My writing has appeared in (or I’ve been quoted or featured in) a wide variety of media outlets. Here is a sampling:
“Kids Don’t Need Fruit Juice” (Letter to the Editor by Bettina Elias Siegel) July 10, 2018
“Shaming Children So Parents Will Pay the Lunch Bill” (front page story by Bettina Elias Siegel, April 30, 2017)
“New Mexico Outlaws School ‘Lunch Shaming‘” (by Bettina Elias Siegel, April 7, 2017)
“Trump’s Food, and Ours” (Letter to the Editor by Bettina Elias Siegel), March 16. 2017
“New Rules May Curb Classroom Cupcakes” (by Bettina Elias Siegel), December 13, 2016
“Should the Food Industry Sneak Vegetables Into Food?” (by Bettina Elias Siegel), October 25, 2016
“The Real Problem with Lunch“(opinion piece by Bettina Elias Siegel, print and online editions), January 16, 2016
“As Lobbyists and Politicians Shout It Out Over School Lunch, Can Parents Be Heard?” (by Bettina Elias Siegel), October 8, 2014
“Let’s Do Better With School Lunches,” October 7, 2015 (Letter to the Editor by Bettina Elias Siegel)
“Why I Play the Mom Card” (by Bettina Elias Siegel), May 12, 2014
Various Lunch Tray posts have appeared in Mark Bittman’s “What We’re Reading Now” column (June 25, 2015, June 4, 2015, September 27, 2013, October 10, 2013)
“A Fight About Beef: Why to Avoid Pink Slime,“May 21, 2012 (Letter to the Editor by Bettina Elias Siegel)
“The Difficult Question About Fruit Juice and Kids” July 21, 2018 (quoted)
“How McDonald’s Is Using Schools to Try to Change What Kids Eat,” October 29, 2015 (quoted/following up on TLT original reporting)
“The Ex-Noma Chef Who Wants to Make School Food Reform Big Business” August 8, 2018 (quoted)
“Bento Boxes and the Grade-School Power Lunch,” November 10, 2015 (quoted)
“Cupcake Defender Interviews for Ag Secretary Job” December 30, 2016 (quoted)
“Fighting Food: Consumers Revolt Online,” July 20, 2014 (quoted/featured)
Selected Lunch Tray posts have also been linked in Politico‘s Morning Agriculture report
“The Houston Mom Taking on Big Ag,”March 12, 2014 (featured)
“20 Most Influential Moms: First Annual Awards,” (May, 2015)
December 17, 2015 episode (parts one and two)
Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show, Anderson, March 29, 2012 (“Renegade Moms“)
“McDonald’s ends nutrition program in schools based on Iowa middle school teacher who lost 60 pounds eating at fast food chain,” May 16, 2016
“Queens Parents Bellyache at School ‘Brunch,'” September 4, 2012 (quoted)
Elizabeth Street named Siegel one of the “15 Most Important Moms in the Food Industry,” along with Katie Couric, Michelle Obama, Laurie David and others. (February 14, 2014)
“The Scoop on School Lunch Changes” (quoted)
“What to Expect from the New Rules on Daycare Food” (quoted)
“McDonald’s Healthy Eating Program in Schools: Helpful or Hypocritical”
“New York Mayor Bloomberg v. Big Soda,” (essay by Bettina Elias Siegel), May 31, 2012
“How My ‘Pink Slime’ Petition Took Off,” (essay by Bettina Elias Siegel), April 6, 2012
“Social Media Turn Up Heat on Food Industry” (March 28, 2012)
“Kellogg’s Kashi Latest Target as Web Food Fight Spreads” (May 7, 2012)
“Why Some Schools Have “Cupcake Amnesty” and Others Have Cupcake Bans,” January 15, 2015
“Activism or Slacktivism?” June 10, 2016
Siegel’s collected writing on Civil Eats here.
Interviewed on Mother Jones magazine Bite podcast, April,2016
“HISD Trustees: You’ve Been Misled About the New Domino’s Contract” (by Bettina Elias Siegel) August 15, 2018
“Why Did HISD Sign a New Contract with Domino’s?” (by Bettina Elias Siegel) August 6, 2018
“Op-Ed: New HISD food director can order up better meals, but she has some hurdles.” (by Bettina Elias Siegel) August 26, 2017
“Op-Ed: New Agriculture Commissioner Steps Backwards on School Lunches” (by Bettina Elias Siegel) January, 15, 2015
“Op-Ed: Texas Students’ Meals Face Unwise Waiver,” (by Bettina Elias Siegel) July 13, 2014
“Dispute over school lunch requirements shows need for education,” (quoted) May 27, 2014
“Op-Ed: Letting China Send Us Its Chicken Is Not a Good Idea,” (by Bettina Elias Siegel), March 7, 2014
“Food activist goes to the mat again – this time over a chicken-from-China tempest,” (feature story about Bettina Elias Siegel) February 20, 2014.
Siegel chosen as one of “Houston’s 41 Most Fascinating People,” December 6, 2012.
“School Food Battles Move From Pink Slime to Cupcakes,” (feature story about Bettina Elias Siegel), September 24, 2012
Op-Ed: “Now’s Time to Rethink HISD Food Program” (by Bettina Elias Siegel) December 16, 2011
Op-Ed: “Providing Healthy Choices Only First Step for HISD” (by Bettina Elias Siegel) August 28, 2010
“Better Food for Thought: Local districts offer less fat, more imagination in effort to make students healthier” (quoted) August 22, 2010
Op-Ed: “Breakfast of Champions: HISD should keep pushing to make its free breakfasts healthy” (Lunch Tray mentioned) July 3, 2010
“Judgment Day: Lunchboxes Give Parents Another Reason to Compete,” August 25, 2015 (quoted)
“Bettina Won Three Campaigns on Change.org – Here’s How She Does It” May 31, 2016 (Change.org blog)
“Brexit Debate: Do Petitions Ever Work?” March 26, 2019
“Los polemicos consejos de nutricion que McDonald’s da en las escuelas de EE.UU” (BBC Mundo), November 25, 2015
“The Return of Retro Recipes,” August 21, 2012
“McDonald’s Targets Teachers and Students to Boost Flagging Sales,” December 15, 2014
“Cheap Chinese Chicken Might be Coming to School Lunch Programs,” November 12, 2014
Food Sleuth Radio (PRX) (December 15, 2016)
The Lunch Tray’s Twitter feed selected by Food Tank as one of “118 Twitter Feeds Every Food Activist Needs to Follow“
“A Reluctant School Food Advocate,” April 29, 2013.
“Was 2014 a Watershed Year for Food Politics?” December 8, 2014
“Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller drops deep-fried food ban in schools,” June 18, 2015
“Agriculture commissioner declares end to ban on home-brought sweets,” January 12, 2015
“Let It Grow” July 31, 2015 (publication of the Harvard Graduate School of Education – quoted)
“Pink Slime and the Power of Online Petitions,” March 6, 2015
“Fried Food In School Cafeterias: ‘It’s About Freedom and Liberty,’ Says Ag Commissioner” (Austin, TX NPR) April 20, 2015 broadcast
“Concerns Rising Over China Processing U.S. Chicken” (May 20, 2014 broadcast)
“FDA Allows US Chicken Processed in China to be Sold Here” (February 14, 2014 broadcast)
Appeared on Houston Public Media’s Houston Matters daily radio show to discuss school food waste, December 9, 2014 (segment begins at the 16:15 mark).
“Sid Miller’s Cupcake Amnesty Changed Nothing,” March 3, 2015 (quoted)
“The time is ripe for the natural foods industry to tell its story” (February, 2015 interview)
Selected Lunch Tray posts regularly appear on The Huffington Post
“Can Your School Afford Healthier Cafeteria Food?” (June 14, 2011)
“The Family Dinner – An Interview with Laurie David” (May 6, 2011)
Blog profiled in Yum-O’s “How Cool Is That?” feature, February, 2011, and the March, 2011 Yum-O Newsletter
The Lunch Tray’s essay,”Legislate, Educate and Inoculate to Create Food-Savvy Kids,” chosen by a panel of expert judges (including former FDA commissioner David Kessler) as a winning entry in Slate‘s childhood obesity crowd-sourcing effort, March, 2011
Chosen as a Blog of the Month, November, 2010
“In War Against Obamas, Palin Drops Cookie Bomb,” November 10, 2010
Named one of the “Top 25 Foodie Mom Bloggers” by Circle of Moms readers (March, 2011)
Named a “Food Hero” by the Allergy Kids Foundation, January, 2011.
Selected Lunch Tray posts are periodically reprinted on Foodservice.com.
“The Current State of HISD School Food” (by Bettina Elias Siegel) (January 2011)
“Buzz Eats: The New School Lunch” (August 2010)
“What’s For Dinner?” (September 2012)
“The Lunch Tray: Why I Hate Cupcakes in the Classroom” (by Bettina Elias Siegel) (November 22, 2010)
“HISD’s menu changes provide food for thought” (by Bettina Elias Siegel) (September 1, 2010)