What's for lunch?

How Did That Get in My Lunchbox? The Story of Food
by Chris Butterworth
illustrated by Lucia Gaggiotti


Kids who only see food in grocery stores may not realize where the food actually comes from. Once they finish reading this book, they'll have a much better idea. A large double-page spread reveals the contents of a typical lunch - a cheese sandwich, tomatoes and carrot sticks, clementine oranges, apple juice, and a chocolate-chip cookie. Subsequent pages show how wheat is harvested and turned into bread, how cheese is made, where tomatoes, carrots, and clementines come from, how apple juice is made, and how a cocoa bean turns into a chocolate chip. The origin of lettuce is overlooked, but that's a minor quibble, as is the book's processed food focus.

Kid-friendly and in a sturdy, rounded-corner format, Butterworth's book is entertaining and educational.

What's for Lunch? How Schoolchildren Eat Around the World

by Andrea Curtis
photography by Yvonne Duivenvoorden


Everywhere around the world, schoolchildren eat lunch together. In What's For Lunch, take a trip around the world to see what kids are eating in Afghanistan, Canada, Brazil, India, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Russia, and five other countries. Some of the meals are healthy and well-balanced, while others barely meet nutritional needs and are heavy on junk food.


The colourful lunch photos are accompanied by descriptions of each item, with sidebars discussing the impacts that inequality, poverty, and climate change have on health and food production. Other pages highlight how students are taking charge of their school lunches, from growing gardens to demanding processed-free foods.

An informative, enlightening book.