Are NYC Public School Lunches Feeding a Health Crisis?

The city’s 900,000 public school kids deserve better

Wellness in the Schools’ Executive Chef Bill Telepan in a public school lunchroom that serves the “alternative menu,” which contains more from-scratch cooking and less highly processed food. It is only available if a principal requests it. All photos: Wellness In The Schools.

I’m a writer who has covered the business of food for the past 20 years; naturally, when my older child started public school five years ago, I was curious about what schools were feeding kids and decided to volunteer in the lunchroom. There, I found a menu of popcorn chicken…