The Chilean National School Lunch Program’s Role in the Formation of a Neoliberal Society

From its creation in 1964 in Chile until the present day, the Junta Nacional de Auxilio Escolar y Becas (JUNAEB, the National School Board of Assistance) has implemented the Programa de Alimentación Escolar (PAE, School Feeding Program). Over the past 50 years, PAE has evolved from a program that depended entirely on the Chilean State to a public-private model, with a significant increase in private-sector involvement, ultimately affecting both the types of food provided in schools and their preparation. This paper argues that, although the private food industry became a major player in the 1980s, JUNAEB has evolved to remain crucial in the program's development. JUNAEB not only administered the children's meals but also prepared the Chilean children to be discerning food consumers

By analyzing JUNAEB’s budget, proposals to run the school kitchens from the private sector, menus, CARE’s observations on PAE, and what the children had to say about the meals they received, the paper seeks to present the place that children’s preferences played as an indicator of consumer satisfaction in the construction of a healthy meal for primary school children. The paper draws on archives in Chile and the United States. It uses CARE records, state sources from the Chilean Ministry of Education and the United States Agency for International Development, as well as newspapers and oral history interviews to highlight the significance of JUNAEB's adaptation and children’s influence within this public-private interface.