Baltimore school lunches get healthier and more local

What can just one man do in just one year to drastically change a city's school lunch program?

Mon, Jul 06 2009 at 8:21 PM EST

Bad school lunches are under attack all across the U.S. In Baltimore, the attack is being led by school system’s food-service director, Chef Tony Geraci. Profiled in The Atlantic, Geraci, who has been in his job for just about a year, is making big changes for not so big money.

What’s he done?

He changed out the food in the vending machines in the high schools. He got rid of the “crap food” and filled the machines with food that meets the school’s wellness policy nutritional requirements.
He gets local produce for the schools for less money than commodity foods. Local producers sell him fresh fruit like peaches for less than the cans of fruit in syrup cost.
He turned an old, empty orphanage into an organic farm run by school children.

What I really like about this is Geraci is being innovative and proactive. He’s not just accepting things as they are, he’s envisioning things as they could be and then making changes quickly. He’s setting an example for others in his position in school districts all across the country. He’s putting the health of the kids first -- even it makes more work for him. He’s pretty impressive.

You can see Geraci at work in this YouTube video done by Two Angry Moms.