When school teacher Mrs. Q forgot her lunch one day, she had no idea she was about to embark on an odyssey to uncover the truth about public school lunches. Shocked by what her students were served, she resolved to eat school lunch for an entire year, chronicling her experience anonymously on a blog that received thousands of hits daily, and was lauded by such food activists as Mark Bittman, Jamie Oliver, and Marion Nestle. Here, Mrs. Q reveals her identity for the first time in an eye-opening account of school lunches in America. Along the way, she provides invaluable resources for parents and health advocates who wish to help reform school lunch, making this a must-read for anyone concerned about children's health issues.

Citing formidable rates in American obesity and poor nutrition, the award-winning creator of the documentary Two Angry Moms shares empowering advice about how to campaign for healthier school lunches while working with administrations to promote better food programs. Original. 25,000 first printing.

Whether kids love or hate the food served there, the American school lunchroom is the stage for one of the most popular yet flawed social welfare programs in our nation's history. School Lunch Politics covers this complex and fascinating part of American culture, from its origins in early twentieth-century nutrition science, through the establishment of the National School Lunch Program in 1946, to the transformation of school meals into a poverty program during the 1970s and 1980s. Susan Levine investigates the politics and culture of food; most specifically, who decides what American children should be eating, what policies develop from those decisions, and how these policies might be better implemented. Even now, the school lunch program remains problematic, a juggling act between modern beliefs about food, nutrition science, and public welfare. Levine points to the program menus' dependence on agricultural surplus commodities more than on children's nutritional needs, and she discusses the political policy barriers that have limited the number of children receiving meals and which children were served. But she also shows why the school lunch program has outlasted almost every other twentieth-century federal welfare initiative. In the midst of privatization, federal budget cuts, and suspect nutritional guidelines where even ketchup might be categorized as a vegetable, the program remains popular and feeds children who would otherwise go hungry. As politicians and the media talk about a national obesity epidemic, School Lunch Politics is a timely arrival to the food policy debates shaping American health, welfare, and equality. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

A midwestern noir series set in the harsh landscape of the northern Minnesota Iron Range--Hot Lunch Special is all about family, food and the fight for survival. The Khourys are a classic immigrant success story: A fractious and quarrelsome Lebanese family who carved their slice of the American Dream by becoming the largest distributors of vending machine sandwiches in the upper northern Midwest. Unfortunately, the Khourys gains have been ill-gotten and a branch of the Chicago Irish Mob has come back to collect a past debt. Fealty is demanded, shots are fired, and long-hidden family secrets are fully revealed. Now, Dorothy Khoury, the daughter of the family patriarch is forced to unite her splintered bloodline and fight back. Only one question is worth asking...is blood thicker than sandwiches?

Exciting Whole-Food Lunches You’ll Be Proud to Pack and That Kids Will Love to Eat! *60 Recipes and 60 Photographs Plus a Bonus Chapter of Homemade Healthy Staples!* Pack your child a healthy, tasty lunch the easy way! Each lunchbox focuses on just one nutrient-dense homemade component that can be prepped ahead of time for easy grab-and-go options on busy days. Prep a big batch of Carnival Copycat Corn Dogs and stick them in the freezer— they’ll defrost just in time for lunch. Make The Best Chinese Takeout Copycat for dinner one night and you can pack the leftovers in the kids’ thermoses later that week. And what could be easier than letting your child assemble their own lunch with a chapter full of healthy Lunchables ® copycats? From Pizza Lunchables ® Copycat featuring whole-food pizza crust and customizable toppings, to Easy Homemade Cracker Stackers Lunchables ® Copycat, you’ll find tons of ideas to make lunchbox prep fun, nourishing, and practical. Renee Kohley, author of Nourished Beginnings Baby Food, has compiled this delicious, allergen-friendly collection of gluten-free lunches to make sure every child has the energy they need to power through the busy school day. Fill a lunchbox with no-fuss sides like seeds, crackers, and fresh fruits with a single from-scratch item for a balanced meal that your kids will be excited to eat. With so many great choices, you’ll never have to wonder what you should pack for lunch again. *All recipes are gluten-free and allergen-friendly!*

From nationally renowned school food reform expert and Cook for America(R) co-founder KATE ADAMICK comes this timely book dispelling the myth that school food reform is cost prohibitive. Touted by such food systems leaders as Marion Nestle, Mark Bittman, Jamie Oliver, and Jan Poppendieck, and praised by leaders in the education and school food arenas, LUNCH MONEY: SERVING HEALTHY SCHOOL FOOD IN A SICK ECONOMY provides effective money-saving and revenue-generating tools for use in any school kitchen or cafeteria. Included in this practical how-to book are examples, diagrams, charts, and worksheets that unlock the financial secrets to scratch-cooking in the school food environment and prove that a penny saved is much more than a penny earned. Through both wit and wisdom, Adamick demonstrates how school food can be transformed from a problem into a solution to the childhood obesity epidemic, which serves as a reminder that learning doesn't stop at the cafeteria door. PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OF THIS BOOK WILL BE DONATED TO CHILDREN'S HEALTH FOUNDATION. PRAISE FOR LUNCH MONEY "Kate Adamick is my go-to guru for tough-minded practical advice about school food. . . . This book is a must for anyone who works with school food as well as parents who care what their kids eat in school." - MARION NESTLE, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University and author of What to Eat and Food Politics "Ever since childhood obesity put improving the quality of school food on the national agenda, the conventional wisdom has been that fresh preparation on site - 'scratch cooking' - is too expensive to consider. In this remarkable book, Kate Adamick has effectively retired that myth. . . . Every food service director and school food reformer in America should read this book." - JANET POPPENDIECK, Professor of Sociology, Hunter College (CUNY), and author of Free for All: Fixing School Food in America "With her intimate knowledge of the system, Kate Adamick demonstrates that the solutions to the school lunch issue can be tackled by regular people, as long as we have the will to change." - MARK BITTMAN, New York Times columnist and author of How to Cook Everything "I love what Kate does in her brilliant work. She's a true ambassador for sustainable change that can be achieved if people really want it. She's inspirational, no-nonsense and realistic." - JAMIE OLIVER, Chef, author, and founder of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution " . . . I was pleasantly surprised by how effective the tools in Lunch Money are . . . . The lunch money lessons learned enabled our school nutrition program to move forward from 90% processed menu items to 90% scratch cooking within 2 years and, most important, we are operating at a net profit. . . . " - KATHY DELTONTO, RE-1J Nutrition Service Director, Montrose, Colorado "Lunch Money answers the daunting question of how to get healthy food within hands reach of America's public school students at an affordable price and elevates the status of the 'lunch lady' to the Lunch Teacher(TM) . . . . " - DENNIS VAN ROEKEL, President, National Education Association "Adamick proves that with a few smart choices, school food service managers don't have to choose between healthy kids and a healthy bottom line." - CURT ELLIS, Executive Director, FoodCorps, and Filmmaker, King Corn "[Adamick's] belief that school food is not the problem, but the solution, is the right step, in the right direction, at the right time. . . . - DONNA WEST, Child Nutrition Manager, Brownwood Elementary, Scottsboro, Alabama

The lunch ladies will finally have their revenge! From the lunch ladies getting back at kids who complain about cafeteria food, to principals who disappear into thin air, school has never been so funny. Revenge of the Lunch Ladies is sure to keep the laughs coming with each giggle-packed page. Kenn Nesbitt has created forty-five silly poems and songs all about school. Revenge of the Lunch Ladies is sure to keep the laughs coming with each giggle-packed page. Kenn Nesbitt has created forty-five silly poems and songs all about school. Following the success of When the Teacher Isn't Looking, this book combines Nesbitt's talent and sense of humor to deliver a knee-slapping collection. If silly principals and crazy lunch ladies don't have you laughing, a science project that ate the student's dog will!

Before Ethan's first day of Kindergarten, he spends the summer learning the rules for How to Eat Hot Lunch at School from his cousin Lucy.On the first day of school, Ethan is ready to recite his colors, most of the numbers, and his last name for Mrs. C., who works in the cafeteria, but when the students in Miss G.'s classroom accidentally forget to hold their lunch trays with both hands while following the silver line and looking at the back of the head of the person in front of them, poor Eddie, the janitor, ends up with a big mess to clean up.