Food in Boston

Tufts School of Nutrition professor Parke Wilde summarizes a recent report on school wellness policies and challenges his readers to take a look at their district’s policy. I don’t see the approved policy for Boston anywhere on the internet, but I did dig up this draft from January 2006: Boston School District - Wellness Policy (via the School Nutrition Association).

The draft doesn’t mention a number of the areas discussed in the School Nutrition Association’s report, such as policies regarding a la carte foods and beverages, food used in fund raisers, etc. However, I see that BPS’ booklet for the 2007 school year makes reference to “a policy regarding the sale of snack foods and drinks” (p 30), so presumably the final Wellness Policy goes into more detail than the draft.

The Food Project is holding a conference on Urban Agriculture in Boston and the Northeast in April, and the deadline for submitting a paper, presentation, poster, or “interactive exploratorium” is Dec. 31. I’m trying to put together something comparing the availability of food produced in Boston to people’s awareness and interest thereof, but it hasn’t quite come together yet.