How to successfully challenge and transform public school-food programs to emphasize care, justice, and sustainability, with insights from eight countries across the Global North and South.
School food programs are about more than just feeding kids. They are a form of community care and a policy tool for advancing education, health, justice, food sovereignty, and sustainability. Transforming School Food Politics around the World illustrates how everyday people from a diverse range of global contexts have successfully challenged and changed programs that fall short of these ideals. Editors Jennifer Gaddis and Sarah A. Robert highlight the importance of global and local struggles to argue that the transformative potential of school food hinges on valuing the gendered labor that goes into caring for, feeding, and educating children.
Through accessible and inspiring essays, Transforming School Food Politics around the World shows politics in action. Chapter contributors include youths, mothers, teachers, farmers, school nutrition workers, academics, lobbyists, policymakers, state employees, nonprofit staff, and social movement activists. Drawing from historical and contemporary research, personal experiences, and collaborations with community partners, they provide readers with innovative strategies that can be used in their own efforts to change school food policy and systems. Ultimately, this volume sets the stage to reimagine school food as part of the infrastructure of daily life, arguing that it can and should be at the vanguard of building a new economy rooted in care for people and the environment.
This book is part of the Food, Health, and the Environment Series at MIT Press.
Contributors:
Alexis Agliano Sanborn, Lisa Altmann, José Arimatea Barros Bezerra, Islandia Bezerra, Jennifer Black, Brooks Bowden, Christine C. Caruso, Cristiane Coradin, Rebecca Davis, Sinikka Elliott, Rachel Engler-Stringer, Debbie Field, Lucy Flores, Andrée Gacoin, Jennifer Gaddis, Michelle Gautreaux, Anne Hales, Karin Hjälmeskog, Anore Horton, Kristiina Janhonen, Jennifer LeBarre, Raven Lewis, Faye Mack, Marjaana Manninen, Brent Mansfield, Anne Moertel, Katsura Omori, Prerna Rana, Margaret Read, Emmanuelle Ricaud Oneto, Sarah A. Robert, Betsy Rosenbluth, Amy Rosenthal, Ludmir dos Santos Gomes, Sônia Fátima Schwendler, Amy Shollenberger, Courtney Smith, Seulgi Son, Jarrett Stein
School food programs are about more than just feeding kids. They are a form of community care and a policy tool for advancing education, health, justice, food sovereignty, and sustainability. Transforming School Food Politics around the World illustrates how everyday people from a diverse range of global contexts have successfully challenged and changed programs that fall short of these ideals. Editors Jennifer Gaddis and Sarah A. Robert highlight the importance of global and local struggles to argue that the transformative potential of school food hinges on valuing the gendered labor that goes into caring for, feeding, and educating children.
Through accessible and inspiring essays, Transforming School Food Politics around the World shows politics in action. Chapter contributors include youths, mothers, teachers, farmers, school nutrition workers, academics, lobbyists, policymakers, state employees, nonprofit staff, and social movement activists. Drawing from historical and contemporary research, personal experiences, and collaborations with community partners, they provide readers with innovative strategies that can be used in their own efforts to change school food policy and systems. Ultimately, this volume sets the stage to reimagine school food as part of the infrastructure of daily life, arguing that it can and should be at the vanguard of building a new economy rooted in care for people and the environment.
This book is part of the Food, Health, and the Environment Series at MIT Press.
- Winner, Association for the Study of Food and Society Book Award, Edited Manuscript, 2025
- Winner, Gourmand Awards, Best School Meals Book in the World, 2024
Contributors:
Alexis Agliano Sanborn, Lisa Altmann, José Arimatea Barros Bezerra, Islandia Bezerra, Jennifer Black, Brooks Bowden, Christine C. Caruso, Cristiane Coradin, Rebecca Davis, Sinikka Elliott, Rachel Engler-Stringer, Debbie Field, Lucy Flores, Andrée Gacoin, Jennifer Gaddis, Michelle Gautreaux, Anne Hales, Karin Hjälmeskog, Anore Horton, Kristiina Janhonen, Jennifer LeBarre, Raven Lewis, Faye Mack, Marjaana Manninen, Brent Mansfield, Anne Moertel, Katsura Omori, Prerna Rana, Margaret Read, Emmanuelle Ricaud Oneto, Sarah A. Robert, Betsy Rosenbluth, Amy Rosenthal, Ludmir dos Santos Gomes, Sônia Fátima Schwendler, Amy Shollenberger, Courtney Smith, Seulgi Son, Jarrett Stein
What people are saying about Transforming School Food Politics...
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"If you are interested in school food advocacy, this book is your Bible." — Marion Nestle |
"Young people, mothers, teachers, farmers, and policymakers share their stories, demonstrating the crucial role that school food programs play in caring for and educating children." — Food Tank |
"A hopeful, informative read for anyone who seeks to change school food systems." — Civil Eats |
