Book ReviewBy Tonya Moore

PH 1232 PH Nutrition Practice

Spring 2015

Who is Janet Poppendieck?

Professor of Sociology at Hunter College in New YorkBoard of Directors for Association for the Study of Food and SocietyAdvisory Committee member for City-as-School Advisory Committee member for Welfare Rights Initiative1984-1987 W.K. Kellogg Foundation National Fellow1988 -2001 Director of the Hunter College Center for the Study of Family PolicyAlso Authored: Breadlines, Knee Deep in Wheat: Food Assistance in the Great Depression (1986) & Sweet Charity? Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement (1998)

Content Overview

IntroductionSchool Food 101Food Fights: A brief HistoryPenny Wise, Pound Foolish: What’s Driving the Menu?How Nutritious Are School Meals?The Missing Millions: Problems of ParticipationHunger in the classroom: Problems of AccessFree, Reduced Price, Paid: Unintended ConsequencesLocal Heroes: Fixing School Food at the Community LevelConclusion: School Food at the Crossroads

History of NSLP and SBP1890 – 1920: Locally school started serving lunches1935: Section 32 of the Agriculture Adjustment Act

Works Progress Administration – needed place for women applicants1946: National School Lunch Act1966: Child Nutrition Act – preschools, breakfast, food & equipment cost1970’s:USDA permits schools to contract out food service

Start of 3-tier system – response to war on hunger1981: All school could use “offer versus serve” for reimbursement, 3 out of 5

Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act - major cuts, more oversight1994: Must comply with Dietary Guidelines for Americans

Major Issues Presented

• Costs• Paperwork• Competitive foods• Ability to pay

• Stigma• Meeting nutrition

standards• Policy

Janet Poppendieck’s Solution

Universal Free Lunches

1. A program for all children or a program that prioritizes poor children?2. Customers or students? A business or a social program?3. An interruption or a integral part of the school day?4. A nutrition program or a food program?5. Pay now or pay later? A cost or an investment?6. A reflection of the American food system or a tool to change it?

Biases

• How is it broken? Not: Is it broken?• Plight of poor children• The final chapter

Implications for Public Health Nutrition

Child nutrition – meeting needs? Addressing poverty, feeding the hungryAgriculture supportPublic policy on federal, state & local levelNutrition Education – exposure to expectations

Personal Opinion

• Detailed, well researched• Personable, first hand accounts• Hands-on look inside schools• Repetitive at time

Who should read it?• Parents• Anyone interested in child nutrition, public

education, public policy, and social welfare

Improvements

• Repetition• Updated version to include the

Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010

References

Hunter College (2015). Department of sociology. Janet Poppendieck. Retrieved on February 27, 2015 from:

http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/sociology/faculty/janet-poppendieckPoppendieck, Janet (2010) Free for all, fixing school food in America. University of

California Press. CA. School Nutrition Association (2015). 2015 Position Paper, Reauthorization of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Retrieved on February 27, 2015 from: http://schoolnutrition.org/uploadedFiles/Meetings_and_Events/ANC_2014(1)/Pages/SNAbrochureweb2.pdfUniversity of California Press (2015). Reviews of Free for all, fixing school food in America. Retrieved on February 27, 2015 from: http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520269880