Sarah Wu: Fed Up With Lunch

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By Debra Lau Whelan
November 3, 2011

Sarah Wu, a Chicago-based elementary school teacher, forgot to pack lunch one day and ended up buying one from the school cafeteria—and as a result, it changed her life forever. Wu decided to eat the unhealthy meals for a year and to write about it.

Her anonymous blog, complete with photos of the highly-processed food, full of sugar and food dyes, became and instant success, drawing thousands of daily hits and attention from food activists.

Wu, who finally reveals her identity in Fed Up With Lunch (Chronicle, 2011), talks about her campaign to improve school lunches—and the inspiration that comes from a certain toddler at home.

By the way, this week the Chicago Public Schools announced that it will start serving antibiotic-free chicken drumsticks at 473 schools.

You had a successful anonymous blog for a year. Why go public?

Around halfway through the project, I was approached by a literary agent about turning the blog and the experience of eating school lunch into a book. I talked with my agent about it, and she believed that an anonymous book would not sell. I had to make a choice. Did I want to write a book and reveal myself or pass and stay anonymous? Ultimately, I decided that I wanted information about school lunch reform to reach a wider audience, and so I decided to write a book.

What's changed since your revealed your identity?

Since revealing my identity, I have felt an overwhelming sense of relief. I'm so happy to be out. My coworkers have gotten such a kick out of this and almost everyone has been warm and accepting. I have gotten virtually no communication from administration, which makes me nervous, but I don't think there's much they have to say to me.

Prior to the day you tasted that first school lunch, did you even think about how unhealthy they were?

I think that the day I ate school lunch came at a critical time for me. I had a one-year-old at home, and we were transitioning him to getting all of his calories from real food. I became hyper-aware of food, and just then I ate school lunch. I thought about how I was reevaluating our meals at home and then when I saw what other kids—just like my kid—were eating at school, it hit me hard. It was a particular time of my life.

So one day you forgot to bring your own lunch and ate your first school lunch. Then what happened?

I forgot my lunch the fall of 2009, and I had to buy lunch in the cafeteria. I looked at what was being served that day—a bagel dog, tater tots, and a fruit cup—and I was floored. That specific meal reminded me of fair food. The school lunches stayed on my brain for a couple months, but I didn't think there was much I could do. When I sat down to write my goals for 2010, I thought about doing something about school lunches. I thought one way to do that would be an anonymous blog; I could make a public record of the lunches without jeopardizing my career.

Just how bad are school lunches?

Schools lunches vary considerably within school districts and even schools. I think that they have not improved nationally over the years as there really has been no increase in the reimbursement rate. It wasn't until the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act passed last year that included a $0.06 increase per year that any increase had been put forth in 30 years. However, I was encouraged last year. Since my project lasted over a calendar year and covered half of two school years, I saw changes in the lunchroom. The amount of fresh fruit and veggies increased.

Is it economically feasible to feed kids healthier, homegrown food?

I believe it is. I don't understand how it's cheaper to give kids a fruit cup in place of a seasonal piece of fruit. Now I live in the Chicago area, so I realize that most of the year it's challenging to get fresh fruit, but when cherries, peaches, apples, and pears are in season (in the fall), every effort should be made to get that onto lunch trays. I saw fruit cups on trays in September when I was buying peaches at the farmer's market. How is processed fruit in a plastic cup cost-effective when compared to a fresh-picked Michigan peach? We have to re-imagine lunch.

How do you convince cash-strapped school districts that are focused on test scores that this is not only possible, but doable and important?

Jamie Oliver changed school food in England in 2004. When they compared schools with the old food and those with the new, they found increases in science and English scores and that overall attendance improved. So you don't have to look too far to find that working to make school food better actually increases scores.

So many kids are hooked on chocolate milk and processed foods. How do you get them to eat the healthier foods once it's offered to them?

Nutrition education has to be part of the picture. And it has to be more than "broccoli is good for your body." I'm a special educator so I know that hands-on instruction works and that life skills are so valuable for all children. What we need is getting kids preparing food and choosing veggies themselves. The school cafeteria has to be reclaimed as a place of learning; people forget that when the kids eat processed food they are learning—and they are learning that the school endorses fast food.

What do you think about the work of people like Alice Waters, Jamie Oliver, Rachael Ray who are trying to revamp the school lunch program?

I applaud anyone who decides to take on this problem because it is so complex. It's crazy to think that I just stumbled into this without knowing anything about the school food reform movement. There are a lot of people supportive of change. If we can mobilize parents, there's nothing we can't accomplish at school.

What will it take to change the national school lunch program?

I'm not sure that the National School Lunch Program has to totally change. I think there needs to be grassroots efforts at schools across the country. At the macro level, the government subsidy system is broken, and our government is paying money to crops that are making us fat, while virtually ignoring the organic movement. I never knew a thing about subsidies before, but now I do believe that needs to change for there to be a balance in our national food system.

What change do you hope your blog and book will bring about?

My original goal by blogging a year of school lunch was to raise awareness about what kids are eating in school, and the book is an extension of the blog and goes more in depth about my transformation from private citizen to public advocate. The last part of the book is a resource guide for parents, teachers, kids, and even chefs and nutritionists so that they have actionable steps for changing their neighborhood school's food and the environment towards more health and wellness focused.

This article originally appeared in the newsletter Extra Helping. Go here to subscribe.

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