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What’s on Arne Duncan’s Lunch Tray?

By Michele McNeil — October 22, 2009 1 min read
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In honor of National School Lunch Week, Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited D.C. Prep Edgewood Elementary and Middle School Campuses in northeast Washington, D.C., last week, touting the department’s “Fueled and Fit: Ready to Learn” campaign. He’ll be making other school stops in the coming weeks as part of this initiative to promote nutrition and fitness.

So, this seems like a fitting time to resurrect the photo above, which features Arne’s lunch tray during a May stop at a West Virginia school. These foods, while likely mainstays of school cafeterias, sure look like they’d make a good example of what not to eat. But then again, the lunch could be healthier than it looks, and I’m not sure I can even identify all of the foods. I see ketchup and mustard, a carrot-and-bean salad, perhaps, and definitely onion rings. But is his main course a steak sandwich? And what’s next to it, potatoes? (Click on the photo to enlarge it.) UPDATE: Eagle-eyed commenter Stafford has made a convincing case that my “potatoes” are actually a peach or apple cobbler.

(Photo: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan adds ketchup to his lunch with students at Eagle School in Martinsburg, W.Va., on May 5, 2009. Alex Brandon/AP)

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