California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Saturday that assures all California public school students a state-funded meal regardless of whether or not they have unpaid meal fees. Food writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio on Tuesday to discuss the purpose of the new bill.
"It's preventing lunch shaming," Kummer said, adding that a student helped raise awareness about the problem before the bill was signed.
"A nine-year-old boy in Napa County saved up all his money and used it to pay off his 3rd grade class's lunch debt," he said.
Kummer added that he thinks bills like this need to become national policy.
"The appropriate solution," he said, "is universal free lunch in public school systems."
Kummer is a senior editor at The Atlantic, an award-winning food writer, and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy.
