overview
School food is a big deal
Food insecurity refers
to a lack of physical
and economic access
to enough good,
healthy, and culturally
appropriate food.
For young people in schools around the US, almost half of the
calories consumed each day comes from school: whether that’s
the cafeteria, snack bars, or on-site vending machines. 1 Nearly 30
million students are served lunch each school day, representing
billions of dollar spent on food purchases. 2 For over one-third
of those students, making sure the meals they get are nutritious
is especially important because they go to school hungry. 3 One
in five children in the US is food insecure, 4 meaning they lack
consistent access to food.
We don’t know about you, but starting with school food seems
like a great way to change the food system. To make true change,
though, we believe it is important to learn the history and context
of school food. So, that’s what we are going to do.
NOTES
“The Weight of the Nation,” Kaiser Permanente, Accessed September 25, 2018. https://share.kaiserpermanente.
org/static/weightofthenation/docs/topics/WOTNCommActTopic_School%20Food_F.pdf
2
“School Meal Trends & Stats,” accessed November 26, 2018, https://schoolnutrition.org/AboutSchoolMeals/
SchoolMealTrendsStats/.
3
“More than 13 Million Kids in This Country Go to School Hungry – The Denver Post,” 13.
4
“An Introduction to the Basic Concepts of Food Security,” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, 2008, Accessed May 5th, 2019. http://www.fao.org/3/al936e/al936e00.pdf
5
Vanessa Zafjen, “School Food 101,” The Center for Good Food Purchasing, 2016
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