Turns out that whole Jamie Oliver reality show effort to transform school lunches isn’t exactly a new concept. In 2004 Oliver took over a school cafeteria in a working-class suburb of London, and a documentary about it prompted the British government to spend $500 million to revamp the nation's school-food program. (And I so thought his ABC series Food Revolution was cutting edge!)

This may not be a new concept but obviously it has the power to evoke change. (Click here, here and here for blogs on The Scoop dealing with Oliver’s show.)

It also turns out that there is simply tons of information, conversation, governmental hand-wringing, advocacy and journalistic reports over the plight of the hot school lunch. (Check out the list of links at the end of this post.)

But here’s the depressing part:

The concern over school lunches has been going on for a long, long time. That fact alone says to me is that even though it’s as clear as the red on a tomato that school lunches demand an overhaul, it may never happen. (And just why do I care so much even though I no longer have little kids in school? Well, I just happen to think that if you're going to serve food, it ought to taste good and be healthy. Seems pretty simple to me!)

Even though there's a lot of reasons to be cynical on this issue, I’m now hopeful, and here’s why: Michelle Obama was on the cover of Newsweek magazine a couple of weeks ago outlining her reasons for making childhood obesity a priority with her Let’s Move initiative. (Click here for that article.)

Since Let’s Move began, Mrs. Obama wrote in the article, several major school suppliers have agreed to improve their food quality, doubling the amount of fresh produce they serve to school children.

If the combined rock-star power of the First Lady and a Food Network celebrity can’t shine a powerful-enough light on the school lunch problem to bring change, well then I guess there simply isn’t a chance in heaven or hell either one.

I have to admit that all of this star power – plus my recent visit to a cafeteria/chef training in Miami (click here) -- has made me curious to know more about the problem and efforts/suggestions to solve it.

So I went poking around on the Internet, and believe me there is just tons to read! So I’ve taken the liberty of listing some of the sites I found that were helpful and impressive, and you’ll find the "just-click" links in a list at the end of this post.

Let me know if you click around and what you think of these sites. Also, in the “It Takes A Village” vein, Alicia and I would love to hear about your experiences with school cafeterias or your other efforts to fight or deal with childhood obesity. You can leave your comments following this post or email them to tellus@KitchenScoop.com

Click here for an article from five years ago defining the school lunch issue.

Click here for an article describing Mrs. Obama's school lunch initiative.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine operates several cool websites: Here are 2 we especially like:

Healthy School Lunches.org

Nutrition for Kids

Click here for a site with tips on packing a lunch at home.

Click here: Whole Foods market gets into the act.

Click here for an advocacy site operated by the new nonprofit F3: Food Family Farming Foundation.