Arriving At My Topic

     I am going to research the food available in the schools in Oaxaca.  I want to learn about what the students eat, where the food comes from, how it is prepared and who prepares it.  My initial plan was to compare the food served to children here to the food found in schools in the United States.  (This, I was going to find, was not going to be an easy comparison.)  I would also like to compare this to a “Farm to School” program that was started this year in two schools in Craftsbury, VT. 

     Where did my interest in food and school children come from? This past summer I was an intern at The Center For An Agricultural Economy in Hardwick, Vermont.  I started working with the organization as they were in the process of launching a Farm to School program in the elementary and middle/high school in Craftsbury, VT.  Though they weren't planning on launching the program until the next school year, they were going to have a "test day" at the schools in order to see how they kids would react to being served an entirely local and organic meal at lunch.  Their normal school lunch, if they do not provide it themselves, is what can be found in any typical public school in the United States.  Their food is frozen, preserved and packaged, and shipped thousands of miles to the school to be re-heated and served.  These schools in Craftsbury don't even have kitchens anymore; They were converted into classrooms.  They only an oven for re-heating purposes, but no way to cook food if they so desired.  The farm providing the school lunches, Pete's Greens, is going to prepare the meal down the street and drive if up to the schools to serve.

     The pilot of the program went well, and that was my inspiration to continue to work with local food systems and schools.  I was a student who never bought school lunch.  My mother would pack a PB&J or some tofu or some fruit salad for me to eat.  I never understood (or thought about) why she did this until I was in high school, when I saw the boxes of frozen chicken patties everyone else seemed so excited about getting for lunch that day.  How could they be eating this food every day and feel healthy? Did they know how many chickens are in each on of those patties? Did they know where those chickens were raised and what they were fed?  I doubt they did, and I doubt they'd like the answers.  I also, however, doubt that that would change them buying their $3 lunch every day. What else were they going to eat?

     After working with The Center for An Agricultural Economy and Pete's Greens, I realized the only way that children can eat a healthier lunch is by direct action in the schools.  They get federal funding for those frozen school lunches, however, so it is a hard deal to give up.  Pete's Greens is going to provide their fresh, local meal for the same price as the government lunch, and take on the excess cost themselves.  I understand that not all farms can or are willing to do this, however, just like not all families can provide their children with a healthy lunch on their own.

     But how does this all relate to my autonomous study in Oaxaca?  Now that I have a new found interest in school lunches, I would like to see how they compare in another country.  Do public schools in Oaxaca have a federally funded lunch program like in the US?  Do they have kitchens at the schools? Do the children pay for lunch, or do they bring it themselves? And, most importantly, what is it that they are eating, exactly?

Making Connections to Community and Culture

     I am an Environmental Studies Major with a concentration “Food, Land and Community.”  My major already gives me a frame of mind to look at the relationship between communities and food.  Schools are a perfect place to bring together these ideas.  There are collections of children at schools sons and daughters from and forming a common community.  These children also need to eat, therefore connecting the food aspect.

      I am interested in seeing if there is a system in Oaxaca which connects the public schools to the farms and markets as Craftsbury's Farm to School program does.  I have seen such pride and passion for the markets here, and I am curious to see if the common use of food from the markets is carried out into the schools as well.

     It seems to me that my topic is greatly related to culture, community and place in Oaxaca.  What, where and when people eat is a very large part of a people’s culture; public schools are a large part of community; and the choices of available food depend a lot on place, i.e. what can be grown or bought in the respective economy.  I am looking forward to comparing the effects of culture, community and place on what children eat during their school day in Oaxaca.

Methods

     There are many ways I have come to learn about my topic.  People are always the best source of information.  In order to learn about the food in schools, I talked to both parents and children who attend these schools.  I narrowed my research to just public schools (I had originally planed on comparing public and private schools) and set out to visit at least three.  It turned out that I unintentionally observed the "lunch break" and food available to students at more than those three schools, and I've ended up compiling data on five (more specifically, four schools and an orphanage).

     When I was starting, I wasn't even sure if there were going to be "lunches" served at schools here because of the late hour and cultural importance of Comida.  I also said that I wouldn't be surprised if it is common for children to bring their own prepared food from home, or for them to go home for Comida with their families.  Well, it turns out that school do not provide "lunches" because they do not have a lunch time.  I did not let this bring my study to an end, however.  Children still ate "snacks" during these breaks, and I wanted to know what those consisted of and where they came from.  I found that direct observation was going to be my best resource for this information.

My First Steps- Narrowing My Topic

     I have met with Oliver to discuss my project idea which has helped me narrow down what it is I am going to study while I am in Oaxaca.  What I didn't know before I went to talk to him (and what I'm sure Gustavo did know when he recommended I talk with Oliver) is that he has school-aged children who go to school in Oaxaca.  He was therefore well aware of how the school system works here.

     The first thing I learned from talking with him is that there is in fact no federal program that requires lunches or food to be sold during the public school day.  I also found out the breaking news that they do not have a “lunch time” at school at all.  This is for two reasons.  First, the school days in Oaxaca are broken into two parts: one morning session and one afternoon session.  These sessions are not as long as a typical school day in the US.  The morning school runs from about 9 or 10 to 1 or 2 in the afternoon.  Students are able to attend one or the other, depending on which is more convenient.   For example, there are four school-aged kids living in my household that work at the laundromat here.  Two of them go to school in the morning and work in the afternoon, while the other two work all morning and then go to school after comida.  This brings me to the other reason that there is no set lunch break in the school day, and that is because of the "comida culture" [my phrase].  The comida culture has a schedule where families eat breakfast fairly early at the start of the day, and then do not have their next main meal (comida) until 2, 3 or 4 in the afternoon.  Their dinner is then very light and around 7 or 8pm.

     This comida culture has not put a stop to my study, though.  Even with no set "lunch," people, especially children, still get hungry between breakfast and comida.  It is a seven hour break between meals, after all.  Hence, I learned from Oliver that even with no lunch break at school, there is still a break for all students during their school day, and according to him, during this time it is common for mothers to bring a snack to their kids or for students to buy food from vendors that wait outside of the school during the break.

     This is what I will have to work off of, then.  I will no longer be comparing the food provided by schools for lunch in Oaxaca, but rather, what it is that kids are eating and have available to eat during this break in their school day.

     If I have a chance, I would also like to look at the laws and regulations around food and the education system in Mexico.  Oliver gave me some leads on laws and regulations that have been passed around the food menus at schools in Mexico as a result of the rise in child obesity here, and I am interested in learning more about these laws, especially compared to ones in the US.

     Oliver suggested that I get most of my information by visiting various public schools and making on-site observations.  I will talk to the school directors and let them know that I am a university student interested in what kids eat while they have their break and ask if it is alright to observe their students for my study.  I will also do outside observations on the food mothers bring as well as the popularity of the street vendors.

     As for research on laws, for comparison and ideas I will to the USDA website.  They have an entire section dedicated to their “National School Lunch Program” (http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/lunch/AboutLunch/ProgramHistory.htm) which includes its history, legislation and a descriptions of many types of programs they offer.  Even further, I have found a pdf published by the USDA that compares food assistance programs in the US to those in Mexico (http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/FANRR6/).

     Another question I have now is, would it be beneficial for Mexico to have a federal school food program so families wouldn’t have to worry about feeding them the extra snack in a day?  I will find this answer after making observations and developing an opinion on how well I think providing snacks to the school children is going for all parties involved (students, parents and the school). 

Plan of Action

Chose a topic

Chose schools to visit (three?)

Observe the break time and what is available to kids

Report findings

My Final Product

Matamorose Public School

     To start my research I figured I should visit the first school I could find, and that was conveniently right across the street from my house.  When I am on my roof I can see right into this school on Matamorose.  They had Christmas decorations hanging in their windows for months, which have now turned into spring flowers.

     From my roof I could observe the school day, at least to the extent of being able to hear when the kids were in class versus when they had their break.  The children started to get rowdy around noon, which I took as their break time.  I could see them playing in their courtyard through some windows (not creepy, right?), but I could not see any sort of food being served or vendors around.  I would therefore have to get a bit closer.

     One afternoon when I had gotten out of class before noon I wondered over to the entrance of the school.  There were mothers standing outside of a gate waiting with bags and lunch boxes of snacks for their kids.  When the kids were let out at their break time, many of them rushed up to the fence to retrieve their snacks.  Mostly the snacks were simple, such as tortillas rolled up and sprinkled with salt.  There was also a vendor outside who was offering typical sweets, such as candy coated pecans and yellow dyed coconut bars.  That day, however, no children went up to that vendor.  From the looks of the children and mothers, I would judge that most of them were not very wealthy.  Their families probably would not provide their children with money to buy candy at school.  The cheaper, and consequently healthier alternative is to bring tortillas from home to the hungry kids.  I assume those children who had no money and no food delivery had families that were working who could not provide them with either method for snacking.  They would just have to wait until they got Comida at home.

     I know that this was not much to go off of, but at this point in my study I did not think I was going to continue with my topic and therefore did not dig for much more information.  Continue reading for more on my change-in-plans.

Zimatlan Public School

     Visiting this school was actually an accident.  At the time, when I was in Zimatlan for our village stays, I did not think I would be doing my autonomous study on the food available in schools anymore.  I actually had changed my mind about my topic a couple of times, and at that point was settled on LGBT rights and lives in Oaxaca.  It turned out that this wasn't going to be the only school that I was going to observe without planning on it.  Because I still had an interest in the ways the school breaks worked and what food was available, however, I still stood at this school's gate when I saw a gathering of parents.

     The quantity of parents at this entrance was much larger than that at the school on Matamorose.  There was one father who was standing near me, and had been there almost as long as I had, who asked me what I was doing there: a good question, since I obviously did not have a child at this school.  I told him I was a student studying in Oaxaca and that I was interested in the food that children ate at school.  This was a great segue into an un-intentional interview, from which I learned many things.

     No, the school does not provide food for the children during the break.  I observed that there were tables being set up in the courtyard, however, and women setting up what looked like comals and bringing out bowls of food.  What were they doing, then?  It turns out these women were mothers volunteering to cook and bring food for the kids, which they would have to pay for.  From what I could see, this consisted of beans. soup and tortillas, as well as juice and jello.

     I asked if there was other food the kids could by, and the man replied that no, not anymore. There used to be a store in the school which sold soda and candy, but that had been shut down.  Mothers now volunteer to provide other food options during the break.  Then there are those who, like the father, wait at the school to bring a home-rendered snack for their child.

     This school, I realized, fit Oliver's description of what I might find perfectly.  The school used to have it's own tienda, which provided sweets and soda for the kids, but which was subsequently shut down, most likely by government regulations to reduce child obesity.  It was then up to the parents (mainly mothers) to provide food to the children during their break, just as Oliver said was practiced at the school his children go to.  It was also interesting to note that, most likely because of the fairly new governmental regulations, there was no sort of vendor outside of the school walls, either.

Alcala Public School

     I found another prime example of a typical, urban public school in Oaxaca.  It is located on Alcala, across from the botanical garden of Santo Domingo.  At first I did not even notice that there was a school there.  There are tall walls surrounding it and you can not see in or out.  One day I walked by, however, and the door was open.  Children were pouring out to meet their mothers on the street outside, and sure enough, these mothers were bearing food.  I saw tortillas once again, but also plastic cups of yogurt and gelatin.

     There is always a street vendor stationed on the corner across from the school, and now I realize that her location is probably largely due to the fact that the school is right there as well.  She sells the colorful candy that can be seen around the city, as well as caramel covered nuts and other sweet, plastic wrapped bars.  

     It was interesting to see, however, that during this break another vendor arrived on the scene.  This woman had a mobile cart, and was vending colorful gelatins, similar to ones I saw mothers holding.  She also had puffed corn snacks hanging in bags on the side of the cart, which one student was actually buying.  This was the first and only time I actually saw a student buy something from a vendor, but at least there is evidence that it does happen.  One can only assume that it occurs on a daily basis, if this vendor is aware of the school's schedule and has planed her daily stop accordingly,. 

Elementary School in Apoala

     When we visited Apoala, I was again not expecting to do any research on my autonomous study while I was there, but was happily surprised when I heard about the school that they have running there.  The teacher of the little elementary school has started a gardening project with the students and their families.  This project is not only to teach the students about how to plant and grow crops (Apoala is a farming community to begin with), but also to teach them about variety.

     Variety is a very important concept when it comes to eating, especially when it comes to children getting enough nutrients in their diet to grow healthily (can you tell I've just had a nutrition class?)  The food that the students are going to grow in their school garden is going to be eaten by the students there.  This may not happen during the school day (I was not around to see if they had a break for food, nor did I inquire), but it will at least be returning to the homes of the students and their families.  This is better than having a tienda in the store selling chips and soda (there were some in the town, but not at the school) when the conditions in Apoala are so prime for growing their own, fresh produce.

Unidad Educativa Preescolar, Primaria y Secundaria, “Insurgentes de la Paz”

     Coincidently enough, only a week after visiting the school in Apoala, I had the opportunity to visit another small school who also had the intention of starting a gardening program.  Insurgents de la Paz is a small school in Pueblo Nuevo, in the outskirts of Oaxaca city.  It is run by a family (mainly a mother who has three daughters who live there and attend the school) and does not have many structures for education.  It seemed to me the school functioned more as a daycare rather than a formal school, since there were many kids of varying ages around and not many adults to teach them accordingly.  (I may have gotten this impression because we were visiting, however, and we therefore disrupted their typical day).

     There was one observation I made as soon as I layed eyes on the kids sitting on the steps of their new, composting toilet building: they were all eating candy.  Every child that I saw there, at least 15 in all, had a piece of liquorish in their hand or hard candy in their mouth.  While we did learn that there is a kitchen there, and that fresher food is prepared there for the children for comida, the amount of candy I saw in the kids' hands surprised me.

     The school was set pretty far off of a main road, and there was no tienda around that I could see.  I therefore am under the assumption that the kids did not buy this candy themselves, but it was provided to them from their "teachers."  What shocked me more than the health issues with this, was the economic issue.  The school does not have a classroom and has hardly any other assets, yet they spend money on candy for the kids.  While the calorie and energy-dense food may be cheap, if this is a common practice, it adds up (as all money-spending habits do).  I did not ask, however, if this was a common practice.  Perhaps it was just a treat for the children, but perhaps not.

     On a positive note, however, the reason we were at this little school was to help them start a garden.  This is about the time I realized I should become re-invested in my project of what food is available and provided for children at schools, because the purpose of this garden (very similar to in Apoala) was not only to educate the kids about planting and growing crops, but to provide the school with their own food source.  The next project the school has is to build a new kitchen.  By the time this kitchen is done, there will be tomatoes and carrots to pick from their garden that can be carried only a few feet away to be prepared for them to eat.

My Concluding Chart

My Concluding Thoughts 

     What started out as an interest in comparing the food that is served to students in Mexico versus that which is served in the US, turned into an interesting period of cultural learning.  After months of observations, (both intentional and not) I have learned a lot about the food that is available and eaten by school children in Oaxaca, even if they have no school lunch program to compare to.

     I actually found the fact that mothers take the time out of their day to bring their kids food during the break time quite humbling.  From one point, I don't understand why they would not simply pack a lunch for their kids to take on their own, but from another I could see that the mothers must enjoy seeing their child during the day, and providing them with food. Food is such a strong and important aspect in this culture, and it's connection with family is part of what makes it so strong and important.

     Though there are new Mexican laws which do not allow for schools to sell candy and soda within school walls anymore, the vendors seem to like this.  They now get more business, at least at the schools in which they have access to.  In places such as Apoala and at Insurgents de la Paz, there are no tiendas or vendors for the children.  It is interesting that these are also the schools that are starting to grow their own food.  Actually, that makes sense: the rural schools are going to grow their own fresh, food, and the urban schoolchildren are going to buy packaged candy.  This sounds just like in the US, actually, and allows me to wrap up nicely thinking again about the Farm to School program in Craftsbury, VT that got me interested in the topic to begin with.  A program like that may be easy to start in a rural area such as Craftsbury, but try to get the same thing implemented in NYC and it will be a different story.  The same rule applies to Oaxaca; there is fresher, healthier food available to those children in the rural areas, where farms are still close and common.  Then in the urban areas there will be cheap sweets available to buy, very similar to the popular vending machine, seen in every urban school in the US.

     With that, I can't wait to get back to VT and work more with schools and the food system.  Maybe I'll start a Farm to School program at my old middle/high school this time.