I loved the point he made about chocolate milk. As a parent of an elementary age child, I do NOT approve of the school giving that as an option! If a child wants to have chocolate milk, a candy bar, a coke....and the parent agrees, no problem, send it in from home. But for the school to make money selling this crap to my young child...disgusting! And before anyone says, well just send in his lunch...I do. The only thing he buys at school is milk, so it will be fresh and cold.

They are hiding something in LA schools and it's not sprouts. Why else would they be on such a defensive?

I for one am glad that he cares enuf to do this for our kids!
Jim from Huntington, WV.

just how bad IS the food as lausd?

As usual, the government employees only care about covering their butts. They do not want improvement or change. The whole system needs to be thrown out and all offcials who have been there more than five years, fired, start over with all the new graduates and begin a great new revaloution with fresh minds!

I survived high school lunches in the late 1970s/early 80s. Every imaginable bad thing was served and there was barely a salad in sight. The women who cooked and served those meals did so with love and kindness and were not in much of a position to make choices on ingredients. They did their best with what they had, much of it delivered through government agencies. Kids were generally thinner back then. I agree that it is ideal to focus on good quality whole foods, limiting fats and carbohydrates and being careful about portion control. On the other hand, why does Jamie Oliver or anyone else believe so strongly that overhauling a lunch menu is going to result in slimmer, healthier kids or that their eating habits outside of school will change dramatically as a result? What we choose to ignore is obvious. Kids have become more sedentary, spend hours in front of computers, televisions and video game consoles and their parents often lose control over teenagers who refuse to go outside and take a walk. In general, convenience food is cheaper (the "value meals" at McDonald's is a good example) and many families lack access to farmers' markets and talk about their own food phobias to such an extent that it is no wonder kids survive on pasta drenched in red sauce, fried chicken nuggets, fried cheese sticks, pizza, cheeseburgers and french fries. Then they top it off with gallons of sugared soda. Of course they are going to get fat. Of course many of them will develop Type II diabetes. Oliver is a talented guy and very engaging but I doubt he is going to make much of an impact until we decide as a society that there is no such thing as "American Cuisine" and we need to spend a great deal more money on education and ingredients than we do right now. We have the money to do it, especially if we don't have to deal with the costs associated with treating obesity-related diseases. It's saddening that we have not taken the issue as seriously as we should and that many people belittle Michelle Obama for being out in front of the issue and encouraging all of us to pay more attention to what we put in our stomachs. There are some very powerful interests that get in the way, too. Ask the CEO of McDonald's whether he wants kids to become addicted to Happy Meals. He won't say "addicted". He'll tell you that they offer healthier choices than they did a decade ago and that fast food can be part of a balanced diet. He's flat wrong but has lots and lots of money to hire lobbyists to ensure people like Jamie Oliver don't put them out of business.

Persistence over Ignorance! It troubles me that these educational heads have their 'Head" so far up their ARSE that they can't see or choose NOT to see how they're POISONING the kids of the L.A. school districts. Stay STRONG Jamie!

I wonder who's relitive on the school board is getting the kickbacks from the food caterer.

I think Jamie Oliver should try his school lunch overhaul in England.

I hope Jaime wins this war....... but then again if the American public dont care about what their children eat and dont mind that they are getting controlled by money hungry school district bosses so be it!