Redwood City, January 26. - Parents of students from the Latino community who attend Redwood City District schools expressed that Latino children and youth deserve to have access to healthy, quality food in their schools, which is a fundamental part of their development.
These assertions were gathered in a survey conducted by the Healthy Eating Committee at the end of December 2021.
According to the findings, parents and community organizers noted that they have noticed a general attitude that low-income families should be grateful for school meals, without recognizing that many of them value fresh ingredients and that delicious meals play an important role in our heritage.
This was pointed out by the Committee in information provided to P360P, who detailed that when referring to low-income families, "it is often code for the Latino community."
"My culture has a lot of indigenous values rooted in taking care of the land and our bodies, and I hate that they think our Redwood City Latinx Community wants prepared foods," referenced one of the surveys.
The results also showed that both parents and students in North Fair Oaks pointed out the need to improve school meals, as they highlighted that their children do not eat anything during their stay in the schools because the food is of very low quality.
North Fair Oaks (NFO) is an unincorporated area bordering Redwood City, Menlo Park and Atherton, with the most cultural diversity in the county and a large Latino population.
Mothers and fathers stated that the current food offerings in schools have exacerbated cultural disparities, as they only emphasize traditional "American" food.
In that regard, they stressed that there is an opportunity to use school meals to bridge cultural differences by making delicious, fresh meals that showcase the diversity of Redwood City students' cultures.
And, said the Committee, the low quality of food has caused school meals to become a signifier of social status.
"Those who eat school meals are seen as "lower class," which makes students unwilling to eat school meals because it is "uncool." This is also an opportunity for change: if the meals were of higher quality, more parents would have their students eat them, thus reducing the stigma surrounding school meals," said Jessica, director of the Healthy Meals Committee.
This situation is more evident from sixth to eighth grade, she said.
He also explained that parents depend on these meals, so improving them is a top priority "because the poor quality has led to students not participating, especially in the upper grades."
The survey also found that some NFO parents were frustrated because they felt that the burden of "healthy eating" education fell entirely on them, and that they were blamed when their children developed inappropriate eating habits or health consequences, even though it was at school that they ate inappropriately.
And while COVID-19 has exacerbated these problems, they have been challenges since before the pandemic, she point out.
But it's not all over, she said, as the Redwood City School District is working with parents on the issue, and while improving school food will take time, they are committed to increasing the nutritional transparency of menus and eliminating the most sugary items from what is offered for breakfast.
If you would like to give your point of view on the food offered at your children's school, you can do so through a short survey.
To access the questions in Spanish, please go to https://forms.gle/ykqbS85916CMKGAC9.
While for English language you can access through the address https://forms.gle/c4hEjVPSZdJs46279.
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