An increasing number of schools are introducing “nude food” policies, claiming they are an attempt to improve the health of Australian children.
Now the nude food movement has hit two of the three schools my children attend. Here’s how they work.
Schools are introducing “nude food” policies in various forms to increase children’s consumption of unprocessed foods such as fruit and veg. They are doing this by either adding a third food break to the school day or having a “nude food day” once a week.
Parent advocacy group, Parents’ Voice is calling on Australian supermarkets and schools to support efforts to improve children’s lunchboxes, claiming they are growing in popularity with families.
They admit nude food policies are about improving the environment (reducing the amount of rubbish) as well as addressing health issues. But then it gets even more complicated.
What exactly is a nude food?
One school my children attend claims nude food is any food that isn’t wrapped. Basically, you can buy a Bento-style lunchbox and put biscuits, carrot sticks, a sandwich in the different sections and as long as there are no wrappers involved, that’s nude food. Bananas must be peeled, and oranges, otherwise the skin is rubbish.
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Another school my children attends says nude food is fruits and vegetables only and the skin is “nature’s wrapper” which means it’s allowed.
So you can see why I’m confused.
But I’m not quite sure we’re getting the full story, either.
Top Comments
So jo are you against or for healthy food policies at school? One week against and how hard it is and another week an article for it and how easy it is to pack. Ive written other comments about this duplicity but strangely they don't get through the moderator?
Perhaps the funniest irony here is that policies like these are set up by school councils, which require heavy parental representation. Something like Nude Food, that isn't a mandatory policy required by the Department, will often be instigated by parents themselves or at least fully supported, otherwise it wouldn't pass ratification.
So you've not only missed the point entirely, and strongly indicated that encouraging your children to be healthy and environmentally-minded is just too inconvenient for you, you don't even know how their school operates. An ignorant parent AND an ignorant blogger. Research isn't a dirty word.
No the funniest thing is that she wrote an Arbuckle the other week how she finds it easy to pack a healthy lunch box with lots of photos of nude food.