Are you concerned about the food students are eating?
This free conference was held on April 10, 2005, at the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts in Bethlehem to take an in-depth look at such matters as
- How healthy food is grown and prepared
- What schools are doing
- What different types of diets have to offer
The conference consisted of three sessions:
Session 1 (12:30-2pm): Quality – It’s Not Nice to Fool With Mother Nature: Panelists focused on what Mother Nature has to offer vs. what happens when you fool with Mother Nature:
Caryn Hartglass, Executive Director, EarthSave International, dealt with the latter: GMOs, food from factory farms, effects of pesticides, irradiated food, highly processed food with artificial ingredients.
Hope Temple, Farm Manager, Glasbern Country Inn, talked about how farming is done in accord with Mother Nature: organic farming, the importance of what’s in the soil to what gets into plants, sustainable livestock raising, rotational grazing, etc.
Leah Nichols, Director, Rodale Dining Service, discussed how she gets good food for the Rodale Dining Service and food preparation techniques that keep the nutrients in.
Session 2 (2:30-4pm): Innovation – What’s Healthy: Panelists described what’s happening in the schools to provide healthy food:
Anita Hirsch, nutritionist and author, discussed what is happening in some of the school districts, reporting on interviews and school visits.
Ed Kenna, Food Services Director, Bethlehem Area Schools, discussed what he is doing in the Bethlehem Area School District and what School Food Directors are doing around the Valley.
Emily McGlynn, Progressive Environmental Action, gave a student’s perspective on what she would like to see happening in school lunchrooms.
Session 3 (4:30-6): Diversity – Food Philosophies: Panelists presented their food philosophies—their approaches, benefits to people in general and to students in particular:
Andrea Stevens on the Body Ecology Diet.
Stephen Hoog on Macrobiotics.
Wendy Landiak and Melissa Hellman, Organic Vegetarian.
Len Frenkel, Vegan.
Alan Stangl, Weston A. Price/Traditional Foods
Info Table Area – People attending the Conference had plenty of opportunity to check out the Info Table Area before, between, and after sessions.
Commons – There were free refreshments representing the different types of food under discussion.
This conference was presented by the School-Food Connections Group of the Alliance for Sustainable Communities – Lehigh Valley.
Co-sponsors of this community dialogue: Alliance for Sustainable Communities-Lehigh Valley; Green Cafe; Lehigh Valley Vegetarians; Illick’s Mill Project; Living Potentials; Progressive Environmental Action of the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts; Sierra Club-Lehigh Valley Group; Weston A. Price Foundation-Lehigh Valley