This fall, Congress will decide whether to update the Child Nutrition Act, the law that determines what 30 million children eat at school every day. Activists interested in petitioning Congress to increase funding for the Act, in order to give schools the resources to serve healthy and natural food, celebrated the Labor Day holiday by gathering with neighbors at Eat-ins throughout the Bay Area.

An Eat-In is a group of people gathering in public in order to share a home-cooked meal. Through the national Time for Lunch campaign, Eat-Ins were organized to help people network over "real" food, food that is grown locally when possible, and is fresh and wholesome. At present the vast majority of public schools only manage to meet mandated nutritional requirements by serving foods that are artificially supplemented.

In San Mateo, residents of an ecovillage invited neighbors to visit their cooperative housing along the bay and share a meal. In Los Gatos and Sonoma activists for healthy food ate in the shade in parks, while in Sunnyvale the Raging Grannies entertained a lunch gathering on a farm located on grounds owned by the Santa Clara Unified School District, adjacent to Petersen Middle School. San Francisco's Brooks Park with its giant fruit and vegetable sculptures made a perfect backdrop for healthy food enthusiasts who want to see more fresh produce on school lunch plates.

Photos: Sunnyvale: 1 | 2 | 3 | San Mateo | San Francisco | Los Gatos | Sonoma