Potluck Promotes Healthier School Lunches

The Civic Center morphed into a picnic area on Labor Day, as local residents gathered to share homemade dishes and learn about Slow Food's Time for Lunch campaign. Referred to as an "Eat-In," the potluck was a pleasurable protest to get real food into school lunches.

"The idea is that sitting down to a meal with your neighbors is not only enjoyable, it's a political act," said Darrow Vanderburgh-Wertz, a Slow Food San Francisco volunteer.

"The super ideal situation would be if each school could have its own kitchen and use local produce."

Similar events were held across the country, with more than 300 potlucks total and two more San Francisco gatherings in Ingleside and Portrero Hill. Slow Food is a global movement, as well as a philosophy, that encourages meals that are "good, clean and fair."

"It's a beautiful day and a great gathering," said Sen. Mark Leno, who spoke to the crowd about the need to change what children eat for lunch in school.

"We can prevent the tsunami of an epidemic if we do what Slow Food is suggesting," Leno said in his speech.

As well as raising awareness, Slow Food wants to pressure Congress into reforming lunches by adding $1 more per child to the budget when it comes time to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act on Sept. 30.

"[The way it is now] there ends up being $1 worth of actual food in every meal," Vanderburgh-Wertz said. "We're asking for an extra $1 from Congress, which doesn't sound like much but would be a doubling of money for food."

Daphne Miller, a local doctor and author of "The Jungle Effect: The Healthiest Diets From Around the World -- And How to Make Them Work For You," gave a speech about the rising trends in diabetes, obesity and heart disease she has seen in children.

"[Serving real food for lunch] is an obvious solution to childhood obesity and diseases I never saw in kids that age," Miller said. "The answer is not a biomedical one...it has to do with bringing more culture back into schools -- farming culture and family culture."

Children's Choice, a company that provides schools with healthy lunches, set up a sushi-rolling booth that was a big hit with the kids. Rolling teriyaki, California, and avocado concoctions engaged the kids in a way that CEO Justin Gagnon thinks is crucial to introducing them to vegetables and foods they would normally avoid.

"It's really fun to see them engaged in the food," Gagnon said. "My goal is to get the kids to try new things. Our kids have the spontaneity and the ability to respond. They're up to the challenge."

Alongside companies like Children's Choice, chefs, culinary students, and locals contributed homemade creations to the mix. The long lunch table was filled with a variety of picnic foods: green and red and yellow heirloom tomatoes swathed in vinaigrette, pesto pasta and cous cous, crostini piled with herbs and goat cheese.

People walked around with plates of delicately fried chicken, at least one of the many varieties of potato salad, and slices of honeydew melon or organic green apples. Hunks from a giant wheel of peppercorn cheese made their way through the masses and ended up on nearly every plate, as did saturated slices of bourbon-glazed peaches.

A planting station was set up as well, with volunteers teaching children how to grow their own vegetables.

"This is cool...we almost made vegetables," said 7-year-old Aliyah Hopkins.

"My favorites are sweet corn, pinto beans, broccoli and fruit salad," her friend Mariah Murillo, 10, added.