In college, I researched and wrote a paper on childhood obesity; school vs. parents. Who was to blame more? The parents who bought their children fat and sugar laden food? Or the schools who enticed students with it at every turn? What I found while researching it was shocking – the way the schools pushed brands on students of the companies that supported them (Pepsi, Coca Cola, Nestle, etc) was almost unbelievable. 

In Lunch Wars,  Amy Kalafa takes on the schools – challenging what we are serving our kids, but not only the quality of it, the way it’s marketed to them. From soda machines in every hall, candy at the lunch register, a la carte items from pizza to donuts, and even materials in the classroom that came with branding or mentions on treats.

When you start to read Lunch Wars, it almost makes you sick to see page after page of research that comes up with the same conclusion. Our children go to school as students, but enter the lunch room as consumers. Big companies know that brand loyalty and recognition starts young. They have an almost terrifying amount of power on our school system. A system that is in desperate need of money for everything. So Pepsi comes in and makes a deal: use our product. Install it in your school halls. Put our emblem on your athletic gear. Use our name for your “fund raisers”. Push our product at lunch, have it available at all times. And in return, we’ll pump money into your school for whatever you might need. [Read more...]

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