Music by The Refusers

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Lunch Lady, Annica Eriksson in Falun, Sweden Reprimanded For Serving Healthful And Nutrious Food

Annica Eriksson - The Lunch Lady
Source:    http://www.dt.se/nyheter/falun/1.5164427-hembakat-brod-passar-inte-i-skolmatsalen

Lunch lady slammed for food that is 'too good'


TheLocal.Se,  October 6, 2012

A talented head cook at a school in central Sweden has been told to stop baking fresh bread and to cut back on her wide-ranging veggie buffets because it was unfair that students at other schools didn't have access to the unusually tasty offerings.

Annica Eriksson, a lunch lady at school in Falun, was told that her cooking is just too good.

Pupils at the school have become accustomed to feasting on newly baked bread and an assortment of 15 vegetables at lunchtime, but now the good times are over.

The municipality has ordered Eriksson to bring it down a notch since other schools do not receive the same calibre of food - and that is "unfair".

Moreover, the food on offer at the school doesn't comply with the directives of a local healthy diet scheme which was initiated in 2011, according to the municipality.

"A menu has been developed... It is about making a collective effort on quality, to improve school meals overall and to try and ensure everyone does the same," Katarina Lindberg, head of the unit responsible for the school diet scheme, told the local Falukuriren newspaper.

However, Lindberg was not aware of Eriksson's extraordinary culinary efforts and how the decision to force her to cut back had prompted outrage among students and parents.

"It has been claimed that we have been spoiled and that it's about time we do as everyone else," Eriksson said.

She insisted, however, that her creative cooking has not added to the municipality's expenses.

"I have not had any complaints," she told the paper.

Eriksson added that she sees it as her job to ensure that the pupils are offered several alternatives at meal times.

The food on offer does not always suit all pupils, she explained, and therefore she makes sure there are plenty of vegetables to choose from as well as proteins in the form of chicken, shrimp, or beef patties.

From now on, the school's vegetable buffet will be halved in size and Eriksson's handmade loafs will be replaced with store-bought bread.

Her traditional Easter and Christmas smörgåsbords may also be under threat.

Parents and pupils alike find the municipality's orders distasteful.

Fourth-graders at the school have even launched a petition in protest against the decision to put a lid on Eriksson's passion for cooking

Source:

http://www.thelocal.se/43656/

Note:  I decided to blog about Annica's story since she is a person that I consider one whom serves the good within our humanity and within human community.  I call people like her, Servers of the Good and in this case,  it's a Server of Good Wholesome Food.   My best wishes to Annica and all the Children and Parents and good citizens of Falun, Sweden who supported her and brought her story to the attention of international media. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Once again what a sad world we are living in. You try to set a good example and then you up-set the bureaucrats.

Bummer! M.B.

Stranger in a Strange Land said...

Yes MB, bummer indeed.

Mike