The Ethics of Hunger and the Assembly of Society: The Techno‐Politics of the School Meal in Modern Britain

How did we pass from a usage of the social understood as a problem of poverty, the problem of others, to its current definition in terms of a general solidarity and the production of a life-style; what enabled it to be made into a showcase for development, whose defence comes before all else, to be offered to the world at whatever cost? It is tempting to suggest that school meals in Britain have attracted more historical attention than those in other countries because its postwar historians could not forget their own experiences of spam, tapioca, and boiled cabbage at school. Yet, in fact, the histories we have are much less interested in food or the social meanings of the meal than in charting how school meal policies reflected the rise and fall of political ideologies, welfare states, and standards of living.3 In these accounts, the school meal is invariably a sideshow to the main event, the outcome of a zero-sum game in which the labor movement competed for control of a centralized state by articulating new ideologies of welfare and entitlement that would alleviate the hunger of those whose socioeconomic interests it represented. Hunger often remains an unproblematic category in these histories, presented as a self-evident material condition that can be affirmed by ahistorically reproducing the forms of nutritional representation by which it was measured.4 In contrast, I want to suggest that if we take the history of the school meal on its own terms, hunger appears also as a decidedly slippery cultural category. Indeed, as we shall see, the contests over the meaning and management of hunger generated their own remarkably diffuse networks of power, as well as new understandings of the social and its mode of government.5 Seen in this way, the school meal can be seen less as an outcome of social democracy and the welfare state than as partly constitutive of them. My contention is that the seemingly mundane practicalities of identifying hungry children and feeding them at school were intricately connected to a broader history of the changing meanings of hunger and ideas about the responsibilities of government. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, hunger, and especially the hunger of children, was increasingly seen to dramatize the systemic failures of the market as well as to threaten the political stability, racial health, and imperial strength of the nation. A decidedly ancient condition gained new significance as a social problem and—because the hunger of one was now the concern of all—demanded a new mentality of government to act on it in the interests of society as a whole. If this broad ethical shift enabled the school meal to be imagined as a potential solution to hunger's corrosive grip on society, it was not the product of any one politics or ideology. It is for this reason that I am wary of solely crediting the men or (more often) women pioneers of the labor movement with having delivered school meals to modern Britons. Rather, in my account, agency is or that it is the social and nutritional that the in the of the school a for identifying hungry children and the of food to social and nutritional of and the new social of hunger into for the of school meals by the I have this to broader ethical into a of to their to from and their in a of the of and of which the state increasingly to this new of society the school meal was a and social and nutritional it the of and for it on the of an and material for the of the new social and responsibilities in the school and the forms of that the and of school the of society to broader of agency in the of school meals not the of or their political It is an that would be less histories of the social and the welfare state not for My of how the seemingly of the school meal generated new networks of and understandings of society the of of as in a centralized and those have on take to and diffuse and in this way, is not solely by the state over its is as new forms of of in that with the mentality to from a have it is an that not be the of the of or the in which were invariably by their of my is to that the of the the into the can be If we are more to the often and of new and for at a as well as the failures and that invariably them of we less with from to social or and forms of I to the changing of hunger and the of the school meal to that all in their and in It also that in the of society in modern we a diffuse and of and agency that the of the of the ethical from the the from the the from the It is to the significance of the new social hunger that the nineteenth its historical of the world of modern and its that was a in hunger was and an of the government of historians of modern that was by a of and the century, as these to a of market that food and a of other in of before to dramatize the by a political that the market from its social to hunger was now to be understood in terms of the of to the of a that hunger was not a to that those as a of that were in the the less of hunger as a of if a and If the was that that the to the was that hunger would the and to It not an to in the of and and to the the and the were by the of that was the of the nineteenth social and increasingly in their that would the them not In this new market hunger was understood not as a problem of as a solution to the of political a of market of this was a of the new forms of in imperial that it its in the over the of of to in and that would the of by which the is to be what was in the to at of to a the of to which in the would as a by that standards of it those of the was that than in the of the which was to the to with the that hunger would to them as those other the and the a for into of and of this of hunger as a not the and men and women of the less the at the new was in to the and of what were to be and its to how to of than the In at the of this the a in which that were to be for the of the of the of the in the political to of hunger as for the and that hunger would the them and to decidedly I not to suggest that this which the hungry as the of their own by the It was by a for the hungry as of their ethical shift was generated by the of the to of the hunger made as the in in new and political to In the of hunger, and did much to a for their and the of the of a for more women and children of and the of social for it was the of the the as on the of to from the that their the of hungry women and children were by the as of a political their was political to the generated by these were not the of the labor made the of a the market of to its Indeed, it was that of did much to the of the the government to to for the of as well as the of to the hunger of the for those to a political hunger was seen as a less of the of the than of their strength and in the of a political social would to the of Hunger was now a social can a new of the social much of the of the nineteenth century, the social the of those to or to be the the were for and the of the century, the social was as a the and politics that would the of those to be of the of the in attracted the and of the the social as the for the government of from this hunger was a problem for the it political stability, and racial in that all of society into its It not forms of that reflected a new of It was in this that school meals in of by the of and was a of the new ethical In the broader interests of society, all children were now to be of their interests or of those to the new school were to and the of now that the state this it not that made more children hungry because were to to the also that this hunger the because it those to these were often women of the in and in are the were as was from their with the the to school meals as the and and the It is from its in the that of politics and school to for school from the as the to a of state for Indeed, it was partly because school in this that were by government in by the to school the of a by of the on the and on the with the of the school made the school in that the was in to the to the on whose the state of school was the of enabled did not to meals for by of food to take of the its and its for the from as well as from those to of made the act more to its was less its than partly for the of school and and of the of It is to the of school meals to a of it more to a broader ethical shift in which the political that hunger now to be especially that of in the of if this the ethical for the of the school it was made by a new of nutritional and that standards for identifying hungry and the of food to them. it is to school a for identifying how much these children to be and at what be by the hunger to be more than a category of it to be made to the of and the of or as it was more often gained attention and as it the health, and In the were on for that to the of less from the and their increasingly to the of from the the of food into the of food and the of the the of these forms of to of the the of a of other forms of what from the of and as well as from the of as the of the its potential for their In the social that it would a that would social to of social and standards of of and In would with of the and of of the their a social and what the of to in how much food at what the in for to and of society, and the to it hunger could be as the to a nutritional and its social could be in terms of health, racial and social on of made much of the social and nutritional in its of the than for the of the social was the of food and was of more than whose hunger their and their the in the nutritional and to that could more their as well as school meals for those children whose were of these of nutritional that the of social and school and the new of the social and nutritional and to the and social of poverty, as well as the of the not from their or the from the that enabled them to the of from a the the the of social and on to their into of and and of and the of was as a of the of and to the of and at as well as in the of and the of and at was as on all these new forms of of of as and in of its in seemingly with on the as did that the of not how to food its be as It was not that were of the of to be as to the or of food or the to a the of nutritional and its for the school meals did not in the that of with its on the of food as and the of the was increasingly by a new on the of the of by as and to the of and the of a of that attention from the of food for and the of its to the of and their was to have for the we about hunger and poverty, for were in terms of the of and health, what as than the of the much of the that hunger as was in the by as and If in Britain on feeding the of by for its to the In a nutritional at the in of on the of as and to less more forms of that and to in the and of its with those of a in strength and as a of and in the to one on and in the and was of and the and in that if could be made to over and in of the and of would in the of and the of food in and If their the of development, it also of the in In their the in the definition of what in a and and by of and in the which in the a nutritional to its about the of hunger in the the of nutritional and the less than of its contention of nutritional at the of and the about what a nutritional and how it be was the by the of the and the to attention to the of the condition of and its corrosive on were to the and of and of that more than in the were the of this was the of how hunger as be and those the definition of that the in a and to a of those did not those whose were or the those from a and those whose nutritional to the or problem of definition into one of how to of an into a of the the of of the and the with its own and for than of the of which for of that from to were less by school before and with its own of and of the of of the that the in the of what was the of their be did all these about nutritional standards and of for the of school of enabled to school meals for children were by reason of of food to take of the by their a in the and the of In to those children as to those to of the that those that the act in of the state of was with the of the in the of this before the the of the in the of were with the of in the was of the to the to the food was by the of the that the of those at which the of the to by the the the of was over the with its of health, that were less and more It that this was not the that because was by which to hungry children, much was to the of school were to their broad of a nutritional on a that from to were to that for nutritional were broad that other or could be seen to was of their on the their own of the and invariably the with the these it to or to as these were by the the of its on to for that would the of the of In the of a more it to broad and made to the of which were by the of It was not to the the of own that the were as to be for any that with the of it to by the of the and the of was that the broader definition of that the category of the be to or it now an of It is how the about the of feeding hungry children the of its nutritional the of hunger did not its Indeed, by the it was nutritional the broader definition of the that school meals were for by reason of of food to take of the In their the school meal was a of the much of and on the to that standards and more for identifying it now as a to the of meals to a to of in and a to all of as well as the of than the feeding of those as at a of and the to the of by of school and these to In a to the school meals to an of the of in want to school children as well as children to and the all to a school meals it the to those were to have a and the would have to of its It was not the was for children with or more the of that to with of at school and having their meals for as a school meal as a of what the on as much as a of If society was now to hungry children with school those meals to them about the of that society and the forms of it now in having a for the school meal in the welfare state and the and that it children into a social that be more and than any we in the them and it in of the of the the politics of its from its to its the postwar welfare was a remarkably of the of the school meal in it was that by a new of society on the of and school meals would and If was a in the the on and the school meal as a of social it was one of not the school in the and of society were seen as the of the as before the or of the as the of all were all the more because were into the of school into the of and the of and and the and of the to the food an material for the of an and the of not and also and of the school meal as forms of were to its and I have much to about the and of that to the school meal to the for this the new of society and forms of it to are for it was at this that society was and its for were and on this of the production of It was that the school meal have the and as well as and it would in of and for one was a that school meals were to in and the of and in that social and If to meals at less meals with and the of would the of the school and or at with and to them to and or and to in would from the feeding to the to the and pass to as social and of the meal and its in an of and for the and interests of these of was often seen to on a of and of a by of of or was as for and in more than of the school meals to of and were by a of that the of the would a of was it was that would to that the did not them to less and more forms of were not of the or to were because was to be to children could act as to and of their would and and act as whose could be the of their would as of the in which and were less to be children than presented as a of social that be as a mentality of the of and and the we have of how children to these new and of how the of and could into a food It that not all the of the school meal to that those to the of were to a of as the the or could the children by not them to from the the of increasingly to the of for were more of in and the of than or the women invariably made the was for to at the of with a could how to and could those to If this was the to meals that were now seen as to the of its was often by the of as and and as well as by of a school material in which meals were was also to the production of and was partly about a and for school it was also about the of and and were often from the food from to It was a of as on children invariably in a of and school and on or at the feeding as a of and was and with the it was that all would their own or which would be and with of more than and be with or be of forms can be with and and of this was a and of in and with a and than children in a of was to the as of of meals in that a of and of that a can the be as having in which of the in the and were with and a a of was new world of the school was to be on a by of the a and of the school meals a in the of as the were by the of as before by the of and the of to and a new of as well as for and school the of the the management of the on to the a of or in the of their to of these were at the of to to the the of this the of that school would have its own a in the the as the new of to a the of which from in to in to a in the of the and of these new and their the of and the for of and was that the of its own and to the and for the of and in the of the new were to be their the of a in school was and were to the of the by that as or A in that of school a that was by the less than in which were and of school was one of the to a social for the school and also to be with and to be and of for children of to be to the and have to of their to be made from and and and and with were for and with modern and in with the of with as and in at the of the of for the of all and to of their and that were into the of and it was children and and into a social which food was to be and which at the and of the new in were to and not food and from and also and and were and from to this to the the it and more to the of by the and the this the problem the to the with the of to the It was that would a of the in the of an for and for to in with the on school and that made the of modern was now to be by the of in the of and at the of how and forms of to the to an for the school to for the new as well as and to be of the school meal was not to nutritional health, to them what to that would and in is to be the of meals in the of and to the of feeding in the children as social and nutritional the and of the was an to children to new and In that were to having on and and that with a by with by not at what is and in other children at it is to to can be made to to how to to their that the school offered an for in food that in the food of children could be to the a in if it was with It was that these new and would as In it was of and if those well at school a of by the school and the of is that children to or nutritional was for at before the children to to new and that the of was children to them It was not the nutritional that were school meals in general to have their and are with of or which of or of as of of and pioneers were the in what a of those in the for or of school meals to be that hungry children would often the to at to a with a to an at the it was hungry by of is that especially before the of the in the those in of school meals at a social from those them. meals of or and by a a to the of the than to that of the for the of and on of one of how in a not have and and not any A and by of the from the and of it is that for a of or the of the school meals much the of and boiled cabbage made those in of school meals were not from with the of before or by a in or the and the in to be a of social the of in school food to be more as a of social than as an of to what social of food in the the social meanings and cultural food were as as their Indeed, from the social as to that could the social meanings of food as by nutritional to not the of of the by school were as well as of much nutritional as at the of the of and which in to are often in and in those of a which a not at as and the of on and for it with to the on any of school or in It was not that standards for the nutritional of school meals were it is that much was of them the the new of school meals for the new of with a of and the management of and were for the of and were now to and in the of new of the school were with to in nutritional and and as well as on and If nutritional was to on the of school it did of them any more or A that of to school and that their of school and cabbage were especially to their of over boiled and as by the were by the of and of in on or by with of in the in the of of its to the nutritional of in we have of the to which school meals were for this as to other welfare or the general rise in and standards in the postwar In any this is not the we be or the to the or of the school of the of the welfare state a of the or of school meals in nutritional health, I have to the history of the school meal to the changing of hunger and the history of the social it I am not that the history of the social I have offered the of the school meal is for we are to that the of the social as a of government a of forms as it as as health, and history of the social that I have comes into hunger if not understood as a of political that to labor and the of those to the of the from the nineteenth century, the as the of were as a social problem that social was a of to from the this of hunger and the social was into by the from having to the of the the hungry were of a political that was or to be this hunger the it was also a to the health, and of all of society in that a new of social and the of hunger were to have a social by the nineteenth century, the to as with other social were at that was the of the or the social of hunger, more than children, one of the of this new social was the school the school meal was a product of this broader ethical it also a of the society that it to hunger on it with a less of the hungry as a social If the school meal new social not to be it did in for them in a new of social responsibilities and of the in the and and as the school meals was the of social it to the of the of and and the of and seen as the of the were for all children and were in the terms of the meals were now to of the of the of a and the of of how the of of the and social of a way, that I a to was social