Ann Cooper isn’t called “The Renegade Lunch Lady” for nothing. She calls it like it is, and she can because she’s been there — in the kitchens, in the schools, with the kids.

Chef Ann, as she’s called, was Nutrition Services Director for the Berkeley school district in California from 2005 to 2009. She’s now School Nutrition Director for the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado. (I’m – not so – secretly hoping her next move is to Portland, Oregon, where I live.)

And while I, too, am intimately connected to the subject of school lunches by virtue of my regular debates over the pros and cons of hot lunch with my 7-year-old son (he wants it five days a week, I say one – max!), I have not been there, in the kitchens, in the schools, with all those other kids! Hey, it’s tough enough packing two lunches four days a week that taste good 5 hours later and are packed with the nutrition kids need to learn (between their breakfast and my shower, right?)

Which is exactly why I’m so looking forward to the opportunity to chat with – and learn from – Chef Ann about school lunches. Of course, I also want her to tell me what to put in the ol’ lunchbox – I need some new tricks and it’s only November!

Join EWG to chat online with Ann Cooper
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is hosting an online conversation with Chef Ann on Thursday, November 4 from 2-3 PM (Eastern). We’ll be discussing the current debate over school lunch policy, including Chef Ann’s experiences improving school lunches from within and her ideas for packing a nutritious lunch that your kids will actually eat!

Please join us (we’ll be live on Enviroblog) – and bring your questions and personal experiences with you! Before we chat (and even after), you might want to brush up on the topic:

• Hearing (and seeing) what Chef Ann has to say on the topic in this short, but riveting, video.
• Reading her book, Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed our Children.
• Reading EWG’s recent blog post about getting more fruits & veggies into school lunches

Where do you turn for information about healthy school lunches?