990844 Calfornia's "All Organic" School LunchesAugust 19, 1999Berkeley, CA (Where else?) - Their politics have long been "crunchy granola", and now their school lunches will be too. Berkeley, California, longtime hippie haven and world capital of political correctness, is expected to approve a plan Wednesday which would make its school cafeterias among the first in the nation to offer all organic meals. "We have kids who are coming to school who don't understand the process," said Karen Sarlo, a spokeswoman for the Berkeley Unified School District. "This is part of a whole effort to improve nutrition and educate our kids and our families about good nutrition." So long mystery meat, farewell corn dogs. The organic plan, which supporters say should sail through a second reading by the school board Wednesday, will pack Berkeley school lunches with such delicacies as pesticide-free baby carrots and sandwiches made with organic bread. Students will grow some of their own food in school gardens, and the rest will come from local organic farmers. The policy requires milk to be free of bovine growth hormones, and dumps all irradiated and genetically altered foods from the cafeteria menu. "The whole philosophy is to have food become part of the education," Jered Lawson, who is helping train teachers how to incorporate garden lessons into math, science, and literature classes, told the San Francisco Chronicle. Rick Deburgh of the California School Food Services Association said Berkeley's organic lunch plan was the first he'd ever encountered. "That's pretty rare -- and pretty expensive -- but Berkeley is an unusual place," Deburgh told the Chronicle.
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