http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_school_lunches_threat
Some have called unhealthy school lunch programs a threat to national security because it leads to poor health and therefore inadequate soldiers.
This hearkens back to the day of the Boer war- around the turn of the century, Great Britain was fighting to maintain its colony in South Africa against the "Boers," the Dutch settlers. Because of the industrial revolution and the unhealthy living/working conditions in cities, many of the young men who tried to enlist in the military in Britain were deemed to be physically unfit to serve. This caused great concern and led to the establishment of education reforms, such as including physical fitness as part of education, and the promotion of sports for young men.
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This seems to be another aspect of the idea that images of people waiting in food lines is relevant to the study of international politics. But it is a testament to the realist assertion of the preeminent value of material power that unhealthy school lunches are a more politically viable concern than people suffering from more severe malnutrition in places that wield less significant influence over the discourse of international politics. The two demographics are receiving inappropriate nutrition, although with great variance in the extremity of its effect, they are both suffering from the idea that food is a commodity, not a right, and if international politics was to address the right to access to healthy, responsible, sustainable food sources (food sovereignty), this might have a revolutionary effect on the politics of food and national discourse, with common benefit to both the school cafeteria demographic and those whose hunger might more likely be recorded in National Geographic.
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