School Lunch

In case you missed it, there was an interesting interview with a school "lunch lady" (Jean Ronnei, Director of Nutrition and Commercial Services for Saint Paul Public Schools) on The Splendid Table this week, titled "Lunch Ladies and School Lunch Programs."

It turns out, they have about $1/meal to spend on food--which is about the same as the budget of a person on food stamps. It is pretty limiting. If you are interested in what it is like to live on a food stamps budget, and you are not poor enough to live on one, you can read about the Food Stamp Challenge here. (I should note that ICPJ's official Food Stamp Challenge--which I link to--is over, but you yourself could try it at any time. In any case, the comments are interesting.)

And especially in school districts where a lot of kids rely on free and reduced price lunches, the quality of breakfast and lunch become a big issue.