Weekend Reading

Reading

School Lunch prices are up across the country.  The re-authorization of the school lunch program under the Child Nutrition Act required lunch prices to increase if kids paying full-price were being charged less than the federal reimbursement rate for a child entitled to a free lunch (so that these monies did not in fact end up subsidizing paying kids' lunches.) Here's a round up over at Fed Up.

Lots of school though seem to be putting the money to good use. The NYT reported on a school in Colorado that's going back to actually cooking lunch at their school after years of heating frozen,processed commodity foods.

I love the Freakonomics blog so imagine my joy when they actually referenced some favorite nutrition topics in this piece on putting calorie counts on menus and this review of a new study declaring half of us will be obese by 2030.  The calorie counts post references 'libertarian paternalism' described here and how we can 'nudge' people into making better choices. Here's an example of how children can be nudged unto eating fruit at lunch.

The Rudd Center has put out a report indicating we as parents are routinely duped by health claims on the front of children's cereal boxes   So, don't fall for marketing tricks and read the ingredients. Click here for advice on what to look for.

Surveys

Vote here on the top ten best and worst food issues and practices in this survey by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The "bad" list options are scary.  One of the aforementioned kids' cereal manufacturers does make the list and got one of my votes.

Petitions

Join the Environmental Working Group in demanding that the EPA investigate fracking's impact on the safety of our drinking water.  Sign the petition here.

Local Fun

The Good of the Village Association is holding an antiques sale on Saturday at St. Boniface.

Music at Sea Cliff Beach on Saturday night to benefit the Fire Deptartment.  The Grande Festa Italiana returns to  North Hempstead Beach this weekend.

The annual Medieval Festival at Sands Point Preserve begins this weekend. After a day of jousting, music and maypole dances, they actually storm the castle and rescue the queen.

Plus, there's a country fair on Saturday in Port Washington run by the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society - they will be selling their own local honey there if you happen to be in the market.