Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently criticized the lack of nutrition education in medical schools. He highlighted a gap that, if addressed, could help future doctors better support their patients in building foundational nutritional knowledge related to their health.
But this concern isn’t just about future doctors.
It underscores a broader issue: most Americans graduate from high school without a foundational understanding of food. If we want to build a more informed society and view food as medicine, food education needs to begin much earlier. It has to start before medical school, before college, and even before high school. We need to provide every child in America with a foundation in food education, starting in pre-K and continuing through 12th grade.
Unfortunately, we are moving backward in this effort. Recent cuts to SNAP, the nation’s largest nutrition assistance program, and the resulting loss of SNAP-Ed educators in schools have further limited access to food and nutrition education for American students.
SNAP-Ed provided essential nutrition education and support to low-income communities, delivered through state and local agencies in partnership with community-based nonprofits. The program has reached an estimated 90 million people nationwide, many of whom worked in schools before the program was recently eliminated.
One strategy to fill this gap is to partner with classroom teachers to integrate food education in every classroom learning experience. Pilot Light, a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Chicago, does just that. Since 2010, its mission has been to empower students with the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about food and its impact on their lives, their communities, and the planet. Pilot Light supports teachers with tools, resources, and training to connect food with academic subjects and real-world issues.
[RELATED: Med Schools Risk Funding Cuts Within a Year for Lack of Nutrition Courses, RFK Jr. Warns]
At the heart of this support are Pilot Light’s Food Education Standards. These Standards provide teachers with a comprehensive roadmap for integrating food education into the classroom. The Standards go beyond nutrition to connect students to their food in ways that foster a deeper sense of care about the decisions they make. By integrating food into subjects such as science and literacy, the Standards offer a way to engage students in a comprehensive understanding of the food system and their role in it.
Plus, they’ve been field-tested in classrooms nationwide for over five years, from rural farming communities to big-city schools, and have been recently updated to reflect real-world classroom experiences.
The effect of Food Education is profound. A third grader in Indiana can learn how to start their own worm farm from a local botanist. A sixth grader in Louisiana can learn how to budget for and prepare a taco party in a STEM activity. A high schooler in Oklahoma can research compost and advocate to install a compost bin in their school cafeteria. These aren’t just real food education lessons. They’re lessons in science, citizenship, history, and empathy that students will carry with them through their entire lives.
In the wake of SNAP-Ed’s elimination, equipping teachers to lead this work is no longer optional. Schools are one of the most consistent—and now one of the only—places where students can access food education. By investing in teachers, we ensure students gain lifelong skills and knowledge to make informed, empowered choices about food, health, and community.
If we’re serious about building a healthier, more resilient country, food education must be treated as foundational, not supplemental. Kennedy is right to point out the gap in higher education, but we won’t be able to close it without acting earlier. The opportunity is now, and the K-12 classroom is where it begins.
Image: “Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme, Brazil: Nutrir” Nestlé on Flickr
