Peter Smith
Writer and editor
In an ideal lunchroom, schoolchildren would make make healthy choices—even when presented with chips, chocolate milk, and Cocoa Krispies. Nobody likes heavy-handed advice, especially when they're hungry. So Brian Wansink and David R. Just at the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs say they've found a number of low- to no-cost strategies for shaking up the lunch line, none of which involve Jamie Oliver or finger-wagging lunch ladies.
The two write in The Atlantic that they've seen dramatic results without new recipes and wihtout fancy equipment costing more than $50. Best of all, their proposed solutions "do not generate the type of reduction in lunch participation that has become the norm in schools that have taken the escarole-and-tofu approach and have eliminated the cookies and chocolate milk."
So what exactly are they suggesting? This infographic from The New York Times explains the ideas. A few highlights:
- Moving the chocolate milk behind the plain milk led students to buy more plain milk.
- Smaller bowls reduced the size of the average cereal serving at breakfast by 24 percent.
- Creating an express checkout line for students not buying desserts and chips doubled the sales of healthy sandwiches.
- Keeping a lid on the ice cream significantly reduced the amount of ice cream taken.
- Asking each child if they wanted a salad spurred salad sales by a third.
These changes are a lot more subtle than the baby carrot extravaganza, so the question remains: Can good foods be cleverly marketed without the glitzy ad campaign?
Illustration Joe McKendry via The New York Times.
