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What children eat at school has emerged as one of the most significant public health concerns in the UK over the last decade. During the office of the New Labour government in the UK (1997–2010) and in particular following the re-election of the Blair government in 2001, school meals became the cause célèbre of public health practitioners, dieticians and celebrities alike. As a central component of government attempts to halt the year-on-year rise in childhood obesity (HM Treasury, 2007), waves of legislation introduced increasingly stringent standards stipulating precisely what kinds of foods should be served at lunchtime and throughout the school day via vending machines, in after school clubs and in what are colloquially known in the UK as ‘tuck shops’, where children and young people are able to purchase snacks during their morning break (Statutory Instrument 2359, 2007). The continued public interest in …