Corby Kummer: Will Universal Free Lunches Last After The Pandemic?

Food writer Corby Kummer spoke to Boston Public Radio on Wednesday about universal free lunches amid the pandemic.

“School lunch is one of the only mystifyingly good stories of the Trump administration during the pandemic - which is that they extended waivers so that entire families of students who were eligible for free school lunches could get them,” Kummer said. “All the children in the family would be eligible for these meals not just the students at eligible schools.”

Universal school lunch aims to eliminate stigma around free meals, Kummer noted.

“It’s not as big of a deal in Boston because there is universal lunch and breakfast offered to students already,” he said. “But in plenty of municipalities the terrible lunch shaming of students who are supposed to pay for school lunch but then fall into debt has been eliminated during COVID by these waivers.”

There are now different bills trying to extend universal school lunch plans state-by-state and nationally, Kummer added.

Kummer is a senior editor at The Atlantic, an award-winning food writer, and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy.