School cafeterias were once the domain of hardworking women (and men) who prepared food by hand with mostly fresh ingredients. But all that changed when the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began subsidizing food for school districts in 1958, turning wholesome lunches into processed commodities. With time individual chickens became prepackaged fried chicken nuggets, and fresh fruit became popsicles.

The School Nutrition Association found in a 2009 survey that more than 80 percent of schools cook fewer than half of their main dishes from scratch. Fast food companies have secured nearly half of the school lunch market among districts with over 25,000 students. More than one-third of all schools serve restaurant-branded items, like Domino’s Pizza and Arby’s, while vending machines filled with soft drinks, high-fat snacks, and candy divert children from the cafeteria.

As school lunches have changed dramatically in the last few decades, obesity and diabetes among children have skyrocketed. The prevalence of obesity among children ages 6 to 11 more than doubled in the past 20 years, while the rate among adolescents more than tripled, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Many cafeteria directors have resigned themselves to the new menus, claiming that healthier items are too expensive and will be less popular with students, according to Deborah Lehmann, an editor of the School Lunch Talk blog. Cafeterias have also grown to count on brand name foods to stay in business.

School Lunch Revolution

But a small revolution is under way in a handful of school districts to overhaul menus with nutritious, regionally sourced, and sustainable foods.

Ann Cooper is the director of nutrition services for the Berkeley Unified School District and a school lunch consultant. In Berkeley, Cooper has worked with food guru Alice Waters to develop menus that emphasize regional, organic, and fresh foods, and nutritional education.

Cooper had made the environmental impact of school lunches a priority along with nutrition and healthful foods. She purchases only hormone and antibiotic-free meat and dairy products and has reduced the waste stream in Berkeley schools by shifting away from single service like individual milk cartons to bulk service and reusable tableware. The school kitchens also compost much of their food waste and recycle most recyclable materials.

Lunch lady Cooper encourages parents to step up cafeteria activism and lobby for better foods and less waste. She also asks parents who pack their children’s lunches to consider healthy options and environmental impact.

She recommends Laptop Lunches, a company that sells complete bento kits with cloth napkins, water bottles, food containers, and utensils, all reusable and free of bisphenol A (BPA) and lead. Whatever the child brings back in the lunch box can be composted.

Cooper also encourages activism at the national level.

“If we really want to keep kids well-nourished during school day, we’re going to have to change at the USDA level by increasing funding so schools can afford healthier food, and by changing the guidelines,” said Cooper.

Cash for Cooking and Compost

According to Wastefreelunches.org, disposable lunches, like Lunchables, cost on average 35 percent more than waste-free lunches. Switching over can mean savings of hundreds of dollars per child per year because packaging and disposable bags and utensils add up.

Laptop Lunches’s web site also offers suggestions on how to use leftovers in kids lunches and how to prepare nutritious and easy sandwich variations, like grilled cheese with cucumber or sprouts.