Lunch at School
Will you be eating a school lunch this year? In 2019, more than 4.8 billion lunches were served to kids during the school day!
Chances are, though, your greatgrandparents didn’t walk through a line and pick up a lunch at school. This week, The Mini Page looks at the history of school lunches.
Good food = good mind
In the late 1700s and early 1800s, people became concerned about what children were eating. Kids usually were fed only at home by their parents. If they were lucky, they were sent to school with something to eat for lunch. More often, though, they went hungry during the day.
Groups of people in large European cities began joining together to feed children during the day. Scientists kept track of kids’ heights, weights and learning.
The results were clear: Kids who ate a good meal at midday grew stronger and more quickly. They also performed better in school.
America also had realized the importance of lunch. But most schools in the U.S. had been built without kitchens, large dining areas or the space to store food.
Filling a need
During the Great Depression in the early 1930s, the U.S. government began purchasing surplus, or extra, food such as corn, wheat and milk, which was then given to local schools to feed hungry kids.
The federal government also began to develop guidelines, or rules, for what kids should be given for lunch.
The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1946 declaring that the government will provide food, people and equipment to serve lunches to schoolchildren.
New ideas
Today, kids know more about the benefits of healthy eating, both at school and at home. One program that helps is the growing of school gardens.
School gardens can provide some food for lunches but may also produce fruits and vegetables to sell at a fundraiser.
Gardening programs also teach students about how food is produced. Kids are actively involved in the design of the gardens, planting, maintenance, harvesting, cooking and — of course — the eating!
Among the crops most often planted in school gardens are lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, kale, carrots and potatoes, since these can be harvested in the fall when students are back in school.