Book Excerpt: "Fed Up with Lunch" by Mrs. Q

After remaining anonymous for the past year, "Mrs. Q" reveals her identity.

ByABC News
October 4, 2011, 5:51 PM

Oct. 5, 2011— -- One teacher went undercover to determine the quality of the school lunches in her district. But what started as an anonymous blog, "Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project," rapidly gained enormous attention and put a spotlight on what children were being served in their cafeterias. Having used the moniker "Mrs. Q" for the past year, the teacher revealed her secret identity for the first time on "Good Morning America" Wednesday. Her popular blog is now a book. Read an excerpt below.

Chapter 1

Mrs. Q Goes Undercover (Like a Beef Patty Masquerading as Meatloaf)

"The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose." -- Richard Grant

When I started my blog, it was important for me to remain anonymous. I revealed the lunch I ate every day but kept many details to myself. Being anonymous was fun, scary, and sometimes frustrating when I wanted to say more but was afraid to give too many clues that might blow my cover. At this point, finally revealing myself to you as the real Mrs. Q comes as a big relief for me. It's been increasingly hard to hide who I really am with people I care about -- and I care about my students and coworkers, the lunch ladies at my school, and, of course, the remarkable group of caring people who have followed and contributed to my blog.

So allow me to introduce myself. I am Sarah. Or as I'm known at school: Mrs. Wu. How did I brainstorm my alter ego: Mrs. Q? The name came to me as an alias simply because it rhymes with my last name! See? I was hiding in plain sight all along.

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My speech room is on the second floor of the largest elementary school I have ever seen, spanning the length of one city block. Haugan Elementary looms large with three floors of classrooms. The cafeteria is on the first floor and, to accommodate a student body of approximately 1,300 students, lunches are divided into five lunch periods. To get down to the cafeteria from my room, I have to walk approximately sixty feet along the corridor of the second floor and then down a massive stairway that opens out to a foyer in front of the cafeteria. The foyer fills up with students with the ebb and flow of scheduled lunchtimes.