Fish sticks, tater tots, and sloppy Joes. Does this sound like your child’s school lunch? Author, activist, and self-professed “Renegade Lunch Lady” Chef Ann Cooper is working to transform America’s school lunch program from one that serves up fast food to one that provides healthy, locally-sourced school lunches that satisfy more than just a child’s appetite.



As part of this work, Chef Ann will be the keynote speaker at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association’s 31st annual conference, “Growing with Integrity, Eating with Intention” February 13-14, 2010. The conference will also feature a school lunch workshop track, which will explore what can be done to help schools provide more fresh, organic meals to their students.



“Getting more locally-produced foods into school lunch menus is one important way we can help improve our children’s health, teach children healthy eating habits, and support Ohio’s small farmers,” said OEFFA Program Director Renee Hunt.



Chef Ann’s mission is to transform the National School Lunch Program through lunch menus designed to emphasize regional, organic, fresh foods, and nutritional education, helping students build a connection between where their food comes from and personal health and wellness.



Chef Ann has been transforming cafeterias around the country into culinary classrooms for students, one school lunch at a time. At The Ross School in East Hampton, NY, she served as the executive chef and director of wellness and nutrition, developing an integrated school lunch curriculum centered on regional, organic, seasonal and sustainable meals. Since then, Chef Ann has transformed public school cafeterias in New York, California, and Colorado. She is the author of four books, including Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children, and Bitter Harvest: A Chef’s Perspective on the Hidden Dangers in the Food We Eat and What You Can Do About It.



Chef Ann’s keynote presentation, “Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children,” will detail the importance of changing the way our children eat and why parents, schools, farmers, food service providers, and government must work together. Her keynote will take place Sunday, February 14 at 2:45 p.m.


Chef Ann will also be leading a workshop on February 14 at 9:30 a.m., “From A to Z: Setting Up a Healthy School Lunch Program.” Currently working with the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado, she will discuss how to reform school lunch programs, from feasibility studies to menu cycles and procurement. She will also identify barriers to school lunch reform, how to overcome those barriers, and tricks of the trade.

In addition, the conference will feature a workshop, “Farm to School Program Opportunities in Ohio” on February 14 at 1:30 p.m. Noreen Warnock, Ohio representative for the National Farm to School Network, and Amalie Lipstreu, coordinator for the Ohio Food Policy Council, will talk about their experience in Ohio integrating local food into school lunch menus. Sara Tedeschi, Great Lakes Farm to School Network Coordinator, will facilitate this workshop and highlight some national examples to show what can be replicated in Ohio.

On any average school day, more than 30 million kids across the country eat a school lunch, but according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 80 percent of school lunches exceed the daily recommended doses of fat; 72 percent exceeded recommendations for saturated fat; only 6 percent of schools met the standards for protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium; and almost all school lunches contain too much salt. It’s no surprise, then, that 40 percent of the public school children in this study were overweight.