 Remember the 1980s, when butter was the root of all dietary evil? Then how we found out that trans-fat-laden butter substitutes were much worse? During the 1990s, bread was to blame for making us fat, so we gorged on 20-ounce steaks and snubbed our noses at whole grains. Next thing you know, we'll be blaming grandmom's homemade banana nut bread for the childhood obesity crisis.
The New York City Department of Education is heading in that direction. With rare exceptions for Parent Teacher Associations, school groups can sell only approved foods on campus before 6 p.m. The bake-sale ban is part of an initiative to tackle the childhood obesity crisis by limiting access to sodas and processed foods -- a laudable effort. But I'd assert that teaching kids about healthy eating should involve more baking, not less.
I am, admittedly, not a nutritionist. Before becoming a journalist, I trained as a pastry chef. I also teach elementary and middle school baking classes. (Given today's fear of fat and sugar, it is miraculous that I am allowed within 50 feet of a school.) Making banana bread (quality family time!) to raise funds for soccer uniforms (exercise!) and museum field trips (arts education!) is hardly the equivalent of allowing kids unlimited access to Coca-Cola and candy bars in school vending machines.
In my experience, kids have more sensitive taste buds than adults. Expose them regularly to wholesome flavors -- fresh fruit, vegetables and, yes, the occasional homemade brownie -- and eventually they will prefer those over processed foods. But schools today don't give kids the chance to develop that preference for wholesome, freshly prepared foods. Many public schools no longer have working prep kitchens on site, yet they provide one to two meals daily for thousands of children (more than half of their daily calories). Freshly prepared salads, grilled chicken sandwiches and house-made zucchini bread have been replaced by precooked, frozen meals that simply require reheating. It's hardly surprising kids would rather hit the fast-food chains or vending machines than eat rubbery, precooked meats and mushy vegetables (even McDonald's cooks its meat patties and French fries to order).
Just last week, Baltimore middle school student Alice Sheehan shared her school lunchroom experiences with a House Education and Labor subcommittee studying innovative ways to improve childhood nutrition. Sheehan and several classmates initiated changes to the quality of their school lunches, including a move to fresh, local produce, by bringing members of the Baltimore City School Board reheated plate lunches from the school's cafeteria. (The school board refused to eat the lunches and fired the Baltimore school food director.) Utilizing local farmers market produce, establishing a school vegetable garden and cooking lunches on-site are among the Baltimore City Public Schools' new directives.
This shift toward fresh ingredients and on-site cooking is a crucial step in improving childhood nutrition. So are home cooking and baking. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has been touting the benefits of teaching kids (and parents) to cook and bake for years. He believes a renewed interest in home cooking, along with access to high-quality, seasonal produce-driven meals at school, are perhaps the most crucial components in solving Britain's rising childhood obesity problem. His mantra: homemade spaghetti with fresh garden greens and a small slice of grandmom's apple pie for dessert is much healthier than a meal of processed foods.
Baking is an essential step in learning to cook. It's difficult for an 8-year-old to get excited about roasting a chicken. It's basically a bird rubbed with a little oil and shoved in the oven. But homemade peach pie? Now that's fun. You roll out dough, peel peaches (and eat a few slices) and then watch the ingredients magically transform in the oven. Plus, baking doubles as an edible science class full of fallen meringues and curdled custards. Kids love kitchen discoveries, like how refrigerating yeast dough slows the rising process (make two batches, refrigerate one, leave the other on the counter and let them see for themselves).
That kitchen curiosity creates a generation of thoughtful young eaters, not overeaters. Like chefs and enthusiastic home cooks today, eventually they will go out of their way to choose fresh over processed foods. And as our little bakers get older, cooking healthy meals such as roasted lemon-herb chicken with fresh vegetables (and the occasional buttery mashed potatoes) will be as fun to make as that first pan of fifth-grade, show-and-tell brownies.
We still have a mountain of work ahead to make fresh foods available in our schools. Equally challenging will be teaching a generation of children raised on refrigerated cookie dough (and their parents) how to make homemade oatmeal cookies. Baking by no means is the solution to the obesity crisis. But neither is banning school bake sales. Instead, how about a ban on store-bought cupcakes and boxed brownie mixes? If your kids didn't make it, don't sell it.
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Baking with my mother and grandmother was a formative part of my childhood, and I hope future generations will embrace this activity rather than restrict it.
Emily Dubner
www.bakingforgood.com