What would a world look like if everyone had access to healthy food? And who would pay for it?
Research conducted in Alameda County, California, offers a glimpse of such a world and demonstrates that free lunches are an important and necessary social investment.
“Recipe4Health” is a program that provides free, weekly deliveries of locally grown fruits and vegetables to adults receiving healthcare at a local health center. For 16 weeks, participants received fresh produce delivered directly to their homes. The results were published this year by the American Heart Association, which also released findings from another program late last year where participants received produce deliveries for six months.
Dr. Claudia Nau from the Kaiser Permanente Research Center in Southern California, which leads the program, commented on the results:
“The availability and affordability of fresh foods and vegetables are key social determinants of health for people managing diet-related health conditions. Providing healthy foods and dietary counseling can be an important complement to medical care”
The outcomes of these programs showed that participants experienced lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels and improved cardiovascular health. These health effects persisted even a year after the program ended. An interesting effect observed in Alameda was that program participants increased their daily physical activity by over half an hour.
Some obvious effects are such as increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and a higher sense of food security.
A world where we are all healthier and more physically active? Sounds good. Like a dream come true for lifestyle medicine specialists.
But that’s just the beginning. What does this mean in the long run? Less strain on the healthcare system, especially the public one. And these are benefits that can be measured in monetary terms. But it also means fewer sick people, leading to less sick leave from work and increased productivity. These are benefits that can be calculated for the national economy.
It’s essentially a win-win situation — or even win-win-win or win-win-win-win. A situation where the common good triumphs.
Everyone gains. The program’s beneficiaries, of course, but also farmers and businesses, the national economy, and the overall economy. In rapidly aging developed societies, relieving the burden on the healthcare system is an invaluable benefit that cannot be expressed in monetary terms. Fewer young people falling ill means better care for the growing number of 70-year-olds.
We can also consider how such an improvement in diet and sense of security impacts social relations, crime rates, and even academic performance. In the latter area, many studies have shown a link between a balanced, healthy diet and better academic results.
In an ideal world where no one goes hungry, the vegetable boxes for children or families with children would have a different composition, taking into account children’s needs.
A better diet for children from the poorest families will increase their chances in school, leveling the playing field between them and children from wealthier families.
Of course, “free lunches” would also reduce inequalities in another way by significantly easing the budgets of the poorest households, for whom food constitutes a large portion of their expenses.
As a chef, I also see things differently, from the perspective of the farm-to-table chain.
What if farmers had a guaranteed market for their products at fair prices with a long-term perspective? And if they were encouraged by the buyer to adopt more sustainable and ecological farming practices? In a way that ensures financial security for farmers? The lack of this security was the reason for the failure of the European Union’s Green Deal, against which farmers from all over Europe protested last winter.
Then there’s the logistics, storage, distribution, and the drivers delivering the vegetable boxes to people’s doors. This means new jobs.
Since the products are as local as possible, this means shorter supply chains, fewer greenhouse gases, less fuel burned, and less pollution.
It also means stable, secure jobs and more money staying within the local community.
This means that, for example, the local spice shop might double its turnover because residents will spend part of the money saved on free vegetables and earned on spices to season them. The cinema might add another showing and hire an extra ticket seller because there will be more people interested in going to the movies.
A small glimpse of such a world is provided by the free school meal program, which gained attention when Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, was appointed vice president by Kamala Harris. Walz (who, incidentally, oversaw a school cafeteria for years) introduced a program of free breakfasts and lunches for all students in Minnesota in March of last year. This program currently operates in eight U.S. states, and while the cost in Minnesota, $280 million annually, may seem high when divided by the 1.1 million breakfasts and 1.1 million lunches served in schools in September alone, it starts to sound quite different.
According to the Hunger-Free Schools initiative, the daily cost per student is only $2!
Among the interesting and important effects of the free meal program that we receive as a society for this modest sum are improved math scores and reduced student suspensions.
Regarding school lunches, it’s worth mentioning the role of kitchens and chefs in shaping dietary and culinary habits. Tasty, healthy, and sustainable meals, recipe booklets included with fruit and vegetable deliveries, or a special app for program participants are examples of how important chefs are in all food programs. No such program will succeed if its beneficiaries cannot prepa
re truly delicious meals.
Free lunches also have a very important cultural and psychological aspect. One could say that without a full stomach, there is no sense of security, and without a sense of security, there are no healthy social relationships and bonds.
Authority is born at the bottom of a pot, and the road to freedom leads through the stomach.
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