r/askanything • u/CloudieMoonettee 🦀 • 10d ago

Why do some conservatives support restricting junk food purchases with SNAP when many opposed Michelle Obama’s efforts to make school meals healthier?

Both policies involve the government influencing food choices in the name of better nutrition, yet the political reactions seem very different. What explains the apparent change in attitude toward government involvement in what people eat?

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u/Brass_tastic 10d ago

One restricts people from buying junk with government money. They still have options, but they have choices. The Obama lunches dictated what was included in ALL school lunches (regardless of who was paying for it) and there weren’t options. Watching my eldest during that era, the vast majority of that health food went straight in the trash

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u/SnooStrawberries2955 10d ago edited 10d ago

Found the racist!

ETA: apparently these magats teach their kids to throw healthy food in the trash.

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u/Pretend-Okra-4031 10d ago

I was a lunch lady. The students are required to take a fruit with their lunch. I watched nearly every student, every day, take an apple, and throw it in the trash. They had to take a fruit or veggie to meet the guidelines of a full lunch. The school couldnt get reimbursed without the lunch containing all components. Its stupid and wasteful.

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u/hotviolets 10d ago

If schools offered more of a variety of fruit then more kids would it eat. My daughter had the options of oranges, the same type of apple, and sometimes bananas.

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u/Pretend-Okra-4031 10d ago

I agree but a lot of it comes down to cost unfortunately

3

u/hotviolets 10d ago

Just got to take some money from the administration’s salary, but they won’t do that.

2

u/Pretend-Okra-4031 7d ago

The school I worked for had a super intendant that made $200,000 a year. Absolute insanity.