School Food Politics is in print!

Sarah Robert and I are proud to announce the publication of our co-edited collection, School Food Politics: The Complex Ecologies of Hunger and Feeding in Schools Around the World. It is available from Peter Lang Publishers.

See information at http://tinyurl.com/3bje9q8

The essays in School Food Politics explore the intersections of food and politics on all six of the inhabited continents of the world. Including electoral fights over universally free school meals in Korea, nutritional reforms to school dinners in England and canteens in Australia, teachers' and doctors' work on school feeding in Argentina, and more, the volume provides key illustrations of the many contexts that have witnessed intense struggles defining which children will eat; why; what and how they are served; and who will pay for and prepare the food. Contributors include reformers writing from their own perspectives, from the farm-to-school program in Burlington, Vermont, to efforts to apply principles of critical pedagogy in cooking programs for urban teens, to animal rights curriculum. Later chapters shift their focus to possibilities and hope for a different future for school food, one that is friendlier to students, "lunch ladies," society, other creatures, and the planet.

What impact does the cafeteria environment have?

Here's a really interesting and fun video from England's School Food Trust showing the results of their recent contest to do "school canteen rescues." It gives a great look at English school food--culturally different in interesting ways. It should give everyone pause, though, to consider issues like environment as well as involving kids in making school food something they want.

Bad news for the flavored milk advocates

Two Video Posts on the Chocolate Milk Wars

The Chocolate Milk Debate

My article on school food politics is out!

I have just had appear my article "Why Education Researchers Should Take School Food Seriously." The piece is in Educational Researcher this month (volume 40, issue 1, pages 11-15). Look for it at your local university library or you can go to your local public library and ask the reference desk to have them do an "interlibrary loan" to have it sent to you.

Here's the summary:

"Food and eating in schools have most often been thought of as utilitarian parts of the day, as distractions, and, for education researchers, as lacking incentives to study or even as objects of derision rather than serious concern. Yet there are good reasons why scholars of education should consider food and food practices. These include the confounding influences of school food’s impact on health and on academics, its effects on teaching and administration, the role schools play in teaching about food, implications for the environment and for other species, the large sums of money involved, the window that food provides into identity and culture, food’s influence on educational policy and politics, and the social justice concerns around food."

Jamie Oliver is taking it to the streets

I have to say, this is pretty cool stuff. I'm impressed with his creativity in getting his message out.

Video is from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12629525

How can you not get behind something Elmo loves?

It's not perfect, but it's something

President Obama signed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act into law yesterday (Dec. 13).

It's likely too little money to dramatically change the quality of meals, but the real victory is in granting the Agriculture Secretary the right to limit what can be served in schools outside of the cafeteria. Be careful what you wish for, though. Control like that may not seem so wise if your guy isn't the one holding the regulatory power.

It's like a broken record: No matter the issue, conservatives want government to do nothing

A few trillion for tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans? No problem. 6¢ more per plate for a school lunch, adding up to a modest $4.5 billion spread out over ten years? "Get the government out!! No new taxes! Hey, count the ketchup!"

Mind-bogglingly narrow talking points are getting increasingly difficult to talk around. It has no nuance, no understanding of the complexities of making policy, and absolutely no clue for how the real economy works to turn healthy food into productive and well-educated, tax paying citizens. The worst part is every discussion now has to have that answer on the right. Makes me long for William F. Buckley! Conservatives of that stripe were at least intelligent and worthy foils for liberal thinking, helping to sharpen and provide nuance to progressive movements. Now all we have is this: