Thursday, 19th November 2026 at 7.00 pm
MKHA Members’ Meeting: online lecture by Dr Heather Ellis
What children eat at school has long been a matter of political debate, social concern, and everyday experience. Since the introduction of the School Meals Service in 1906, meals served in schools have been used to tackle malnutrition, reduce inequality, and promote social inclusion. They have also been the site of controversy, from free milk in the 1940s to Jamie Oliver’s campaign against Turkey Twizzlers, and today’s calls for universal free school meals.
This lecture explores how policy, practice, and lived experience have shaped school dining across the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. With reference to new oral histories, archival evidence, and ethnographic studies in contemporary schools, the lecture highlights the emotional and sensory dimensions of mealtimes as well as their wider social and cultural meanings. At stake is more than what children eat. School meals open a window onto questions of inequality, poverty, community, and the politics of care.
Dr Heather Ellis is Associate Professor in the History of Education at the University of Sheffield. A historian of education and childhood, her research combines archival and oral history approaches to explore how policy and lived experience intersect in schooling and welfare.