"Too much vegetable protein", "Excess legumes", "What do we do about sugar?" The menus served in schools – in accordance with regulations and under nutritional criteria – generate a disparity of opinions among families. In Catalonia, 49.5% of children use the school canteen service, according to data from the Program for the Review of School Menus of Catalonia (PReME), based on the centers evaluated. Some schools have their own kitchens and others are supplied by companies that serve them meals. The objective is, in all cases, to offer menus adapted to needs, whether medical or for religious or moral reasons, which go beyond food: sufficient time to eat in peace – if the din allows – added to a care service before and after sitting at the table.

In school canteens, we have run out of croquettes. We no longer have banana yogurts, and the macaroni is wholemeal. The day there is a vegetable starter and lentils as a main course, the students (and indeed all of us) suffer a brutal shock because culturally for us they are two starters and we miss a main course. The changes in the canteen menus have added a bit more drama, if that were possible, to school food, which has always been in the spotlight. I have attended courses on communication in schools, and all attendees agree: one of the most common complaints is about food. Whether we are from a public or private school, from Girona or Penedès, the canteen issue is always a struggle, and it's very difficult to get it right. Once a week, which almost always tends to coincide with the fateful day of legumes, I have to serve meals at my school. And after many hours of serving meals under my belt, I have come to the conclusion that, even if Ferran Adrià himself came to spherify olives, there would be complaints.

There are rights that, once universalized, stop being debated. No one asks today if you have to have contributed enough to have the right to be treated in a public hospital. But until 1986, that was exactly the case. The general health law promoted by Ernest Lluch changed this logic: health ceased to be a benefit linked to contributions to become a right of citizenship. This year marks forty years since that law, and the Ernest Lluch Foundation —of which I am a patron— has received the Creu de Sant Jordi. But, beyond all that that reform achieved —and what remains pending—, there is a fundamental idea that we have not yet managed to extend to other areas.Forty years later, we have another debate about universalization. Coverage for everyone of the school canteen —today a service that depends on whether families can afford it or if they can prove they are in a situation of poverty or social exclusion— has made its way to Parliament. The fundamental question is the same as in 1986: to whom does this right belong?We lead the rankings for child poverty in Europe. More than 7% of children do not have a minimum intake of proteins guaranteed every two days, a figure that has not stopped growing in recent years. At the same time, almost three out of ten children are overweight, above the European average. Two pieces of data that seem contradictory, but which share the same explanation: income. Malnutrition due to poverty today is not going hungry. It is eating badly: ultra-processed, caloric, and nutritionally empty products.And here is where the logic of lunch grants shows its limits. If the problem of child poverty is structural, the solution cannot depend on demonstrating that you are poor enough to deserve aid. The dining space cannot be social assistance. It is part of the school day —children spend about a third of their time there in primary school—, and education is a guaranteed right for everyone. Furthermore, targeted policies have a hidden cost: they stigmatize, generate bureaucracy and can end up weakening the social support that sustains them. Universality, on the other hand, builds rights.It is not a Scandinavian utopia: it is a European reality. Finland has been guaranteeing a daily hot meal for all its pupils for seventy-five years. But now so do Croatia and Slovenia —by the way, with broad parliamentary consensus and with a notable citizen impulse—. London also did not wait for the unproductive British government and has already served more than 100 million universal school meals. The international evidence is overwhelming: the benefits in health, education and equality far outweigh the initial investment.In 1986 we decided that health could not depend on income. Now it is time to decide the same about school meals.

The school canteen service in public schools is always a cause for debate. The high cost of its management, menu policy, food origin, supervision... The fronts are multiple. The debate has been a constant for years everywhere and with a very clear trend: public administration, represented by the county councils, is progressively taking over the control and management of this service, despite the reluctance of some town councils and, above all, of students' families. Families criticize the commodification of an activity that they consider essential for the development of their children and demand more participation in its decisions. “It is a space that takes more than two hours and requires it to be well constructed, well accompanied, that it becomes a well-structured learning time to avoid conflicts,” argues the director of the Federated Associations of Students' Families of Catalonia (AFFAC), Lidón Gasull, who laments the prevalence of a “completely privatized and outsourced canteen system, which is not directly linked to the school”. A large part of the reasons for this reality is that the service, previously always managed by families or the schools themselves, is now mostly managed by school councils, which entrust it to private companies through public tenders.

The school canteen service in public schools is always a cause for debate. The high cost of its management, menu policy, food origin, supervision... The fronts are multiple. The debate has been a constant for years everywhere and with a very clear trend: public administration, represented by the county councils, is progressively taking over the control and management of this service, despite the reluctance of some town councils and, above all, of students' families. Families criticize the commodification of an activity that they consider essential for the development of their children and demand more participation in its decisions. “It is a space that takes more than two hours and requires it to be well constructed, well accompanied, that it becomes a well-structured learning time to avoid conflicts,” argues the director of the Federated Associations of Students' Families of Catalonia (AFFAC), Lidón Gasull, who laments the prevalence of a “completely privatized and outsourced canteen system, which is not directly linked to the school”. A large part of the reasons for this reality is that the service, previously always managed by families or the schools themselves, is now mostly managed by school councils, which entrust it to private companies through public tenders.

Broccoli with potatoes and turkey in the casserole: stewed lentils and ham omelette; macaroni bolognese and nuggets of broccoli; chickpea soup and beef meatballs; and every Thursday, fresh fish from the market. These are some of the menus offered by the Sol Ixent school in Corbins (Segrià), for both its primary school pupils and those of the municipal nursery. All dishes are cooked on the centre's premises. Hot meals and, in many cases, locally sourced. And, since last September, it has also been an intergenerational meal.

"Imagine you have the dentist come to your house, and when they leave you tell them you'll pay in six months. Well, that's what we're experiencing," explains Pep Montes, manager of the Catalan Association of Leisure, Education, and Culture Companies (Acellec), which represents Catalan micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. They report that, since the start of the school year, the twenty or so companies that provide cafeteria services in Barcelona's schools and institutes have not been paid for any of the meals covered by the school meal grants—the subsidies provided by the Catalan government to help vulnerable students access this service. Although Acellec hasn't been able to provide a precise count of how much money the companies are owed due to this delay—it's necessary to determine how many students receive subsidies at each school, and each company serves several schools and institutes—Montes warns that for some of these companies, the corresponding subsidy payments are still pending. "More and more families are in a difficult financial situation, but if we don't receive funding from the Education Department, in practice it's the companies that are financing school meal grants," denounces the manager of l'Acellec, who insists that many of the companies and organizations providing meal services are foundations and SMEs. According to data from the Education Department, last year meal assistance in the city of Barcelona reached almost 50,000 students (between full and partial aid), with a total amount of more than 55 million euros, although the figures are still provisional. Sources from the Barcelona Education Consortium (CEB) admit that "it is true that there is a delay in the payments of this aid" and argue that "it must be contextualized within the current budgetary framework." They insist that they are "working with an extended budget from 2023, which affects certain administrative processes and may lengthen some procedures." They also warn that, in addition to this situation, "the year-on-year increase in demand for this service" is a major factor. The Department of Education also clarifies that it is a bureaucratic issue of payment delays from the department to the CEB (Consortium of Education). Despite admitting the delay, the Consortium also indicates that "before the Christmas holidays," the amount corresponding to September and October was paid, and that they are working with the expectation of "paying everything else during this month of January." However, it should be noted that, bureaucratically, the Consortium pays this money to the schools, and the schools then pay the catering companies directly. Sometimes, there is an additional step, and the money must be transferred to the AFAs (parent-teacher associations) that manage this service. Therefore, Montes explains that the time between the Consorci's payment and the company's invoice is sometimes long. "If they pay at the end of January, between one thing and another, many companies will find themselves not getting paid for menus they served in September until February, almost half a year later," criticizes the manager of the leisure companies' association.

The bell rings at 3 p.m., you leave school, chat about the day with your friends, go home—walking or on the school bus—drop your things, make yourself lunch—or heat it up if your parents have left it unattended—and sit down in front of the TV at 4 p.m. This is the reality for thousands of teenagers who attend public high schools in Catalonia, where only 35% of secondary schools offer a cafeteria service. This also means that only a third of students in public high schools can access a lunch grant.

The fact that school cafeteria services are largely managed by companies and entities in the educational leisure sector is undoubtedly a success of the Catalan educational model. The Government's Secretary for Educational Improvement, Josefa Beltran, recently recalled, during the Acellec Economic and Social Forum, that lunchtime accounts for 30% of children's time at school. It would be unreasonable to think that the services provided during this time period were not educational in nature.

This school year, families in Barcelona who want to access a lunch scholarship They will have to do it by means of an electronic signatureOn paper, eliminating red tape is intended to make the process easier, but in practice, it can become a new barrier for many vulnerable families.

Until now, families who needed to access aid to cover the cost of school meals in Barcelona could fill out an application and hand it in in person at the school or institute where their child is enrolled. Now, however, the Education Consortium has modified this procedure and in order to apply for the school meal grant in the Catalan capital, it will be mandatory to have an electronic signature such as the IdCAT or the Cl@ve PIN.

Nowadays it is difficult to imagine a school without a canteen, especially in urban environments. The lunchtime is essential for families to be able to balance their work schedules with the students' school hours. For many families, it is almost a necessity. In addition, the canteen is a space that contributes to guaranteeing a healthy and balanced diet for schoolchildren. However, it is not part of the school schedule and no regulations require it to be part of the school's educational project.