Who decides what Chicago Public School students eat for lunch? The National School Lunch Program. Its dietary guidelines were established in 1946, and they haven't changed much over the past half-century. So it's left to local school districts and their food services to step up. At our city's public schools deep fryers, whole milk and trans fats are gone, and fresh fruits and vegetables are on the menu twice a week. Now in addition to what’s on the lunch tray, they're trying to change where it comes from. As part of our series Chicago Matters: Growing Forward, we bring you this report.

I had no idea when I started this story what a complex political, social and economic mess school lunches can be. This report scratches the surface on a few levels, I hope. I wrote and produced this story for the series: Chicago Matters.

Photo by: Jennifer Brandel