The controversy menu: current situation and prospects for school feeding in Spain

Abstract

Childhood overweight and obesity rates are growing at an alarming rate in Spain, affecting poor families more strongly as they consume high-calorie, low-nutritional items. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated this scenario. Ensuring universal and free access to school meals has been suggested as a strategy for tackling this issue, as well as fighting hunger and social inequality. The research that led to the elaboration of this article was carried out in Spain between 2019-2020. It explores the paradoxes and challenges that surround school feeding in this European country and the impasses related to the creation of “home-grown school feeding” type programs. The research on screen is located within the scope of the sociology of food. Among the conclusions, it shows that poverty, hunger and food insecurity are not conjunctural aspects, but problems of a structural nature, the confrontation of which requires a consistent political and institutional framework.