School lunches of the world

I just became curious, wondering how many people in other countries actually have their kids eat lunch at school?

In France, it is very few, I guess that is why they can have them all sitting and being served many courses one after the other. If there were many kids, I guess that would be impossible. Most kids go home for lunch at 11:30, and come back at 1:30. They eat at home with the parents, (employees all get two hours for lunch too).

My daughter went to school for a year in the US and all they ever had was burgers, pizza, burritos. The only healthy thing she could get her hands on was an apple. They didn't even have salads!

A lot of questions spring to mind re the UK and US dinners.

Firstly, I would like to know the nutritional value of those cooked meals. They looked so overcooked, surely there is hardly any vitamins left in them? I would be inclined to send in someone to test them, I think I would send my children with packed lunches~a piece of fruit + yoghurt and meat or cheese sandwiches would probably be more nutritious IMO.

Secondly, do children really need a meal like this at lunch time? Over here (UK) we have sports 3x afternoons a week (in secondary schools) so it seems strange to be giving meals less than an hour before that...

Thirdly, who makes up the menu's? Because half that food doesn't really go together.

OP, out of interest, what would you like to see as a school lunch?
ETA I just asked a Czech friend about the Apricot, she said it is Apricot on Malava (like cake) pudding

ugh...thats just off...well done op for finding this and putting it out there,its not suprising looking at asains in general and how they are thinner,look healthier and a pretty much smarter,couldnt possibly have anything to do with the food could it

Asian Food - Very Healthy & Fresh Non Processed
American Food - Least Healthy & Over Processed (very cheap to make obviously too)
French Food - Most Healthy & Probably Most Expensive

Just some of the bigger noticeables...

great thread S+F

Great thread!

Many of the schools clearly had more money invested into them. Like that poor USA, I bet they don't even know their bananas are clones, and that processed meat is filled with feces.

Never seen an artichoke?

just found this on my old school's website. meal of the day menu.




now that looks healthy
the are more options but thats the meal of the day

brecon high school

reply to post by FortAnthem


I’ve heard they serve whale meet in Japanese school lunches, I’ve been curious and wonder what whale meat tastes like. Has anyone here tried and what’s the closest thing you could compare it to.

Originally posted by minesweeper
I’ve heard they serve whale meet in Japanese school lunches, I’ve been curious and wonder what whale meat tastes like. Has anyone here tried and what’s the closest thing you could compare it to.

I was just about to post on the japanese lunches, so i may as well answer that too.

According to my friends with kids, it's served once or twice a month. Whale meat is a red meat, the taste always puts me in mind of venison for some reason.

As far as the photos of japanese lunches go, they're not only a good representation of the average school lunch, they're pretty much the same basic lunch you'd get anywhere for a couple of bucks. Rice, soup, something grilled or fried, and a side of pickles or a basic salad.

...another huge difference in diet is what constitutes a breakfast. I grew up with either a bowl of sugar-covered cereal (mom did her best, but I always found a way to coat my shreddies with maple sugar), or a proper ulster fry on weekends. When I was older it was the breakfast special at the greasy spoon on the corner, with extra sausage and hash browns. and at least three cups of coffee.

Here in Japan, it's rice, miso soup, small piece of grilled salmon, natto, some kind of pickles, and a very lightly cooked egg (mix into the hot rice and it cooks up a bit more). The first time I tried it, I was astonished at the amount of energy I had...

London school food is tastier than the one shown,well it was at all my schools and it is at my sons school now. Most of the children at his school choose school meals over a packed lunch from home.

Out of all of those looks like America was the laziest of all when it came to preparation.
What was that tuna on corn chips?

In Norway; kids have packed lunch:

When they leave home in the morning for school most children take with them a homemade lunchpack, usually open brown bread sandwiches with butter, cheese, ham, or salami, and one apple or orange to go with it. To drink, only milk or water are allowed!

It's a tragic tradition from the time up to the mid 70's - when Norway was a poor country!

reply to post by FortAnthem


Jamie Oliver gave us quite a show of what American kids get in their school canteens and what you produced here is not what a majority of American schools provide.

The fact is, many kids in Western nations go to school without breakfast and barely if any lunch.

The best school lunches I've seen ever provided by afew schools.....is in India!

I have had my daughter in both private and public schools in southern Illinois and both schools served the most disgusting lunches I have ever seen! They actually stink so bad I don't know how the kids put it down or keep it down! I am appalled by the food they serve and have actually seen prisons serving better quality food. I will NOT allow my child to consume the food served at lunch..I was just talking to a parent the other day about it and they looked at me like I was a crazy person needing the help of a shrink.

Well, here are a few links if you guys are really interested. I was shocked at the food choices from around the world compared to the slop served in the USA.


I recently came across this site which explains A LOT about how/what/why USA school lunches are filled with fillers, salt, sugar, and chemicals. It is really an eye opener!

FED UP with USA school lunch

If you click on this link you will be provided with a pdf. link to see the monthly school lunch served at french school.

French School Lunch

reply to post by FortAnthem


Omg I want some chinese food NOW lol you made me hungry

Yeah I agree asian food looks the best but dont judge a book by its cover it could be crawling with grease

reply to post by CherryV

OP, out of interest, what would you like to see as a school lunch?

Gee, that's a tough one.

First off, I'd like to see nothing they had in those pics. It was all processed and full of salts. Just plain nasty. The one guy said it best when he described the pizza as being made of plastic.

They need to have more freshly prepared foods, not that heat and serve junk you find at a lot of places. That's probably what made so many of those foreign meals look so appetizing; the foods looked fresh and not processed or wilting. The fruits and veggies looked like they would go "crunch" when you bite into them (as opposed to "squish" like in US school lunches).

They could also use more real, identifiable meats, freshly prepared in the meals. Also mix it up more; add some oriental stuff every once in a while instead of just Tex-Mex all the time.

Of course, teacher's salaries take up the lion's share of the budget in schools so, it won't be any time soon that we'll see any real change in school lunches except in the really rich districts. I think the food served in schools comes in last in budget priorities in most schools, even below art supplies.

S+F from me, not sure how I missed this thread - I love learning about other countries culinary delights and the novelty aspect is something I'm always drawn to. You can't beat a good brown back lunch or snackbox, like Airline food.

In fact I sit on this website: Airline Meals

reply to post by FortAnthem


Interesting, but actually that photo of the food from USA looks WAAAAAAYYYY better than what I see at the school my children goes to. Did they take that picture on a good food day?

Here is a pretty good example... the blog of a teacher who took photos of the school lunch every day and posted on a blog.

fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com...

fedupwithlunch.com...





yuck

Harm None
Peace

reply to post by BearTruth


I am 60 and american and remember better meals ( more balanced ) than those that many american kids
get today..that is if my thinking is correct. Where is all this lotto money going ..huh???? somebody answer
please. Our kids should be living the good life as in being healthy and well nourished. Maybe some kids do
eat well locally, I just don't know..would have to check it out.

Originally posted by gimme_some_truth
I think that thing in the picture from France is an Artichoke....I think.

But...Is that Oysters the french kids are eating???

OH i absolutley love artichokes, and no theyre not oysters, i believe theyre moules (mussels), i love moules and frites the,re a classic dish in france. yummy.
The british dishes didnt look exactly as i think theyre should, the kids are moe likely to eat treacle ridden flapjacks than bowls of fruit.
The asian dishes still look the healthiest.

Back in the olde worlde days of the seventies when i was in primary school (and before the government made it possible for schools to servce what they liked). There were no vending machine, just a water cooler, each day we had a balanced meal even though at the time we though it was filth, undercooked carrots, (which are actualy really heallthy), beef stew another day, mince beef and veg, thursday was salad day, and friday was (huge fanfare) fish and CHIPS !!!!!!
Only water with meals, a latte as part of the pudding on friday as a treat i wont lie , we did get a lot of stodgy puddings chocolate sponge and choc custard that sort of thing, rice pudding with jam, and if yo didnt like the rice then just a blob of jam and wed have jam races.
We had a tuck shop in the comprehensivfe school but by this point things had seriously gone downhill.
In summary even though we didnt like the food we had in primary look back on it, it was so much better for us.NOt to
mention all the water.
Im a great believer in that if a child is genuinely hungry they will eat whatever given them, im not saying starve your child to proove my point but i guarantee it works.
night all.