunch! campaign for better school lunches (we need volunteers!) and our Labor Day potluck at MLK Jr. Park* in Berkeley 11:30-3:00PM Labor Day, Monday Sept. 7 (more details in an earlier post). Go to slowfoodusa.org for more info and to locate a Labor Day potluck near you.

* Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park
2151 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, (between Allston Way and Center Street)
Berkeley, CA map

BIG HUGE REALLY IMPORTANT UPDATE

2009-08-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

!!! TIME CHANGE !!!

The Slow Food East Bay: Time for Lunch! Eat-In/Potluck TIME HAS CHANGED

The new time is 11:30PM - 3:00PM

Please mark your calendars!

The Time for Lunch! Eat-In/Potluck will still take place Labor Day, Monday Sept. 7 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park 2151 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, (between Allston Way and Center Street) in Berkeley

See you there!

Join the Time for Lunch! campaign for better school lunches (we need volunteers!). Go to slowfoodusa.org for more info and to locate a Labor Day potluck near you.

Time for Lunch! Update: Kid Stuff and More

2009-08-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

• More Activities for the Kids
- Magnolia Photo Booth, get a free souvenir photos in a vintage photo booth!
- Garden Fare will be doing plantings and other kid-friendly projects!
- Laloo’s Ice Cream will have free treats!

• Music
- Uncle Eye

Join the Time for Lunch! campaign for better school lunches (we need volunteers!) and our Labor Day potluck at MLK Jr. park in Berkeley 11:30-2:30 Monday Sept. 7 (more details in an earlier post). Go to slowfoodusa.org for more info and to locate a Labor Day potluck near you.

Time for Lunch! Update: Speakers

2009-08-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

• Guest Speakers (more to come)
- Congresswoman Barbara Lee
- Jessica Prentice, Three Stone Hearth
- Leon Davis, Hope Collaborative
- Jacob Wright, Center for Ecoliteracy
- Youth Radio, Student Speaker
- Ecology Center, Berkeley High Student Speaker

Join the Time for Lunch! campaign for better school lunches (we need volunteers!) and our Labor Day potluck at MLK Jr. park in Berkeley 11:30-2:30 Monday Sept. 7 (more details in an earlier post). Go to slowfoodusa.org for more info and to locate a Labor Day potluck near you.

Marion Nestle: Let the school-meals revolution begin

2009-08-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

w00t! The school lunch revolution is picking up steam. An article by noted nutritionist and author Marion Nestle gives a big shout-out to Slow Food's Time for Lunch! campaign for better school lunches. Join the campaign (we need volunteers!) and our Labor Day potluck at MLK Jr. park in Berkeley 11:30-2:30 Monday Sept. 7 (more details in an earlier post). Go to slowfoodusa.org for more info and to locate a Labor Day potluck near you.

Visit us at the Eat Real Festival!

2009-08-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

Slow Food East Bay: Time For Lunch! campaign will be at the Eat Real Festival all weekend August 28 - 30. Come visit, sign up for the Time For Lunch! Eat-In/Potluck and enjoy the fantastic array of local street food! It's FREE! (food is $1 - $5)

Here's an update on the Eat-In Labor Day festivities!

2009-08-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

• Guest Speakers more to come
- Congresswoman Barbara Lee
- Jessica Prentice, Three Stone Hearth
- Leon Davis, Hope Collaborative
- Center for Ecoliteracy

• Live Music

• Activities for the Kids
- Magnolia Photo Booth, get free souvenir photos in a vintage photo booth
- Garden Fair will be doing plantings and other kid-friendly projects

• Participants (partial list)
- Laloo’s Ice Cream
- Acme Bread
- Roots of Change

Time for Lunch! Eat-In/Pot-Luck

2009-07-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

Join the Slow Food East Bay: Time For Lunch! campaign to urge our national leaders to make REAL FOOD in schools a priority.
How:
1. Sign the petition
2. Send a letter to legislator
3. Join us at the Eat-In
or turn your Labor Day BBQ into an Eat-In by registering with Slow Food USA

What: Time For Lunch! Labor Day Eat-In/Pot-Luck.

When: Monday Sept. 7th, 11:30 to 2:30pm

Where: Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park
2151 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, (between Allston Way and Center Street)
Berkeley, CA map

Why: To get REAL FOOD in schools and to meet your neighbors and friends to share a friendly meal.

Bring: A meal to share with your community, (with serving utensil, index card with description) a plate & fork for the environment, an extra blanket (seating is limited)

There's treats, entertainment and fun for the kids too!
• Live Music
• Photobooth
• Laloo’s Ice Cream
• Children’s Activities

Post a comment here and keep in touch with us on Facebook: Slow Food East Bay: Time For Lunch Campaign

Our email: SFEBTime4Lunch@gmail.com contact us anytime

Slow Food Berkeley local chapter site: http://slowfoodberkeley.com/

To learn more about the Slow Food movement please visit Slow Food USA: http://www.slowfoodusa.org/

2009-07-31T16:50:00.000-07:00

The Time for Lunch Policy Platform
Every school day, we have an opportunity to build a strong foundation for our children’s health by serving them real food at school.

Children who grow up enjoying food that is both delicious and good for them learn healthy habits that last throughout their lives.

Each year that we fail to satisfy our children’s right to real food is another year we deny our children good health, we diminish their ability to learn and we close the door on their opportunity to succeed. 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. We can do better.

The National School Lunch Program provides a meal to more than 30 million children every school day. By giving schools the resources to serve real food, we can grant 30 million children the freedom to be healthy. By teaching children to eat well, we can make a down payment on health care reform. By providing children with locally grown fruits and vegetables, we can support local farmers and create green jobs in our communities. By purchasing local food, we can stop wasting oil needed to transport food and reduce the impact on our environment. By raising children who enjoy real food, we can start laying the foundation for America’s future prosperity.

This fall, the Child Nutrition Act, which is the bill that governs the National School Lunch Program, is up for reauthorization in Congress. By passing a Child Nutrition Act that works for children, our nation can take the first step towards a future where no child is denied his or her right to be healthy and where every child enjoys real food. That’s why it’s time for Congress and the Obama Administration to:

1. INVEST IN CHILDREN’S HEALTH.
Give schools just one dollar more per day for each child’s lunch. Under the National School Lunch Program, the USDA reimburses schools for every meal served: $2.57 for a free lunch, $2.17 for a reduced-price lunch and 24 cents for a paid lunch. Since these reimbursements must also pay for labor, equipment and overhead costs, schools are left with only $1.00 to spend on food. How can schools be expected to feed our children and protect their health with only a dollar a day? It’s time to build a strong foundation for our children’s health by raising the reimbursement rate to $3.57.

2. PROTECT AGAINST FOODS THAT PUT CHILDREN AT RISK.
Establish strong standards for all food sold at school, including food from vending machines and school fast food. At most schools, children can buy junk food in vending machines, at on-campus stores and in the cafeteria as “a la carte” items. These overly processed, high-calorie “fast” foods sneak under the radar of federal nutrition standards. They undermine the National School Lunch Program’s investment in children’s health and allow food companies to profit from selling obesity. It’s time to take the first step towards making real food the standard by approving Rep. Woolsey’s and Sen. Harkin’s Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act of 2009.

3. TEACH CHILDREN HEALTHY HABITS THAT WILL LAST THROUGH LIFE.
Fund grants for innovative Farm to School programs and school gardens. This spring, 30 fifthgraders joined Michelle Obama in planting a vegetable garden on the White House lawn. “What I found with my kids [is that] if they were involved in planting and picking it, they were much more curious to give it a try,” Mrs. Obama says. Every child deserves the opportunity to learn healthy eating habits at school. In 2004, a section was added to the Child Nutrition Act to provide schools with grants to cover one-time grants that enable them to purchase local foods and to teach lessons on healthy eating in kitchen and garden classrooms – but Congress never appropriated funds for it. This year, it’s time for Congress to guarantee $50 million of mandatory funding for Farm to School programs.
We also ask that Congress and the Obama Administration:

4. GIVE SCHOOLS THE INCENTIVE TO BUY LOCAL.
Establish financial incentives that encourage schools to buy food from local farms for all child nutrition programs. Buying fruits and vegetables from local farms is an economic engine for creating jobs in our communities, rebuilding rural economies, and supporting family farmers. By shortening the distance food travels – from farm to table – it also saves oil and ensures school foods are as fresh and healthy as possible.

5. CREATE GREEN JOBS WITH A SCHOOL LUNCH CORPS.
Train underemployed Americans to be the teachers, farmers, cooks, and administrators our school cafeterias need. We can’t serve real food in schools without investing in school kitchens and the people who prepare and serve lunch. This spring, President Obama signed the Serve America Act, which expanded Americorps and reinforced his call for Americans to serve their country. Right now, our nation has an opportunity to train young and unemployed Americans to be the teachers, farmers, cooks and administrators we need to ensure the National School Lunch Program is protecting children’s health. President Obama has called for an end to childhood hunger by 2015; let’s answer that call by putting Americans to work building and working in school kitchens nationwide.

About the Time For Lunch Campaign

2009-06-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

Childhood obesity and diabetes rates have risen dramatically over the last decade and health care costs continue to escalate. We have an opportunity to make a difference! We can convince our legislators to bring real food into our national school lunch program. Whether you’re a mom, student, activist, farmer, grandparent or Slow Food USA leader, you can help make our collective voices heard. This year, it’s time to speak up. Help us organize a big shout out to our legislators and let them know it’s “Time for Lunch.” Slow Food USA’s “Time for Lunch” campaign is an opportunity to take action in whatever form you can. Write a letter, make a call, send an email or organize an Eat-In. Each is helpful in making a statement about bringing real food into our national school lunch program. But we also want to make a dramatic statement, so our campaign gets noticed. On Labor Day, Sept. 7, 2009, we need your help in organizing tens of thousands of people in communities across the nation to sit down and share a meal with their neighbors. This will be our defining moment to help send a clear message to our nation’s leaders that our children deserve better school lunches. This National Eat-In is our opportunity to take a stand about the food our children eat in school. Gather your friends, your families, your neighbors and your fellow citizens for a public potluck and rally that shows everyone real food for school lunches is a priority in your community. It’s easy to join this movement, even if you’ve never done anything like this before—you’re just gathering a group of people for a potluck. Everyone can organize an Eat-In, everyone can be an advocate and every-one can participate.

Click Here to See Michelle Obama's Speech!

Or email us at

SFEBTime4Lunch@gmail.com

for additional information!