School Food

The nostalgia for lunch pails and boxes, the 1950s stereotype of food-service workers in cafeterias as hair-netted “lunch ladies,” the establishment of National School Lunch Week in 1962, and even the familiarity of institutional food all indicate the impact that school lunch has had on this country’s attitudes about childhood nutrition. Traditions, such as the brown paper bag lunch, lunch-pail advertising, and the milk carton, have entered into the national consciousness as a given part of our culture. School meals are a pressing issue for the poor in India, China, South and Central America, and South Africa and are closely linked to literacy in developing countries. As in the United States of 1900, child labor thrives in locations where food is inadequate. For the poor, school meals are a necessary incentive for attendance. Literacy, dropout rates, and overall school performance have been linked to school meal programs in the United States as well.