Most readers have been scarred by the memory of school lunches, and the food at the dining halls on campus could be considered the pinnacle of culinary achievement in comparison. Surprisingly enough, hamburgers with blue insides (true story, happened at my high school), are not the healthiest offerings. One of the policy initiatives of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign has been to try to remedy the situation by serving kids healthy food in schools. The intent of the legislation is clearly sound. The source of funding, though, is rather ironic. The current proposal would eliminate a couple billion dollars from future food stamp programs to fund current nutritional lunches. While I support paying for new legislation, I am a bit puzzled as to how denying people access to food through a successful federal program will ultimately help address the dual problems of childhood obesity and hunger in the United States.
The food stamp program is aimed at subsidizing the cost of food for low-income people, and rests on the ideal that everyone deserves food to eat. That being said, there are substantial criticisms of the program, the most pertinent being that food stamps are often used to buy unhealthy foods. This makes sense in a perverse sort of way, as it is often the unhealthiest foods that are the cheapest, and since there isn’t an abundance of food stamps for every recipient, those foods are all people can afford on their budget. This reality then underscores a major problem with the proposed funding source in relation to the goal of combating childhood obesity – some of the children who are now receiving healthier lunches in school may be going home to unhealthy dinners. Furthermore, children often learn their eating patterns from their parents, so if parents are eating unhealthily then their children are more likely to develop unhealthy eating patterns as well. Cutting food stamp funding could easily lead to an increase in unhealthy eating among children, counteracting the goal of promoting healthy eating among children.
Proponents of the bill have maintained they can take funding from food stamps now and then refund the future programs later. This presents an interesting optimism, especially as this view is currently being espoused by Democrats. I hate to be the one to drudge up the darkness of Tuesday, Nov. 2, but there was this little election that swept the Democrats out of power in the House and barely managed to let them hang on to the Senate. The political feasibility of increasing funding to food stamps in the future, then, is rather dubious. This is not to say Republicans believe people should go hungry, but they generally do not support funding programs that would prevent hunger and facilitate access to food. So, if Democrats want to pass legislation that takes money from the food stamp program to pay for healthier school lunches, they should also pass a bill to put money back into the food stamp program: They could even put it all into one big omnibus bill.
School lunches are rather atrocious. Along with blue hamburgers, I have seen tater-tots bounce halfway to a ten-foot ceiling, mashed potatoes that have the consistency of cement, and pizza with crust that is burnt on the bottom and frozen on top. I’m sure many readers have similar horror stories – if you don’t, you really missed out on a valuable high school experience. School lunches need to be improved, and child obesity does need to be addressed. Michelle Obama is performing really great work addressing this issue, but when trying to address childhood nutrition, legislators should be sure to not inhibit anyone else’s access to healthy food, or even food in general. A different source of funding should be found for this important legislation. Let’s give students whole-wheat buns. But let’s also give low-income people the food they need in years to come. When there are so many overlapping and complex problems, legislators need to avoid quick-fixes and search for real solutions. Healthy food, yes. Ironic and seemingly ill-planned solutions? Sounds like a blue hamburger to me.
Elise Swanson ([email protected]) is a second-year student majoring in political science and English.
