In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. broke down in tears as he described watching a teacher in Marks, Mississippi, cut an apple into slices to feed her desperately hungry students.1 And still today, many of the United States’ 15 million kids growing up in poverty depend on school meals for their survival, while more than 30 million kids eat lunch at school every day.2
School meals provide important sustenance to kids around the globe. Teachers in the United Kingdom describe malnourished pupils “filling their pockets” with food from school so they can have something to eat when they get home.3
What goes into school meals has a tremendous impact on the next generation and the future of a nation. Well-balanced school meals have been linked to fewer sick days, improved concentration in class, and better educational outcomes.4 But unfortunately, healthy school meals are all too often a rarity, as they get lost in a sea of sugar, white flour, and fried chicken.
A series of studies in the 1980s removed chemical additives and processed food, and reduced levels of sugar, in the diets of juvenile offenders.5 Over 8,000 young people in 12 juvenile correctional facilities were involved. The result was that problem behaviors fell 47 percent.
In Virginia, 300 juvenile offenders at a detention facility housing particularly hardened adolescents were put on a similar diet, with no chemical additives and little sugar, for two years. During that time, the incidence of theft dropped 77 percent, insubordination dropped 55 percent, and hyperactivity dropped 65 percent.6
In Los Angeles County probation detention halls, 1,400 youths were put on a diet that eliminated processed foods and chemical additives and greatly reduced sugar levels. Again, the results were excellent. There was a 44 percent reduction in problem behavior and suicide attempts.7
These and other studies suggest that when troubled youngsters are put on a healthy diet based on nutrient-dense foods such as vegetables, fruits, seeds, legumes, and whole grains, and that avoids sugar, preservatives, and artificial colors and flavors, the results are predictably outstanding.
There are two things I want to point out here, and they’re both significant. The first is that these studies are stunning, and they clearly show criminality and antisocial behavior being dramatically reduced with nutritional improvements. The second is that these studies took place decades ago, and nothing has been done to seriously follow up on them, or to implement their discoveries on a vast scale.
When I think about all the parents and grandparents who stay up late worrying about their kids’ future, and about how many children and teens are struggling with hyperactivity and feelings of confusion and hostility, I start to wonder when we’ll decide it’s time to act on what we know—now.
In recent years, important efforts have been made to make school meals healthier in the U.S. and other countries, but many nutritional experts still find them woefully inadequate. And our kids are paying the price.
A 2010 study conducted by the University of Michigan found that in Michigan, 38 percent of students who routinely ate school lunch were overweight or obese, compared to only 24 percent of children who brought their own meals.8 The study found that 91 percent of the children who brought lunch from home consumed fruits or vegetables on a regular basis, as compared to only 16 percent of children whose diets were dependent on the food provided by the school.
For parents who can afford it, having kids bring healthy options to school is a great way to go. But as long as tens of millions of families depend on school meals for a fundamental part of daily nutrition, we all have a stake in making them healthier.
In the U.S., many school food service directors want to serve healthful food but face an uphill battle. They must confront challenges with staffing, budgets, and making many groups happy (including students, parents, administrators, and their state’s education department, which administers the USDA school meal program). Public school food programs must be financially self-sufficient, too. While public schools have budgets that district residents vote on, and that are paid for primarily through property taxes, those budgets typically don’t include funding for school meals. Public school food programs depend instead on income from students who pay for food, coupled with reimbursements from the federal and state governments that subsidize meals for students from low-income families.
Another longstanding challenge is the USDA’s Foods in Schools Program. This is a program through which the USDA purchases hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of agricultural products and gives them to schools free of charge. The U.S. government devised this to stabilize prices and ensure abundant demand for some of the nation’s agricultural goods. However, the net effect is to tilt the marketplace toward the foods that the USDA chooses to purchase, which unfairly supports the farmers who grow them while creating a competitive disadvantage to farmers who do not. This also floods schools with the donated products—something that budget-strapped food service directors feel unable to turn down.
So what is most of the USDA Foods Program money going toward? If you’re thinking cabbage, lentils, and blueberries, guess again.
In 2015, the USDA allocated 64 percent of food program procurement expenditures to meat, dairy, and egg products, virtually all of which came from factory farms.9 As long as these systems are in place, farmers will have an unfair incentive to produce factory-farmed animal products, and schools will have an unhealthy incentive to serve them.
Considering that more than 60 percent of Americans eat more saturated fat than is recommended by the nation’s official dietary guidelines, while less than 15 percent of Americans eat the recommended amount of vegetables, this subsidy system tilts the playing field in the wrong direction.10
Economic forces place many school food service personnel in a bind. They have limited budgets. The options most affordable to them, in part because of taxpayer subsidies, are centered on animal products. And the most convenient choices are often heavily processed.
Despite rising food costs and unhealthy government subsidies, however, many school districts are working hard to move their menus in the right direction. School gardens are on the rise, and increasing numbers of schools are seeking to rely less on animal products and processed foods, and to serve more whole foods, fruits, and vegetables. Since 2012, by law, all public schools in the U.S. have been required to provide minimum levels of fruits and vegetables. The levels are far lower than would be optimal, but they’re a good step in the right direction.
Many countries in Europe have policies to help schools provide nutritionally balanced meals that also reflect the general culture of each nation.11 In England, certain foods are restricted (deep-fried foods are limited to no more than two portions per week), while others are promoted (students must receive at least one portion of fruits and one portion of vegetables every day). In France, by law, at least 50 percent of school meals must include vegetables. As a result, French school lunches include salads featuring foods like carrots, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and coriander, as well as vegetable dishes featuring green beans, broccoli, parsley, and other nutritious greens.12
In 2017, the European Union announced plans to invest €150 million per year in a new program to help cover the cost of school lunches—and to subsidize inclusion of fruits and vegetables.13
Also in 2017, the environmental organization Friends of the Earth announced the results of a partnership with the Oakland Unified School District in California.14 Motivated by environmental concerns and a desire to support student health, over the course of two years, the district reduced the amount of animal products served in its schools by 30 percent. And much of the meat it served (in reduced quantities) was purchased from carefully chosen sources including Mindful Meats, a company that sources beef from organically raised retired dairy cows.
The results were extraordinary. Students reported increased satisfaction with the healthy, regionally sourced meals. And we’ll look at the impact industrialized meat production has on our water, soil, and climate in chapter 28, but suffice it to say that there’s a big one. In fact, according to Friends of the Earth’s report, the changes enabled the district to save 42 million gallons of water—enough to fill 63 Olympic-sized swimming pools—and to reduce net carbon emissions by 600,000 kilograms—the equivalent carbon savings of installing 87 solar panels, which would cost approximately $2.1 million dollars. However, this carbon-saving strategy did not cost the district any money. In fact, the food shifts actually saved the district $42,000.
If changes like this were implemented in schools across the United States, they would lead to saving 700 million kilograms of carbon emissions—equivalent to planting 17 million trees. And over time, the health implications of making these kinds of changes would be profound.
In Los Angeles, the county’s Department of Public Health has undertaken a major campaign to lower rates of childhood obesity.15 Through education, shifting policy, and a “meat-free Monday” in the Los Angeles Unified School District (which serves 1.5 million meals per year), the region is having some success. Since 2009, kids have been eating more vegetables and drinking less sugary soda. During that time, the rate of early childhood obesity in the county has fallen by 10 percent.16
Some people worry about the financial impact of changing food policy. But when it comes to moving toward more plant-food-centered meal plans, savings are more likely. In 2010, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health released a study, which found four hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area were saving $400,000 in meat costs each year by incorporating more vegetarian dishes into their menus.17 And by introducing Meatless Mondays, New Jersey’s Valley Hospital saved nearly $50,000 in a year.18
In November of 2017, Marianne Bradley-Kopec accepted the position as cook at a new school in downtown Salt Lake City. When Marianne started the new job, she was given a sample menu that featured foods like hamburgers, chicken nuggets, and meatloaf. For the first week, Marianne stuck with the suggested menu. But she saw that the students came from varied cultures and religious backgrounds, so she quickly replaced the meals on the menu with new offerings that featured plant-based cuisine from around the world. With the money saved by not buying meat, Marianne was able to purchase organic produce. She received wonderful feedback from the students, staff, and parents. And she reports something truly extraordinary: Some parents are coming to school specifically so they can eat lunch with their children.
In the largest plant-based eating initiative in school lunch history, the Brazilian cities of Serrinha, Barroca, Teofilândia, and Biritinga announced a commitment in 2018 to making all their school meals 100 percent plant-based.19 The plan was designed to help stem Brazil’s obesity epidemic while making the nation more environmentally sustainable. It impacts more than 23 million meals annually.
Things like government food subsidies and school district meal plans can feel overwhelming to everyday folks. As a result, even people who care a lot about how we feed our kids tend not to get involved.
But because hardly anyone engages, when you do speak out, even in a simple way, you can have a tremendous impact.
Amie Hamlin is executive director of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food. The organization works directly with dozens of schools in the state of New York, and worldwide, helping them implement healthier options. They’ve developed a Wellness Wakeup Call program that provides schools and classrooms with daily healthy eating tips that can be read in classrooms and over PA systems. Amie gave me this example: “Good morning! This is your Wellness Wakeup Call. Try to find foods that don’t have ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated fats, artificial colors, and artificial flavors. Enjoy your day, the healthy way!”
These daily tips are now being used by hundreds of schools, and the coalition has also shared whole-foods, plant-based recipes with more than 25,000 schools worldwide.
Some people fear that kids won’t eat healthy foods because their taste buds have been too jaded by junk foods. And some schools have, indeed, offered healthier options and found that students didn’t eat them. The key is often to combine healthier lunches with education and to bring creativity and care to the recipes, so that nutritious food is tasty and looks good. Some schools offer a variety of meal options and let the students vote on their favorites. Over time, they develop a steady rotation of meals known to be popular. And student taste buds and habits evolve.
If you care about what kids are eating, and about how taxpayer money is being spent in your community, you have a right to speak up and an opportunity to make a difference. I worked with Amie Hamlin to create a simple action kit for healthier school meals, and you can download it at 31dayfoodrevolution.com/schoollunches.
Option 1: Use your favorite Internet search engine to find out how many schools are in your local district (type in “what’s my school district” and then “how many schools are in [name] school district?”) and then get the name of the food service director (type in “who is the food service director in [name of district]”). Just having this information will give you a sense of empowerment. Decide if you want to contact the food service director to put in a word of encouragement toward healthy foods.
Option 2: Reach out to your local school district’s food service director to ask if they’ve considered participating in meat-free Mondays or offering plant-based meat-alternate options. You can also ask if the schools have a salad bar, how many fresh fruits and vegetables (as opposed to canned) are offered, and if they participate in farm-to-school programs. Let them know you care.
Option 3: Set up a meeting with your local school district’s food service director or your school superintendent to find out what’s already being done to support or encourage healthy school lunches in your community—and see how you can help.