Where Travel Is a Barrier, Food Trucks Roll in To Feed Kids

With the school year winding down for many students across the United States, food trucks are rolling out. Not the ones advertising gourmet mac-and-cheese and vegan burgers, but ones like Lunch Lizard in Mesa County, Colorado, which serves up “hot diggity dogs” and “beef street tacos” alongside fruits, vegetables, and cartons of milk.

These food trucks—sometimes they’re buses or vans—are for kids only. They’re part of the federal Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which provides subsidized meals to children from low-income families after the school year has ended. In many states, the trucks are an increasingly popular way to bypass one of the major barriers to getting children nutritious meals when school is not in session.