Jennifer Siebel Newsom: What California Got Right About School Food

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, First Partner of California, joins Mark and Kate to talk about what actually happened when the state decided every public school kid deserves two free meals a day, and that more than half of those meals should come from California farms. It sounds like a policy conversation, but it's really a story about scratch kitchens, nacho bowls, salad bars, fountain milk, and what it looks like when someone decides to treat school lunch like it matters. They cover the Farm to School roadmap Jennifer built from the ground up, how California became the first state to pass universal school meals legislation, why LA Unified now only buys local, and what it would take for other states to do the same.Subscribe to Food with Mark Bittman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and please help us grow by leaving us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts.Follow Mark on Twitter at @bittman, and on Facebook and Instagram at @markbittman. Want more food content? Subscribe to The Bittman Project at www.bittmanproject.com.A few links relevant to today's episode:More information about California's Farm to School Program: https://cafarmtofork.cdfa.ca.gov/farm_to_fork/focus_areas/farm_to_school.htmlMore information about the 2026 California Farm to School Summit, October 14-15 in Sacramento: https://cafarmtoschoolsummit.com/and, of course, Hot Lava Fudge Cakes from How to Cook Everything Kids: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/hot-lava-fudge-cakes/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.