Organic, 'fair' food comes to Italian schools

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

ROME (AFP) — Rome's school cafeterias are enjoying a nutrition revolution as tens of thousands of children sit down to healthy, eco-friendly meals under strict rules.

At the November 4 Elementary School in the Italian capital, for example, the menu includes rice and tomatoes, omelettes, boiled celery and oranges, served on biodegradable plates and cups.

For snacks, the children get fair trade cocoa-and-honey cookies and chocolate bars as well as bananas from the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The revolution was long in coming in the land of pasta, first initiated in 1999 by then mayor Francesco Rutelli, a former Green who is now culture minister.

But Italy has long been a haven for quality cuisine, and taken a lead -- as home of the...