EPISODES
Episode 1: “It’s Blame the Lunch Worker First and Foremost”
Less than $2. That’s how much the Santa Ana Unified school district can afford to spend on one student’s lunch each day. The $14 billion budget of the National School Lunch program stretches thin, and school nutrition workers are often the target of kids’ complaints. Reporter Jessica Terrell explores the cultural figure of “the lunch lady,” and how students and workers lose when bureaucrats focus on cost over care.
Episode 2: “The Paradox of Plenty Amid Hunger”
16.8 pounds of food. That’s how much less food a 10-year-old child gets per week on the lowest rung of government food assistance, compared to a child in a better-funded program. In this episode, Left Over returns to the roots of our social welfare programs to understand how long-standing racism and classism play a role in limiting what the National School Lunch Program does for school children today.
Episode 3: “Somebody Other Than Us Is Planning Our Menus Right Now”
$40. That's how much one Milwaukee student says she spends each week on snacks instead of eating the food in her public school cafeteria. For decades, school nutrition leaders in Milwaukee resisted what many other programs around the country were doing: transitioning away from scratch-cooked meals to serve more processed, pre-packaged food. They ultimately switched to save money. Reporter Jessica Terrell digs into the proliferation of processed foods on school menus to better understand why the same foods show up across the country.
Episode 4: “Their Job Is Not to Make Kids Healthier”
$40 billion. That’s how much the “Big Three” food service contractors—Aramark, Sodexo, and Chartwells—earned in the United States in 2019. Many public school meal programs are run by private companies with a documented history of cutting employee wages, reducing food quality, and pocketing incentives meant for schools. Reporter Jessica Terrell details how corporations profit off the public school lunch system, and talks to some of the people who have worked to hold them accountable.
Episode 5: “It Felt Like You Were Banging Your Head Against a Wall”
60 to 70 percent of total milk sales. That’s the share of chocolate and flavored milk students buy in school cafeterias each year. Nutrition workers, parents, doctors, and the dairy industry have debated whether to keep chocolate milk in schools for over a decade. Reporter Jessica Terrell examines the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 and the fight over chocolate milk to understand why attempts to reform the National School Lunch System often fail.
Episode 6: “We Created This System in the First Place”
74 percent. That’s how much fewer greenhouse gas emissions schools emit into the environment when they implement sustainable lunch menus–like Meatless Mondays. From serving culturally relevant food to buying from local farms, nutrition leaders across the U.S. are reimagining what school lunch can do for their communities. In this final episode, reporter Jessica Terrell explores how school nutrition programs are innovating and learning what it takes to make lasting, large-scale change to the National School Lunch Program.