Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat: The Origins of School Lunch in the United States

by Andrew R. Ruis

In Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat , historian A. R. Ruis explores the origins of American school meal initiatives to explain why it was (and, to some extent, has continued to be) so difficult to establish meal programs that satisfy the often competing interests of children, parents, schools, health authorities, politicians, and the food industry. Through careful studies of several key contexts and detailed analysis of the policies and politics that governed the creation of school meal programs, Ruis demonstrates how the early history of school meal program development helps us understand contemporary debates over changes to school lunch policies.  
 

220 pages, Paperback

Published July 3, 2017

About the author

A. R. Ruis is a historian of medicine and an education researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

In six concise chapters, Andrew Ruis examines the many school meal programs in place across the country prior to the passage of the National School Lunch Program in 1946. Chronicling in rich detail the origins, composition, and challenges these early school food programs faced, Ruis offers a history that deepens our understanding of midcentury federal legislation and informs present day policy decisions.

Read my Q&A with the author here:

https://emilycontois.com/2017/09/12/e...

[Kenzie Colosimo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read for a class, not a bad book but definitely boring at times