I grew up a thankfully nourished child due to Oklahoma’s once-stellar free lunch program. To typically hungry kids like me that counted on a warm tray of eats every school-day for breakfast and lunch, the gorgeous ladies of well-balanced meals were the true educational heroes of the near-penniless students.
Those women in their tight hairnets and orthopedic shoes always made consistently delicious meals that can still inspire me today more than any celebrity chef that graces a local eatery with their overpaid presence ever could; if I’m being honest, there’s not a day that goes by where I don’t lament that long lost culinary tradition.