”Note that not only do the French students eat more interesting meals than the American kids, but they get a different message from mealtime, too. You get the sense that a French school lunch is considered part of the child’s education.
/…/ Contrast this with the American school, where the kids are fed a monotonous diet of pizza, burgers, chicken parts and meat.” FrÃ¥n den här betraktelsen över amerikansk och frensk matkultur pÃ¥ Idle Words.
[Länk via kottke.org].
I den här artikeln på Mother Jones hävdas att den amerikanska skolmatens kvalitet bland annat är ett resultat av det industristöd som de amerikanska livsmedelsföretagen får:
”In November 2001, for example, the beef industry wrote to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, complaining that a decline in travel after September 11, along with a lowered demand for beef in Japan, was suppressing sales of their product. The department responded two months later with a $30 million ’bonus buy’ of frozen beef roasts and ground beef for schools.
’Basically, it’s a welfare program for suppliers of commodities,’ says Jennifer Raymond, a retired nutritionist in Northern California who has worked with schools to develop healthier menus. ’It’s a price support program for agricultural producers, and the schools are simply a way to get rid of the items that have been purchased.'”
Den här typen av överdriven samverkan mellan det amerikanska politiska systemet och företagen inom livsmedelsbranschen finns även rikligt dokumenterad i Eric Schlossers intressanta bok Snabbmatslandet.
Marion Nestle har skrivit om den amerikanska livsmedelslobbyn i Food politics: How the food industry influences nutrition and health
De tycks ha en närmast korporativistisk situation i USA på matsidan. Intressant, med tanke på allt snack om fri marknad och så. Men hur ser det ut i Europa? Var finns de europeiska kritikerna, de europeiska motsvarigheterna till Schlosser och Nestle?
hmm…. det stÃ¥r ju pÃ¥ engelska =/