America has a food problem, and it’s not just about what we’re eating—it’s about how we think about food altogether. Our relationship with food is broken, leading to an uptick in preventable diseases, soaring healthcare costs, and widening divides between those who can afford healthy food and those who can’t.
For decades, short-term fixes have dominated food policy, like the infamous moment when ketchup was labeled a vegetable in school lunches—a decision so absurd it became a global punchline. But the impact of poor nutrition is no laughing matter: Nearly half of adults in the United States suffer from preventable chronic diseases linked to diet.
Today’s health crisis is the result of systemic failures, not individual choices—and the way we view food indelibly shapes our policy choices. Addressing these issues requires more than small tweaks to the status quo. It requires rethinking our entire approach to food. Food is not just fuel. It’s medicine. It’s a cornerstone of cultural identity and a force for equity. When we see nutritious, whole foods as a way to heal and connect, we open the door to addressing the root causes of our national health crisis.
While many Indigenous communities across the Americas have used food as medicine for generations, recently public and private sectors have begun taking this approach to fight epidemics of diet-related and chronic diseases. Some insurance companies and startups are developing meal service programs tailored to specific health conditions, while more than a quarter of Medicare Advantage plans offer food as medicine benefits now. Just this year, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), Instacart, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Feeding America announced a new partnership to advance policies to implement food as medicine programs.
These developments are promising, but much more is needed to turn this understanding into widespread, effective change.
With childhood poverty hitting a five-year high and parents feeling the burden of school lunch fees on their pocketbooks, it’s more important than ever to ensure a healthier tomorrow starts with the health of our youngest generation today. To do that, we need to make nutritious food accessible to everyone regardless of zip code or tax bracket.
While it’s been encouraging to see universal school meals taking hold in states and cities across the country, enacting this policy at a federal level guarantees no child goes hungry or lacks access to nutritious meals.
The results speak for themselves: Studies show that students with access to free school meals have better academic achievement, reduced food insecurity, and improved health outcomes. For communities, free school meals allow lower-income families to purchase more nutritious food and reduce inflation in the prices of groceries. And research from Columbia University finds that children involved in hands-on food education, such as gardening and cooking, significantly increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables. With a deeper understanding of food, children make healthier choices that carry into adulthood.
Transforming how we view food also means recognizing its role in advancing equity. In low-income communities and communities of color, who are most impacted by diet-related diseases, expanding access to nutritious, culturally relevant meals is a powerful step toward breaking the cycle of poverty and poor health.
Food is more than sustenance; it’s a tool for social change, a foundation for health, and a marker of cultural belonging. It’s time to stop merely treating the symptoms of poor nutrition and begin reshaping how we view food—as medicine holding the key to health, education, and equity for all.
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Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
