Bettina Elias Siegel

The Lunch Tray Blog

Bettina Elias Siegel is a nationally recognized writer on topics related to children and food policy. Her news articles, features, and opinion pieces have appeared in a variety of publications including The New York Times, the Houston Chronicle, Civil Eats, and her blog, The Lunch Tray. She also comments frequently on these topics in the national media.

She earned a BA from Yale College and a JD from Harvard Law School.

In 2010, Siegel became active in school food reform in her children’s district, Houston ISD, serving for eight years on the district’s School Health Advisory Council and six years on its Nutrition Services Parent Advisory Committee. Her advocacy work also includes writing and speaking about federal policies to help improve children’s school food environments. She has launched three Change.org petition campaigns relating to school children and food, all of which ended with success. In 2015, Siegel was named by Family Circle magazine as one of the country’s “20 Most Influential Moms.” She is currently writing a book about children and food policy, Kid Food, to be published in 2019 by Oxford University Press.