How did our children end up eating nachos, pizza, and Tater Tots for lunch? Taking us on an eye-opening journey into the nation's school kitchens, this superbly researched book is the first to provide a comprehensive assessment of school food in the United States. Janet Poppendieck explores the deep politics of food provision from multiple perspectives--history, policy, nutrition, environmental sustainability, taste, and more. How did we get into the absurd situation in which nutritionally regulated meals compete with fast food items and snack foods loaded with sugar, salt, and fat? What is the nutritional profile of the federal meals? How well are they reaching students who need them? Opening a window onto our culture as a whole, Poppendieck reveals the forces--the financial troubles of schools, the commercialization of childhood, the reliance on market models--that are determining how lunch is served. She concludes with a sweeping vision for change: fresh, healthy food for all children as a regular part of their school day.
Whether kids love or hate the food served there, the American school lunchroom is the stage for one of the most popular yet flawed social welfare programs in our nation's history. School Lunch Politics covers this complex and fascinating part of American culture, from its origins in early twentieth-century nutrition science, through the establishment of the National School Lunch Program in 1946, to the transformation of school meals into a poverty program during the 1970s and 1980s. Susan Levine investigates the politics and culture of food; most specifically, who decides what American children should be eating, what policies develop from those decisions, and how these policies might be better implemented. Even now, the school lunch program remains problematic, a juggling act between modern beliefs about food, nutrition science, and public welfare. Levine points to the program menus' dependence on agricultural surplus commodities more than on children's nutritional needs, and she discusses the political policy barriers that have limited the number of children receiving meals and which children were served. But she also shows why the school lunch program has outlasted almost every other twentieth-century federal welfare initiative. In the midst of privatization, federal budget cuts, and suspect nutritional guidelines where even ketchup might be categorized as a vegetable, the program remains popular and feeds children who would otherwise go hungry. As politicians and the media talk about a national obesity epidemic, School Lunch Politics is a timely arrival to the food policy debates shaping American health, welfare, and equality. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.
Citing formidable rates in American obesity and poor nutrition, the award-winning creator of the documentary Two Angry Moms shares empowering advice about how to campaign for healthier school lunches while working with administrations to promote better food programs. Original. 25,000 first printing.
In Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat, historian A. R. Ruis explores the origins of American school meal initiatives to explain why it was (and, to some extent, has continued to be) so difficult to establish meal programs that satisfy the often competing interests of children, parents, schools, health authorities, politicians, and the food industry. Through careful studies of several key contexts and detailed analysis of the policies and politics that governed the creation of school meal programs, Ruis demonstrates how the early history of school meal program development helps us understand contemporary debates over changes to school lunch policies.
There’s a problem with school lunch in America. Big Food companies have largely replaced the nation’s school cooks by supplying cafeterias with cheap, precooked hamburger patties and chicken nuggets chock-full of industrial fillers. Yet it’s no secret that meals cooked from scratch with nutritious, locally sourced ingredients are better for children, workers, and the environment. So why not empower “lunch ladies” to do more than just unbox and reheat factory-made food? And why not organize together to make healthy, ethically sourced, free school lunches a reality for all children? The Labor of Lunch aims to spark a progressive movement that will transform food in American schools, and with it the lives of thousands of low-paid cafeteria workers and the millions of children they feed. By providing a feminist history of the US National School Lunch Program, Jennifer E. Gaddis recasts the humble school lunch as an important and often overlooked form of public care. Through vivid narration and moral heft, The Labor of Lunch offers a stirring call to action and a blueprint for school lunch reforms capable of delivering a healthier, more equitable, caring, and sustainable future.
When school teacher Mrs. Q forgot her lunch one day, she had no idea she was about to embark on an odyssey to uncover the truth about public school lunches. Shocked by what her students were served, she resolved to eat school lunch for an entire year, chronicling her experience anonymously on a blog that received thousands of hits daily, and was lauded by such food activists as Mark Bittman, Jamie Oliver, and Marion Nestle. Here, Mrs. Q reveals her identity for the first time in an eye-opening account of school lunches in America. Along the way, she provides invaluable resources for parents and health advocates who wish to help reform school lunch, making this a must-read for anyone concerned about children's health issues.
From nationally renowned school food reform expert and Cook for America(R) co-founder KATE ADAMICK comes this timely book dispelling the myth that school food reform is cost prohibitive. Touted by such food systems leaders as Marion Nestle, Mark Bittman, Jamie Oliver, and Jan Poppendieck, and praised by leaders in the education and school food arenas, LUNCH MONEY: SERVING HEALTHY SCHOOL FOOD IN A SICK ECONOMY provides effective money-saving and revenue-generating tools for use in any school kitchen or cafeteria. Included in this practical how-to book are examples, diagrams, charts, and worksheets that unlock the financial secrets to scratch-cooking in the school food environment and prove that a penny saved is much more than a penny earned. Through both wit and wisdom, Adamick demonstrates how school food can be transformed from a problem into a solution to the childhood obesity epidemic, which serves as a reminder that learning doesn't stop at the cafeteria door. PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OF THIS BOOK WILL BE DONATED TO CHILDREN'S HEALTH FOUNDATION. PRAISE FOR LUNCH MONEY "Kate Adamick is my go-to guru for tough-minded practical advice about school food. . . . This book is a must for anyone who works with school food as well as parents who care what their kids eat in school." - MARION NESTLE, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University and author of What to Eat and Food Politics "Ever since childhood obesity put improving the quality of school food on the national agenda, the conventional wisdom has been that fresh preparation on site - 'scratch cooking' - is too expensive to consider. In this remarkable book, Kate Adamick has effectively retired that myth. . . . Every food service director and school food reformer in America should read this book." - JANET POPPENDIECK, Professor of Sociology, Hunter College (CUNY), and author of Free for All: Fixing School Food in America "With her intimate knowledge of the system, Kate Adamick demonstrates that the solutions to the school lunch issue can be tackled by regular people, as long as we have the will to change." - MARK BITTMAN, New York Times columnist and author of How to Cook Everything "I love what Kate does in her brilliant work. She's a true ambassador for sustainable change that can be achieved if people really want it. She's inspirational, no-nonsense and realistic." - JAMIE OLIVER, Chef, author, and founder of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution " . . . I was pleasantly surprised by how effective the tools in Lunch Money are . . . . The lunch money lessons learned enabled our school nutrition program to move forward from 90% processed menu items to 90% scratch cooking within 2 years and, most important, we are operating at a net profit. . . . " - KATHY DELTONTO, RE-1J Nutrition Service Director, Montrose, Colorado "Lunch Money answers the daunting question of how to get healthy food within hands reach of America's public school students at an affordable price and elevates the status of the 'lunch lady' to the Lunch Teacher(TM) . . . . " - DENNIS VAN ROEKEL, President, National Education Association "Adamick proves that with a few smart choices, school food service managers don't have to choose between healthy kids and a healthy bottom line." - CURT ELLIS, Executive Director, FoodCorps, and Filmmaker, King Corn "[Adamick's] belief that school food is not the problem, but the solution, is the right step, in the right direction, at the right time. . . . - DONNA WEST, Child Nutrition Manager, Brownwood Elementary, Scottsboro, Alabama
Ensuring that the food provided to children in schools is consistent with current dietary recommendations is an important national focus. Various laws and regulations govern the operation of school meal programs. In 1995, Nutrition Standards and Meal Requirements were put in place to ensure that all meals offered would be high in nutritional quality. School Meals reviews and provides recommendations to update the nutrition standard and the meal requirements for the National School Breakfast and Lunch Programs. The recommendations reflect new developments in nutrition science, increase the availability of key food groups in the school meal programs, and allow these programs to better meet the nutritional needs of children, foster healthy eating habits, and safeguard children's health. School Meals sets standards for menu planning that focus on food groups, calories, saturated fat, and sodium and that incorporate Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Dietary Reference Intakes. This book will be used as a guide for school food authorities, food producers, policy leaders, state/local governments, and parents.
Exciting Whole-Food Lunches You’ll Be Proud to Pack and That Kids Will Love to Eat! *60 Recipes and 60 Photographs Plus a Bonus Chapter of Homemade Healthy Staples!* Pack your child a healthy, tasty lunch the easy way! Each lunchbox focuses on just one nutrient-dense homemade component that can be prepped ahead of time for easy grab-and-go options on busy days. Prep a big batch of Carnival Copycat Corn Dogs and stick them in the freezer— they’ll defrost just in time for lunch. Make The Best Chinese Takeout Copycat for dinner one night and you can pack the leftovers in the kids’ thermoses later that week. And what could be easier than letting your child assemble their own lunch with a chapter full of healthy Lunchables ® copycats? From Pizza Lunchables ® Copycat featuring whole-food pizza crust and customizable toppings, to Easy Homemade Cracker Stackers Lunchables ® Copycat, you’ll find tons of ideas to make lunchbox prep fun, nourishing, and practical. Renee Kohley, author of Nourished Beginnings Baby Food, has compiled this delicious, allergen-friendly collection of gluten-free lunches to make sure every child has the energy they need to power through the busy school day. Fill a lunchbox with no-fuss sides like seeds, crackers, and fresh fruits with a single from-scratch item for a balanced meal that your kids will be excited to eat. With so many great choices, you’ll never have to wonder what you should pack for lunch again. *All recipes are gluten-free and allergen-friendly!*
