Miss Betti, What Is This?: How Detroit’s School Lunch Lady Got Good Food on the Menu
EYES CLOSED BETTI WIGGINS could still see the lunches she brought to school when she was a girl Paper-wrapped sandwiches filled with leftover Sunday roast Fresh cucumbers right off the vine Small hand pies fried with apples Betti picked in the orchard
She could smell the rich sweet aroma of the sun and earth that nourished the things that grew on her family's farm in Whittaker Michigan She could taste her mother's care in preparing this food Betti's mother knew A hungry child can't learn
Miss Betti opened her eyes and looked at the lunch on the tray in front of her Everything on it was beige The iceberg lettuce The chicken nuggets The slices of bread The apple slices that darkened when they were taken out of their little plastic bags It all smelled salty and a little stale
It tasted as beige and bland as it looked If Miss Betti ate it she would be full But she would not feel nourished TO OPEN MILK
