Lunch Gets Schooled

Across the United States, school lunch is being transformed, as
counties and cities partner with local farms to access fresh
vegetables, as well as hire chefs to introduce tastier and more
adventurous meals. This is a much-needed correction after decades
of processed meals that contained little in the way of nutrition
and flavor. But how did we get to trays of spongy pizza and
freezer-burned tater tots in the first place? While it seems as if
such culinary delights were always part of a child’s day, the
school lunch is barely a century old—and there are plenty of
countries in the world, like Canada and Norway, where school lunch
doesn’t even exist. This episode, we dive into the history of how
we got to today’s school lunch situation, as well as what it tells
us about our economic and gender priorities. Listen in now for all
that, plus the science on whether school lunch even matters. 
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