The school-lunch hassle

Why reform is so difficult

By Culinate staff

October 13, 2010

As anyone who’s followed it knows, the issue of how to reform school lunches is a humdinger. As a recent report in the Seattle Times noted, the region’s public-school districts are up against such restrictions as price points, calorie requirements, nutritional balance, and kid appeal:

Yummy or yucky, processed or plain, school lunch is arguably the most regulated, thought-about, fought-over and highly planned meal in America.

New this week — National School Lunch week, in fact — from the Center for Ecoliteracy in the Bay Area is a downloadable planning framework called “Rethinking School Lunch.” The online guide offers 10 pathways to successful school-lunch reform; it’s a big-picture plan that aims to empower ordinary citizens to provide good, clean, affordable food not just to schoolkids but communities. Check it out today.