Bans on school junk food changing focus of Halloween celebrations
MONTREAL - Ghoulish costumes and teeth-rotting candy have given way to orange T-shirts and pumpkin muffins at many schools across Canada as political correctness and the global health craze transform how holidays like Halloween are celebrated.
30/10/2008 4:21:00 PM
"Fun Size" and "Mini" candies. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Dan Goodman, file
Tobi Cohen, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Over the last few years, many provinces have taken measures to ban junk food from school vending machines and have sought to eliminate trans fats from cafeteria food.
To complement such moves, school boards have tried to incorporate physical education and good nutrition into everyday school life, and some aren't prepared to give that up - even for the holidays.
"We adopted our policy and we asked ourselves, should we make exceptions for holidays like Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter?" said Catherine Houpert, a spokeswoman with the Commission scolaire des Patriotes board south of Montreal.
"We decided no, we won't make any exceptions because good nutrition is right every day of the year and also on holidays."
As such, teachers and administrators across the board will be barred from distributing sugary snacks on Friday. But Houpert said that doesn't prevent **** from bringing Kit Kats and potato chips to school in their own lunch boxes or prevent classrooms from participating in Halloween festivities.
School staff are encouraged to distribute dried fruit instead of jujubes, chocolate with a 65 per cent cocoa content instead of commercial brands, and apple juice slushies rather than traditional ones that are full of sugar and artificial colour and flavour, she said.
One school cafeteria has created a healthy Halloween menu that includes pumpkin muffins and orange-coloured popcorn.
"There will be costumes, **** will be able to have fun with their friends, eat food they don't usually eat and if a student brings candy in his lunch box, he has the right," Houpert said.
"The lunch box belongs to the parents and parents could put what they want in the lunch box but us, as the schools, we won't distribute food that does not conform to our policies and that go against the message that we want to press upon our students."
Last fall, Quebec ordered all school boards in the province to eliminate junk food from cafeterias and vending machines and develop policies that incorporate healthy eating into the curriculum.
Ontario ordered the same for elementary school vending machines a few years ago and ****** trans fats from cafeterias last spring. The province is now working on a set of nutritional guidelines for schools that will take effect next fall.
Sharlene Hunter, a communications officer with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, said holiday celebrations are largely governed by individual school principals but an informal survey of their Halloween plans found many school-based parties won't include candy or traditional costumes.
Instead of wearing costumes, many **** are being encouraged to sport orange or black T-shirts, while Halloween activities will include sports, drama, singing and dancing.
"The celebration has become more about physical activity than it has about eating candy," she said.
"It's still a big deal at the schools but not in the same way it was."
Costumes are often discouraged because they can get ruined on the bus and because not all students can afford them, she said.
"We find many local Giant Tiger stores are selling orange T-shirts for $1-$2 a piece which most families can afford," she said.
Recent junk food bans in Manitoba and British Columbia schools led to a black market in soft drinks and chocolate bars that prompted entrepreneurial students at some high schools to stock up on junk and sell it to their peers from their lockers.
Even some parents still long for the good old days when birthday cupcakes were welcome with open arms and Halloween was about dressing up and indulging in Rockets and candy corn.
Heidi Werbin said she's often at odds with her ********'s elementary school in Montreal. While it has yet to ban treats from the classroom, it is increasingly pressing parents to choose healthier food options and it seems clear that's the direction the principal would like to go.
"It's one day a year and the **** are so excited," said the ****** of three school-age boys who, up until a few years ago, were able to wear costumes on Halloween.
"As far as food goes, a hot dog once a month isn't going to **** you."
Still, some suggest many in the school community are embracing the idea of making healthier food choices.
"There's more of an acceptance in terms of healthy eating among parents and families," said Doris Gillis, a nutrition professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.
Food, she said, has become the centrepiece of holidays like Halloween and Christmas which have become very commercialized as a result.
"I think we've gone overboard promoting food as the major way to celebrate an occasion," she said, adding people are getting tired of it.
"I think we're maybe moving back to a middle ground."
It's not always easy, she said, recalling the days when bobbing for apples was a fun and healthy part of the Halloween celebration.
Because she knows many of her neighbours in her small Antigonish community, she is able to shell out apples off her own tree to some of the ******** but she admits it's not something folks in big cities can do.
Alternatives like Halloween-themed pencils and raisins are also more expensive, she added.
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Ok, so i guess there will be candy pushers in schools now?
