[...] sweet coconut treat, or a good cheeseburger, at least for me anyway). So, we definitely applaud the LAUSD’s response of eliminating sugary milks and fried, breaded items from children’s school lunches. In [...]

My kids eat tortellini with spinach. And roasted squash, yams, etc. And spinach salads with grilled chicken and berries. None of us eat sushi, but if you baked up some tilapia or salmon they’d scarf it down! And they drink fat-free milk and detest whole and 2% at school. depends on what they are fed and become accustomed to.

Bravo California- hope it spreads

Children will eat and be accustomed to what they are exposed to. No child ever starved to death by missing a lunch, but let them get hungry enough and they will pick around on the plate, trying a few bites of a few things. Gradually, they will accept the change and be better off as a result. The attitude of the first commenter is a perfect example of WHY the US has become as obese as we have. Bravo for LAUSD…wish we could get some of the Texas school districts to follow suit!

Yes and yes Michelle! I was thinking that tortellini sounded pretty tasty!

Shandeigh, you clearly don’t live in California. Sushi’s as prevalent here as, what, — mac and cheese? Chips and salsa? Air? — in other places.

Are there really kids who wouldn’t eat a california roll? Rice, crab, cucumber, and avocado… How on earth would this even be controversial, let alone “idiotic” ???

My son’s been in a multicultural daycare since he was 2, plus we eat generally whole food type stuff at home. His school lunches have always included things like curried lentils, poached fish with rice, jerk chicken with rice and peas, etc. I don’t think they’ve had sushi per se, but lots of other things. He loves them and having other kids around eating them is really motivating.
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Lest it sound like he lives in a desert, he has also had some Kraft Dinner, nuggets, etc., usually at other people’s homes or in restaurants. But they are not the only things he’ll eat by any means – he actually doesn’t love the nuggets, just puts up with them.
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Don’t underestimate your kids before they have a good chance, over the long haul, to try other foods. But remember that particularly after age 5, food is social as well – you have to do your part by eating those foods WITH them.

My 4 year old son would love that menu. I feed him a variety of normal, healthy options including sushi which he loves Shandeigh and to him that’s the normal way you eat the same way some kids think it’s normal to eat Kraft Mac n Cheese because that’s how they were raised. He doesn’t feel deprived because he sometimes gets fast food nuggets and fruit cup from Chick Fil A and occasionally gets dessert or chocolate as well. We talk about around the dinner table all the great things the veggies and other healthy foods are doing for our bodies and what foods are sometimes foods and what foods are all the time foods. He recently got the healthiest eater award at preschool and he was so proud of it.