Chili & Cinnamon Rolls: A Core Memory
And Why We’re Letting the Next Generation Forget What Lunch Can Be
Core memories are “memories that hold a profound and emotional weight and influence our identity and behavior.” If you’re from certain parts of the Midwest and I ask you what to serve with a bowl of chili, there’s a good chance you’ll say cinnamon rolls. There’s also a good chance that if someone next to you has never tried this combination, they will be horrified.
If tearing apart a cinnamon roll and dipping it into a warm bowl of chili is a core memory for you, but you’re wondering why the hell your kids’ core school lunch memory will likely be microwaved chicken, you’re in the right place.
That strange, beloved combo of Chili + Cinnamon Rolls defined school lunch for many Midwestern kids. The smell of cinnamon sugar drifting through the halls. The heavy, warped lunch tray. The cafeteria buzz. For many of us, that meal was a memory we carried into adulthood. I still can’t make a batch of chili without at least considering whipping up some cinnamon rolls.
But, Why?
Chili and cinnamon rolls weren’t served because they were a natural pairing. They were served because school cooks knew how to stretch a budget, feed a lot of kids, and still make something special.
In the 1960s, as part of the postwar National School Lunch Program, schools started serving chili made from government-issued beef and canned beans. Cinnamon rolls were a natural companion; easy to make in bulk, made from scratch, and a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. It was comfort food created with limited resources, and it worked.
[Side note: did you know that old-fashioned cinnamon rolls oftentimes included mashed potatoes and potato water? This is what gave them that authentic, school-lunch taste.]
Fast forward to today: in the six years my kids have been in school, I haven’t seen chili and cinnamon rolls on the lunch menu even once.
Why? Because scratch cooking has largely disappeared from school kitchens. The bakers who once rolled out dough by hand are gone. Many schools no longer have full kitchens at all, just microwaves and convection ovens meant for reheating prepackaged meals.
That’s how we went from freshly-baked cinnamon rolls and chili to heat-and-serve chicken nuggets and shelf-stable fruit cups.
What Will Kids Remember Now?
I want everyone to ask themselves: what do you think will be the core food memory of the next generation? Tell me in the comments: what’s your kid’s favorite school lunch item right now?
My kids really do love those damn chicken nuggets with all their hearts. And yes, they eat school lunch often. That surprises people because we’re chicken farmers.
Food is about more than nutrition. Food is culture.
I want my kids to have these experiences. I want them to sit with their peers, to feel part of the group, to eat what their classmates are eating. I want them to ask questions, to notice what’s on their tray, to think about where food comes from—and what they want their food culture to look like.
Sometimes, chicken nuggets are about perspective.
School lunch has always been more than just a meal. For many kids, it’s the only reliable food they get all day. It’s a moment of independence. A chance to feel full and safe and (if we do it right) seen.
Our kids will remember what we served them. Let’s make it something worth remembering…something better than microwaved popcorn chicken.
Well said. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing to have our children remember being served actually good food in their school cafeteria? I wonder how Americans became a country that thinks food just doesn’t really matter. I think it stems from the fact that we were a nation that evolved along rail lines to transport commodities to far away lands often in Europe. Colonies serving an empire, then states focused on export goods. It led to us not developing healthy local food traditions in many places, like Iowa.