Canteen reform

I don't know who approved this, I don't know how any responsible government can allow children, from a very young age, to be exposed to food of such quality, consistency, and unspeakably ridiculous nutritional content that even a self-respecting homeless person would push it off their plate in disgust.

In Hungary, words like reasonableness, justice, or rationality are unknown concepts. But it is still outrageously ridiculous that the Hungarian state spends 1500 forints per head to feed the dregs of society living in prisons, while the same provision for hospital patients and children eating in school canteens amounts to 700 and 300–500 forints per day, respectively.

I don't want this information to go unnoticed by anyone, so I'll write it again. 1500 forints for the daily meals of common criminals, 700 for hospital patients, and 300–500 forints for children's school meals.

Beyond moral and all human norms, the matter raises several problems. Aside from the fact that any decent person should be outraged at this point. Because it's one thing that incompetent governments have been in power for 23 years now, and unfortunately, even before that, we never got to experience what a politician who actually understands what they represent looks like. But for the state to spend three times as much on criminals – I might add, with our money – as on the future of Hungary, in this case, the feeding of children, truly reflects a desperate situation even in this country.

But there's a much more important problem here, and this post is written precisely for that reason. This is none other than the quality of school meals, which are not only unhealthy but also unfit for human consumption. If anyone has doubts about this, just think about the standard of food in hospitals, subtract 200 forints from that, and you'll get the quality of food that children up to 14 years old have to eat daily in state educational institutions.

Of course, then come the demagogic idiots who loudly proclaim, "We ate this for years, and nothing bad happened to us." At this point, I would like to draw attention to the small fact that Hungary is among the leading countries in Europe on the representative list of cancer incidence and cardiovascular mortality rates. This is due to an unhealthy diet rich in fat, preservatives, starches, and sugar, which, just to be safe, the Hungarian state institutionally provides to every Hungarian citizen from a very young age.

Oh, so there are a few parents who, going against government directives, would still like their children to eat nutritious and healthy food even when they go to school?

No problem.

The state has a solution for this too. Let's forbid children from bringing food from home to school, because otherwise, they might not have to eat the same orthodox, crappy meals every day, masses of 4-14 year old children. Let's oblige parents to pay for canteen meals, thereby lining the pockets of the food supply companies contracted by the state, who, of course, have no interest in providing quality food to schools. But why would they? They receive a fixed amount of money from the state, so where can they save the most and maximize their profit? Of course, by compromising on food quality.

Well, among other things, I'm absolutely fed up with this. If there isn't a single person among politicians and their crony companies who would prioritize the health and fundamental interests of children, then there will be others who will do it for them.

The LifeT!LT Canteen Reform is one of the biggest commitments of my life, but I alone am not enough for this. A few months ago, I asked you to form lifestyle change groups in every Hungarian city. I asked this of you because I was aware that without a large, societal collaboration, we cannot achieve movements that are capable of fundamentally changing the world around us, working for ourselves, for our future, and for the betterment of our destiny. Our strength, which lies in numbers, is only real strength if we are able to organize ourselves. Our strength is only real strength if we are able to create and organize the public presence of the LifeT!LT community and bring to the surface the power with which we can achieve anything in the future.

We needed to know about each other so that if fate required us to act, we could act together. By now, these lifestyle change groups have been formed in every county seat, every district of Budapest, and many rural towns, and the connection has been established.

And now fate has brought us to the point where we must act. We must act for a cause, the reform of which has been on my mind since 2011, but the development and public recognition of LifeT!LT has only now made it possible for us to move forward with the reform of school catering.

This movement requires broad societal support. Now is the time for action. Not for agreeing comments and encouraging words, but for action and support. We need kindergarten teachers, teachers, parents, professionals, and a multitude of active people who, through their work, commitment, and, last but not least, their faith, could launch a movement that, if successful, will allow us to say that we have done something for our future, which in this case means the reform of our children's healthy eating.

First step

Organizing, coordinating, and preparing this will be my task, but as I mentioned, I alone am not enough. We need to proceed step by step and build continuously, the first step of which is to create our community.

Everyone in this country who cares about the reform of school catering should now join this movement. Parents who care about their children's health should join. Teachers, through whom we can enter schools and who care about their students' future, should join. And last but not least, everyone who wants to do something for our society should join this movement, because this country does have a future, and the power of decision is in our hands; we shape our destiny.

So, as a first step, I ask you to join the Canteen Reform movement on Facebook.

Join the Canteen Reform group

This will be the central group. We will gather and build strength here. Most of the information flow and the latest news about the movement will be available in this group. We will stay in this group until we reach 10,000 members. After that, we will create a Facebook page for the movement. So, initially, that's all I'm asking for. Join the Canteen Reform group

The movement has now begun, spread the word. Let this post reach everyone, because if we are enough, we can achieve anything, but for that, I will need you too…