“People, Not Politics,” or is it “Politics as Usual?” Our school children seem to fall into the politics as usual category by Congressman Phil Roe when he calls the latest initiative on healthy school lunches the over-reaching of Big Government. If I remember correctly, his slogan is “People, Not Politics.”

The National School Lunch Program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been involved in providing nutritional school lunches for decades. In fact, the first attempts at providing nutritional meals for school children began in 1874. Throughout the decades modifications and revisions of such have taken place. At one point, the book “Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet,” stated that a powerful influence on food habits of American children was the school lunchroom.

By the mid-1950s, lunch was something to look forward to. We had a balanced and tasty made-from-scratch meal.

Even with guidelines in place, things changed along the way. Our children rejected the greasy square pizza and processed potatoes that came on their trays. They had fun seeing who could squeeze the most grease from their pizza onto a napkin.

Roe talks about school workers now being “reduced to counting tater tots.” This should be a non issue. Tater tots carry a grade of C- as far as nutrition. I believe it was our great orator, Ronald Reagan, who deemed ketchup was a vegetable. If I deemed a mouse was a tiger, would that make it so?

The new nutritional guidelines spearheaded by a political opponent of Congressman Roe’s party, calls for more fresh fruits and vegetables, more whole grains and a quality entree. The child has a choice. If he doesn’t care for the entree, say fish, he can choose more fresh fruits and vegetables.

Have you ever had a young cashier at the grocery store ask, “What’s this?” as they ring up a fresh fruit or vegetable? It happened to me recently. Sadly, she was inquiring about a peach.

S. DEAKINS

Limestone