I must admit that when I flipped to the slide of United States. (Mrs. Q) my stomach did get a little queasy - chocolate milk, unidentifiable fruit cocktail in (undoubtedly) high fructose corn syrup, and PBJ graham cracker sandwiches. The apple juice was probably benign.
It wasn't until I read further that I discovered the actual San Francisco lunch:
That hot tray of Swedish meat balls to the right was assembled in Berkeley, Ill. (not Berkeley, CA), and made with U.S.D.A. commodities. It was then put on a truck and transported to San Francisco where a cafeteria worker heated the meal in an oven and served it along with California-grown oranges and local Berkeley Farms milk.
Seems like both lunches probably came from the same place. If you read the label on the PBJ Graham Cracker Sandwich it says "HFI Heartland Foods". I first searched for 'Heartland Foods' and came up with
Heartland Food Corp - which is "the second largest Franchisees of the BURGER KING® Restaurant chain". Turns out they aren't responsible for the PBJ-GC sandwiches.
HFI Heartland Foods is a brand of
Preferred Meal Systems
Preferred Meal Systems offers a total support solution for your foodservice operation. There is no equipment investment or guesswork. We provide a full service, quality component meal system or a cafeteria style service program. The meals are complemented by locally provided fresh breads and produce for wholesome, nutritional balance. Our system reduces nonessential costs, waste and provides staff training and menu planning that fulfills USDA guidelines.
located in (you guessed it)
Preferred Meal Systems, Inc.
5240 St. Charles Road
Berkeley, IL 60163
So I browsed around their website and...you know, they appear to be doing (or at least trying to do) the right thing: nutritional information, wholesome meals, sustainability, parental access to menus in their children's schools,...all that good information. I applaud this company for (at least on the surface) responsibly filling a need. But, yes, they are "an off-site by large operation churning out thousands upon thousands of meals" for schools, nursing homes, and other institutions.
We live in a culture where "cooking home-style meals in on-site kitchens (or even outside over campfires)" doesn't happen. There are probably a lot of reasons for this...among them cost, labor availability, health requirements,
risk of litigation,.... We live in a time when economies of scale tend to dominate what might seem more reasonable alternatives.
I am not judging anything here. The post was good - it got me thinking about the problem. The results I found were not what I expected. Maybe this thread will stimulate some conversation about where we are, who we are, and where we want to be.
= new reply since forum marked as read