A change in who provides meals for USD 257 students will come about this summer when a private company takes over. Promised are less expense for the district and a broader selection for students.
I don’t think we had meals at school when I was in grade school, but did in high school.
I lived just two blocks from the south entrance to Humboldt High, which had me skipping home at noon for a sit-down meal.
Today, I occasionally hear students rail about having to eat at school each day. For me it was a treat. Not that what I consumed was any better than what I would have had a home, rather mainly for the change of pace and scenery. Also, there were the social aspects, getting to eat with my buddies and occasionally sneaking a wink at a girl at another table. One in particular came in from a country school, and we’ve dined together daily now for nearly 49 years.
It also was an educational experience.
Figuring that Humboldt moms may not have been up to snuff on nutrition — a fallacy of the 1950s since virtually all were homemakers first and foremost — the administration had food experts come to visit with us about what to eat and why.
Few of the lessons stuck with me, with one exception — when eating a baked potato, it was a mistake of gargantuan proportions to forego consuming the skin, we were told. That’s where nutrients are sequestered, a speaker said in strong enough language that it resonates with me to this day.
Being open to a challenge, I took the guy at his word. The next time a baked potato was served — home or school, I don’t remember — I was careful after adding a dollop of butter and showering the spud with salt to slice it up and consume all.
Not only was the skin better for me, but it also added to the flavor.
I’ve not eaten a baked potato since without the skin as well, an aside of my dietary adventures that leaves wife Beverly sometimes shaking her head. Fine at home, she says, because she knows the potato has been scrubbed clean. At a restaurant she’s not so sure, for fear of eating something unclean.
I just barrel on through.
The only food I’ve ever eaten that I’m reasonably sure left me ill was a baked snack sold by a street vendor in Honduras. I was wrong in thinking it’s baking left it harmless.
