Lunch Hour: A Documentary

There's a great new documentary out about one of the issues that we care most deeply about here at HCZ's Educated Eaters Project--the quality and state of school lunch. "Lunch Hour" highlights the current state of the plate in our nation's public school cafeterias and underscores why we should all be concerned. It does a great job of explaining how the current state of school lunch came about (often with good intentioned programs that had unforeseen consequences) and encourages everyone to help make positive changes starting in our own habits and communities.

Drawing on a range of perspectives, the film including interviews with journalists, politicians and physicians, and showcasing a few schools who are already confronting the challenge of not simply changing the items on the lunch line but transforming our attitudes toward food and health, the film is a compelling and eye-opening picture inside the nation's cafeterias.

Our own Promise Academy Cafeteria and Chef Andrew Benson are featured in the film as a counter-example to the general state of school cafeteria food. Chef Andrew describes how our food is made largely from scratch, sourced from local farmers, how all our meat and dairy is organic or hormone free, and how important it is that the food is enjoyed by both students and staff. The film shows Chef Andrew in our 5th Floor Garden which supports the work in the cafeteria by teaching students about where food comes from and giving them ownership of the process. As you know, we cook or give away all the food we grow. If you'd like to get involved this summer in our gardening or cooking classes, please let us know!

Congratulations to first-time film maker James Costa on a great project with a worthy cause. Thanks for including us in the whole story. We're excited to see the movement to improve what our children eat gain more national attention and momentum!