The Remarkable Life and Career of Ellen Swallow Richards: Pioneer in Science and Technology

Chapter 20

Healthier School Lunches—Sharper Minds

“Courage, cheerfulness, and a desire to work depend mostly on good nutrition.”

~ Jacob Moleschott

When Ellen was asked to become the superintendent of the Boston schools in 1885, she declined, knowing that politics would find a way to interfere with her work. But in 1894, when asked to create a pilot lunch program that would offer healthy balanced food to high school students, she agreed. This project would be the first of its kind and was a challenge.

Until this time, janitors were usually the ones who provided food to students. This was extra income for the janitors and most of them didn’t want to give that up. Unfortunately, the food the janitors provided was usually neither nutritious nor well balanced—generally just sweets—and the conditions in which it was handled were not clean. Lunches brought from home were often no better. Poor students frequently had no lunch at all. Knowing full-well that nutrition affects student learning and behavior, Ellen found the situation appalling.

She decided that the New England Kitchens would provide the hot lunches. This was a huge undertaking. The schools weren’t able to supply all of the necessary funding and so once again, Ellen had to find outside donations. She also had to find extra help for the kitchens because the program was scheduled to start in all of the schools at once in September of 1894.

Ellen had another hurdle. It was necessary to have cooperation and assistance from the ...