Food often unites us in unexpected ways—especially on Taco Salad Day. Drawing on material from more than seventy voices, these stories capture all walks of life—from celebrities and chefs to a circus family, new immigrants, a creative dad whose illustrated lunch bags went viral, plenty of unlikely cultural mashups, and one genuine cafeteria lady. Their experiences are compelling, familiar, and foreign at the same time, forming a cultural time capsule. School Lunch celebrates our diversity and our shared experience.
In their words:
- "School lunch is one of the core reasons I became a chef." —Marcus Sammuelson
- "My mom, God rest her soul, was not exactly Mom-of-the-Year on this kind of stuff. She worked full-time, that woman was not about to peel and slice fruit for me." —Natalie Webster
- "I ate the same damn thing every day for six years." —Micaela Walker
- "On the days when I didn't have enough food there was always a reason to start or finish a fight." —George Foreman
- "We were definitely a crusts-on family." —Daphne Oz
- "I used to hate that feeling of walking into the lunchroom for the first time and not knowing where to sit." —Chinae Alexander
- "Every kid had some good item to trade and I had f****** applesauce." —Sam Kass