Introduction. The politics of lunch -- 1. A diet for Americans. The search for a scientific diet ; A diet for Americans ; Nutrition and malnutrition ; School lunch as public policy -- 2. Welfare for farmers and children. School lunches for hungry children ; Eating the surplus ; The institutionalization of school lunch -- 3. Nutrition standards and standard diets. School lunch standards ; Nutrition in the national defense ; Eating democracy -- 4. A national school lunch program. Agriculture or education? ; The liberal compromise ; Discrimination and segregation -- 5. Ideals and realities in the lunchroom. Nutrition and surplus commodities ; Nutrition and the food service industry ; The limits of the lunchroom -- 6. No free lunch. Discovering hunger in America ; Agriculture or welfare? ; Food and the poverty line -- 7. A right to lunch. The free lunch mandate ; The women's campaign ; School lunch and civil rights ; Eligibility standards and the right to lunch -- 8. Let them eat ketchup. Who pays for free lunch? ; Combo meals and nutrition standards ; Ketchup and other vegetables -- Epilogue. Fast food and poor children.