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We are squarely in back to school season, and as we all get settled back in, there’s a question we all must consider: What’s for lunch? Marcus Weaver-Hightower, a professor in the Foundations of Education program, has been studying school lunch for 15 years. The history of school food in America goes back over a century, starting as state and local programs as early as the mid-1800’s, before becoming systematized by the federal government in the 1930’s due to the Great Depression. At that time, the program had multiple purposes, buying up food that would otherwise go to waste, providing jobs for people cooking and serving the food, and ensuring children were fed. Weaver-Hightower has recently published an article titled “The Failed Promise of Free, Universal School Lunch” and a book titled “Unpacking School Lunch” published earlier this year.