With the cuts among the labor pool, we all feel overworked and under the gun.  Because the “lean” organizational structure that companies have been adopting (which really means overworking most of their operational staff)- with the concomitant resistance to augment the pay scales- means that the remaining staff are always in a rush.  So, when it’s lunch or snack time, we grab for pop, candy, and other junk food.  Or, maybe a few of those “nutrition bars” along with our pop- when we only have 10 minutes for our lunch breaks at work.

And, the IRS is considering the food offerings some of the high tech companies offer their staff to be compensation.  I’ve reported that the “free meals” offered- whether nutritious or not- are on the radar to be taxable.  So, we may be forced to continue to indulge our “junk food fantasy”.

But, not in our schools.  Not just because Michelle Obama has decided that her big push was to make our children’s school meals more nutritious.  But, that pressure did certainly lead many schools to change their menus. Pizza, hamburgers, and French fries are not the “quality” fare that are the current politically correct choice.  Some  folks even blame the food for contributing to our obesity epidemic.

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So, the trick is to find ways to make ‘lower sodium’ meals more appealing to the kids. To find ways to make the more nutritious choices of foods the ones the kids rush to eat.   To have the kids look forward to more and better fruit choices, vegetables and whole grains as main courses.  In so doing, the schools are beginning to seek out the chefs that heretofore were only found at our better restaurants.

Which may become  harder to do now that the new budget (the Cromnibus- the one that devastates Dodd-Frank protections against Wall Street excesses and castrates the IRS [which is required to police PPACA (“Obamacare”)]- but it really means more waits for citizens to reach the IRS agents asserting they owe taxes) also attenuates the nutrition rules that have been in place.  It prohibits requiring additional reductions in sodium levels and the augmented use of whole grains, among other changes aimed to help the Republicans return the favor their donors expected.

And, now, schools won’t have that money to hire experienced chefs. Like the Catholic Dioceses of Newport News did years ago when it hired my stepson.  (My stepson is a proud graduate of the Johnson & Wales programs.)  Who now is helping UVA serve more nutritious meals and administer its extensive food services.

Oh, and happy birthday, Matt.

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