[OKC] FW: Chef Ann Luncheon Presentation and Book Signing, Saturday March 10, 11am

Wed Feb 21 14:44:50 PST 2007

________________________________

Chef Ann Cooper, celebrated chef, author, educator and "Renegade Lunch
Lady" will be in Oklahoma City as a featured speaker at a luncheon
sponsored by Slow Food OKC, UCO and OK Fit Kids Coalition.  Chef Ann
will speak about the incredible work she has done to transform the lunch
program in the Berkeley , California Public Schools and will offer
insights into what can be done in Oklahoma to improve the lunch program.
Additionally, we will have presentations by the OK Fit Kids Coaltion and
the OK Farm to School Program describing what is currently underway in
Oklahoma and how you can get involved.  

Booksigning for Chef Ann Cooper's new book Lunch Lessons: Changing the
Way We Feed our Children immediately following the luncheon hosted by
Full Circle Bookstore. 

Where: UCO Nigh University Center

When: Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 11am

RSVP: slowfoodokc at yahoo.com <mailto:slowfoodokc at yahoo.com>  or Cristina
at 440-6555.  Spaces are limited so please RSVP early.  Program and
luncheon is complimentary.  Advance reservation required.

Chef Ann Cooper is the Director of Nutrition Services for the Berkeley
Public School System.  She was hired by the Chez Panisse Foundation
(world renowned chef Alice Waters' foundation) to improve the lunch
program in the public schools in Berkeley and to provide a model for
school districts around the country.  Chef Ann did not always serve food
in the cafeteria line.  She attended the Culinary Instiute of America,
was named one of the "up and coming" chefs by Gourmet magazine and was
the Executive Chef at the Putney Inn in Vermont before embarking on her
current career as educator and reformer. In just one year under her
direction, Berkeley Schools have gone from 95% processed foods to 95%
made from scratch and every school is on track to have a fresh salad
bar.  

According to Chef Ann, we won't have much hope for future generations of
healthy kids unless we begin teaching them what good food really is.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that 35
percent of our children are overweight, which statistically predicts
that children born in the year 2000 will be the first in our nation's
history to die at a younger age than their parents-we just can't allow
this to happen.  Sadly, Oklahoma 's youth are some of the least healthy
in the nation and childhood obesity is considered the number one health
issue for children in our state.  

This is important!  if you want to compare what the kids are eating in
Berkeley this month to what they are eating in OKC here are 2 links -
enjoy...

OKC = http://www.okcps.org/cns/menus/Elem_menu_0207.pdf
<http://www.okcps.org/cns/menus/Elem_menu_0207.pdf> 

Berkeley = 
http://www.lunchlessons.org/html_v2/calendar/pdfs/ChefAnn_calendar_feb.p
df
<http://www.lunchlessons.org/html_v2/calendar/pdfs/ChefAnn_calendar_feb.
pdf> 

visit chef ann's website www.lunchlessons.org
<http://www.lunchlessons.org/>  for more information and lots of
interesting articles about children and adult nutrition.  

RENEGADE LUNCH LADY ISSUES CALL TO ACTION WITH LUNCH LESSONS

Who: Chef Ann Cooper, director of Nutrition Services for the Berkeley
Unified School District (BUSD)

What: Chef Ann is at the forefront of the movement to transform the
National School Lunch Program into one that places greater emphasis on
the health of students than the financial health of a select few
agribusiness corporations. Chef Ann's lunch menus emphasize regional,
organic, fresh foods, and nutritional education, helping students to
build a connection between their personal health and where their food
comes from. Chef Ann's newest book, Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We
Feed Our Children is bursting with strategies for parents and school
administrators to become engaged with issues around school food-from
public policy to corporate interest. It includes successful case studies
of school food reform, resources that can help make a difference and
healthy, kid-friendly recipes that can be made at home, or by the
thousands for a public school cafeteria. 

As childhood obesity in the United States has exploded from 5 percent to
17 percent between 1980 and 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Child Nutrition Program has failed to properly address this growing
epidemic. With more than 28 million students participating in the
National School Lunch Program and no organized national leadership in
the battle against childhood obesity, Chef Ann is demanding that the
issue become a part of the 2008 presidential race. And she is calling
for all parents, teacher, school food service directors, family farmers
- anyone with a vested interest in the future of our children - to join
her in changing the way we feed our children, one school lunch at a
time. 

Why: Chef Ann has proven her approach to incorporate regional, organic
and fresh foods into public school menus can work and that simple
changes within budget can be made. Accompanied with wellness education,
her model of school food delivery can transform children's health and
their approach to eating. She has taken this program from its pilot form
at the Ross School , a private school in East Hampton , NY , to public
school systems in Harlem and in Berkeley , CA - illustrating that change
can happen anywhere with the support of the community, the schools,
local government and most importantly, the parents and the kids. 

________________________________

Don't get soaked. Take a quick peak at the forecast
<http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/?fr=oni_on_mail&#news> 
with theYahoo! Search weather shortcut.
<http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/?fr=oni_on_mail&#news> 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sustainableokc.org/pipermail/okc-sustainableokc.org/attachments/20070221/8cc13c78/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: chef ann invite flyer.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 36372 bytes
Desc: chef ann invite flyer.pdf
URL: <http://lists.sustainableokc.org/pipermail/okc-sustainableokc.org/attachments/20070221/8cc13c78/attachment.pdf>