School lunch is a hot topic in Denmark, both in the political sphere, at the schools, and in private homes. School days are longer, and a generation of parents, who have access to a good and healthy canteen at their workplace, now want the same for their children. If you ask the school kids themselves, school meals are at the top of the wish-list. So - are we doing the right thing with food and the meals served in schools? As one of the few countries, Denmark has a long tradition of non-state intervention and an ultra-liberal approach when it comes to the daily school lunch. In other words, school kids have free reign: Go to the local 7/11, skip lunch, eat what you brought with you from home or buy your meal at school, if you're so lucky that your school offers one.

Internationally, there is an increasing focus on school meals as a tool in the green transformation of the food system. Healthy and green school meals are not just a matter of good nutrition; it can also support the school's learning efforts in relation to the green transition, food waste and healthy food in general. Focusing on lunch meals can also help the transition to more plant-based food on a longer term.

In addition, school meals can be an integral part of the local food economy by inviting local farmers to the school and classroom.

With the obvious climate effects from what we eat*, there is an increasing interest in integrating formative food knowledge and learning into the teaching of sustainable education, something the vast majority of schools are already well underway with. In other words, school meals are a top tool that politicians and planners can use when they draft the food policy of the future.

The case: Be a part of this project investigating school meals as a climate-related solution and come up with your own solutions. A multidisciplinary approach based on the following questions (or other) can be used for student projects.  Partner schools: , Taastrup and , Bornholm:

• Procurement barriers and regulation for a local or national requirements for school meals that follow the dietary guidelines? And are there examples to draw from?
• How can school meals be included in the education of children to a green transition? So called whole school approach (wsa) and education for sustainable development (esd)
• Social practices surrounding school meals – now and in the new/future scenario related to production and consumption of a lunch meal?
• How can school meals become part of the local food economy? Models for collaboration and perhaps innovation? Are there examples to draw from?
• Nutritionally, what is the most important thing to focus on in school meals?
• What does it require in terms of cultivation - area and crop selection - if a school of e.g. 700 pupils is to have e.g. 50% of a school meals scheme covered by local production? It may be possible to draw on historical examples from, for example, Anneberg Hospital near Nykøbing Zealand or, for example, from contemporary ones in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) - link https:
• History project on self-sufficiency – cases could be Anneberg Hospital and others

Contact supervisor / research contact person if you want to discuss project/thesis ideas 

Name: Bent Egberg Mikkelsen, Title: Professor, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Landscape Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Science. Email: [email protected]