US Representative Ilhan Omar and Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill earlier this year that would put an end to school lunch shaming, reimburse schools for all meal debt, and provide greater incentive to use local food. Today’s guest tells us why this might be the key for healthier food for kids across the country.

We chat with Jennifer Gaddis about the history of public school lunches. She talks with host Patty Peltekos about inequality in kitchen infrastructure, the unionization of school lunch workers, and lunch shaming. 

Jennifer Gaddis is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Society and Community Studies in the School of Human Ecology at UW Madison. Her new book is The Labor of Lunch: Why We Need Real Food and Real Jobs in American Public Schools (University of California Press, 2019).