You can learn a lot from a lunch-tray. In my life’s arc . . . from volunteering at Kentucky’s Grasshoppers Distribution local food cooperative to Luxembourg’s Terra Community Supported Agriculture . . . I re-learn HOW we feed our children is a mirror of how well/badly we govern ourselves. When I read Véronique Poujol’s thorough Reporter.lu exposé on “Monsieur Cantine” . . . I wasn’t angry. I was quietly heart-broken. “Kentucky Fried Luxembourg” . . . again.
- Here is Véronique’s 16th June 2025 Reporter.lu news article (subscription required) https://www.reporter.lu/luxembourg-affaire-de-corruption-lintouchable-monsieur-cantine/
- Here is Véronique’s related 26th May 2025 Reporter.lu news article (subscription required) https://www.reporter.lu/luxembourg-corruption-le-fonctionnaire-et-largent-noir-des-communes/
Véronique’s article traces how . . . for decades . . . “Monsieur Cantine” moved between government ministries and communes . . . playing the roles of “civil servant” and “consultant” . . . while shaping HOW school meals were sourced + priced AND delivered . . . without always having the mandate or transparency to do so. The legal system has now spoken, and a judgment has been handed down.
Deeper questions remain:
- What “values” nourished this system for so long?
- How do we build better systems?
- When will Decency be pro-actively stewarded and rewarded?
SDGs are not abstract goals. SDGs are daily choices, plated up one meal at a time. SDGs are how we must see this story . . . through the whole garden of Sustainable Development Goals:
SDGs 1 & 2 = No Poverty + Zero Hunger: when public money doesn’t stretch as far as it should, we ALL pay the cost. Adapt the iconic call-to-action by President Eisenhower when he was leaving office: “As we peer into society’s future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.”
Every €uro misspent is a carrot not grown, a child not well-fed.
SDG 3 = Good Health: Nutrition is not just calories. Nutrition is tying critical thinking with dignity. School food should nourish bodies and trust. Did you know biodynamic soil microbes (like Mycobacterium vaccae) can trigger serotonin production in the human brain when inhaled or touched? Yes. Healthy soil literally makes us happier. This is microbial psychiatry, with studies showing improved mood and cognitive function through soil exposure, especially in children. When children visit farms like Terra CSA and harvest their own lunch, they don’t just learn biology. These children are boosting their mental health.
SDG 4 = Quality Education: You CANNOT teach . . . let alone incarnate . . . equity . . . with meals bought through inequity. Cafeterias are classrooms. If the supply chain is opaque and corrupt, the lesson is non-disclosure agreements and corruption.
SDG 5 = Gender Equality: Good-faith fit-for-purpose Equity means sharing voices + budget powers + systemic design . . . to benefit ALL those growth + health + dignity depend on healthy food. Food Decency is Gender Decency.
SDGs 6 & 7 = Clean Water + Affordable Clean Energy: Every kitchen contract + every cafeteria plan affects our energy footprint and water usage. We must move from kitchen-as-cost-center to kitchen-as-sustainability muscle-memory fulcrum.
SDGs 8 & 9 = Decent Work + Industry & Innovation: Public tenders must foster fairness, not favoritism. Innovation thrives when sunlight shines on process.
SDG 10 = Reduced Inequalities: Systems that favor back-channels usually leave the most caring and capable providers outside the door. There is room for Public Tenders to uplift fair local jobs and social enterprise kitchens.
SDG 11 = Sustainable Cities & Communities: School-kitchens should be local engines of community . . . not engines for obfuscation. Truly resilient communities feed themselves fairly.
SDG 12 = Responsible Consumption & Production: Food-waste + opaque contracts + menu-monoculture are symptoms of disconnection. Every bite is a vote . . . for something regeneratively grown, joyfully prepared, and mindfully portioned.
SDGs 13 + 14 + 15 = Climate Action + Life Below Water + Life on Land: as long as our school food is NOT part of the climate-action conversation, we are missing GOLDEN opportunities to teach-through-taste. Flip the model (from Massive CO₂ emissions + Ocean dead zones from runoff + Soil degradation) to Plant-based meals + Permaculture school gardens + Menus that teach through taste.
SDG 16 = Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions: Trust is grown like tomatoes: with care, not shortcuts. You can’t grow trust in polluted soil. Trust takes sunlight, patience, compost, and care.
SDG 17 = Partnerships for the Goals: No single stakeholder fixes this. Imagine the strength of these Virtuous Circles . . . Farmers + Teachers + Children + Public Servants + Parents. Together, we can replant Trust from the soil to the soul. The real cafeteria story is one we’re all still co-creating.
I’ve seen what’s possible. At Terra CSA here in Ville de Luxembourg, school groups see . . . with their own eyes . . . carrots pulled fresh from soil. SDGs are NOT slogans. SDGs ARE seed-packets. Let’s replant and steward Decency with care.
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For your further reflection:
▷ the now closed Grasshoppers Distribution (Louisville, Kentucky warehouse & distributor for hundreds of local sustainable farms) provided weekly local seasonal food deliveries. You did not have to be a weekly subscriber to place individual orders through Grasshoppers Distribution’s highly flexible à la carte system that provided weekly deliveries of local produce, diary, eggs, cheeses, bread, sweets, pasta, beef, pork, poultry, specialty meats, condiments, prepared foods, teas, and locally-roasted coffee. With the tragic closing of Grasshoppers in late 2013, this is no longer an option for those in Kentucky’s biggest inner city food-desert. Here is a Louisville Public Radio news article: https://www.lpm.org/news/2012-06-15/ymca-grasshoppers-distribution-discuss-fresh-produce-in-portland
▷ Terra Community Supported Agriculture (Luxembourg): https://www.terra-coop.lu/
▷ Mister Christian’s Cafeteria: my free downloadable PDF children’s book about meal-planning & local food via Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9bemwp68tchd8y482lopz/Mister-Christian-s-Cafeteria-2018-written-illustrated-by-Christian-Thalacker.pdf?rlkey=opfdvihvyz7bahopn3d0c23gp&st=lwgpnhtc&dl=0
▷ The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 1 through 17: https://sdgs.un.org/goals
▷ President Eisenhower’s Farewell Address delivered 17th January 1961: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower%27s_farewell_address
▷ Google Scholar search-results for “biodynamic soil, Mycobacterium vaccae, serotonin”: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=biodynamic+soil%2C+Mycobacterium+vaccae%2C+serotonin&btnG=
▷ Le phénomène de la corruption au Luxembourg; Editions Paul Bauler; 750 pages, ISBN 978-2-919885-15-2, €128: https://www.rtl.lu/kultur/bicher/a/2313688.html
▷ The School for Moral Ambition: https://www.moralambition.org/
