Megan’s Recommended Reading

Before I tell you I hated Lunch Wars, I should explain.

Amy Kalafa feels strongly that the system of school lunches in America needs to be changed.

I watched enough episodes of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution to have already heard that we’ve started teaching our kids to eat mainly processed food.

Which, since he mentioned it, did seem like a bad idea.

But when Amy heard about it, especially occurring in her own daughter’s school, she decided to take action.

This action consisted of making a documentary, Two Angry Moms.

Spurring a national, community-led movement to change school lunch systems resulted in Amy being consulted by parents, asking what they can do to fight for change.

Thus, Lunch Wars.

I thoroughly enjoyed the introduction. And the first chapter.

I even liked the second chapter.

But by the third chapter?

I felt my interest waning.

Not that Ms. Kalafa’s writing became listless or her advice lacked specificity and clarity.

Rather, I read Lunch Wars hoping to learn about what ingredients are bad for children, discover how the educational meal system works  and hear tales of specific schools and their journey to healthier food.

I certainly found all those things and more within the pages… though I would have enjoyed it more had there been, perhaps, fewer pages to enjoy.

(362, if you include the notes, which I am certainly dork enough to have perused.)

The fault, dear readers, lies not in Kalafa’s book, but in myself.

For she’s rather upfront regarding her text.

It is a step-by-step guide educating parents.

As I have no current plans to fight for healthier lunch meals, nor no current children, I accept that my boredom at the continuous text is, perhaps, my own fault.

Megan

This was a paid review for BlogHer Book Club, though the opinion is (obviously) my own.

Tagged as: Book reviews by someone who doesn't know what they're talking about

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