What's in a spork?

When I think of the elementary school cafeteria, images of Styrofoam trays, long tables, illegally sharing food, and of course, sporks, all come to mind.

Apparently, these kids in New Orleans thought so, too.

But the Nola natives were determined to change that. In 2006, a group called Rethink formed. Their mission - to get rid of sporks. They succeeded. Sporks are no longer allowed in New Orleans cafeterias. Though it might seem trivial, through this statement the Rethinkers were working to reshape school lunches.

According to this article on www.prospect.org, school lunches can potentially be a much larger health risk then most give credit for. In fact, as stated in the article, only 37 percent of schools offer fresh or local food. The Rethinkers, who work with the New Orleans Food and Farm Network, have been working since 2006 to increase that statistic.

Now, the sporks have gone national. Michelle Obama has taken it into her own hands, literally, to help improve nutrition in public schools. She planted a vegetable garden at The White House with middle-school students to show them they can take hold of their nutritional future.

President Obama seems to support his wife, as mentioned late in the article he said at a Democratic National Committee roundtable, "We provide an awful lot of school lunches out there and -- and reimburse local school districts for school-lunch programs. ... We've got to [get] local farmers connected to school districts, because that would benefit the farmers, delivering fresh produce, but right now they just don't have the distribution mechanisms set up."

How's that for some food for thought.