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Last fall, Los Angeles took a hard line on school nutrition. In an attempt to mold better eating habits in kids, the Los Angeles Unified School District eliminated flavored milk, chicken nuggets and other longtime childhood favorites. But instead of making kids healthier, the changes sent students fleeing from school cafeterias. There have been reports of a thriving trade in black-market junk food, of pizzas delivered to side doors and of family-sized bags of chips being brought from home.

Last week I wrote about Dr. Brian Wansink, the Cornell University professor who specializes in behavioral economics and consumer behavior — especially human eating behavior.

You can lead a child to a healthful lunch, but you can’t make him or her eat it. School foodservice directors, already faced with tight budgets and increased nutrition standards proposed by the USDA, may find their most daunting challenge in the finicky preferences of youthful consumers.

We hear about child obesity and nutrition problems among young people frequently. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2008, more than a third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese, and the prevalence of obesity among children tripled from 1980 to 2008. In New York state, 33 percent of children ages 10 to 17 are obese or overweight, according to federal data.

How do people celebrate National School Lunch week? If you asked around, you'd never hear of any parties or parades—all you'd hear are laughs. Even though over 30 million children are fed by the National School Lunch Program, school lunches are bullied daily by critics, activists, and celebrity chefs and blamed for contributing to childhood obesity.

Anyone who has ever tried to sneak healthy food into kids' lunches knows what Chicago Public Schools is going through.