Anyway...
Have you ever wondered what Japanese kids have for school lunch (if they don't take their own fancy bento)? Well, it's not sushi and whale every day that is for sure. A friend posted a link to kyuushoku's blog on FB and I thought you might be interested too, he works at 4 different elementary schools and post pictures of the school lunches
photos by Kevin McHugh
At my elementary school, the food was prepared at the middle school and bought up to the village in big heated containers. Every day was a variation on meat and two veg plus potatoes, I remember having shepherds pie, toad in the hole, lobby (a local version of beef stew) and once a week we would have chips (fries). We would also get a pudding often some traditional stodgy English pud with custard and the custard came in different colours, pink, yellow or green! I imagine these days the menu is a bit more diverse and the puddings a wee bit healthier.
What kind of food to kids have in elementary school where you are?
I love your blog. My husband is half-Japanese, born in Hawai'i and raised there and in Texas. I love the Japanese culture. I am fascinated by it and my husband and I have grand plans of teaching our children all that we can and learning Japanese as a family in the coming years. Your blog has been so inspiring.
ReplyDeleteAs for lunches here in the states. I remember in middle school getting the greasiest pizza and burgers that we had to blot w/napkins before eating. In high school, there were Taco Bell stands, bagels and cream cheese, and basically no cooked food...just a bunch of pre-made wrapped stuff. Of course, it was an open campus and we could go to Subway or a fast food place if we wanted...or home.
This was 12years ago and I hear it's healthier nowadays....but it still appears you guys have a beat out by a long shot. :)
That's it... we're moving to Japan! :) It's sad, but I don't think we can compare! Wow, that is wonderful! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletei'm in japan, so....(but can i say that i couldn't stand kyuushoku and it REALLY depends on where you are, some are stellar and some are slop.)
ReplyDeletei went to four different elementary schools as a kid. in the south they made the lunches there in the cafeteria and they were FABULOUS. when i moved to the NW the lunches were premade somewhere then sent to the schools wrapped in foil, much like a TV dinner that was reheated at the school. in jr. high we had pizza, hamburgers, chicken nuggets, and much the same in high school. it was starting to change with a salad bar and freshly made pizza, and we managed to get an open campus by the time i was a senior. i have no idea what it's like these days!
My son brings his lunch a most days because I feel like I pack a healthier lunch than what the school offers. Our school is really trying to serve the kids a balanced meal but it's the kids who just don't want to eat it! The popular days are of course, pizza, chicken tenders, hamburgers, taco's but they do have a big variety including, shrimp poppers, calzones, french toast sticks, pasta with sauce, teriyaki, beef bites etc. The real issue that I have is that for the vegetable side they usually serve cooked green beans. With all the great vegetables out there why pick the ONE that kids don't want to eat??? They have to get fruit though and milk but overall like I said, I think my lunches are a little healthier!!
ReplyDeleteI can't get over the differences in your lunch, WOW!
goodness, you don't want to see the disgrace that is free lunch of the public schools of the capitol of the USA. My school used to use the same provider as the teacher from this blog. (She is in Chicago) Fortunately, our lunches have improved slightly... slightly. Check this out for something eye opening!
ReplyDeletehttp://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/
wow, I didn't realise how dire the food was in many places. I read somewhere that the French kids have a 2 hour lunch break and they have a 4 course meal! I'm not sure how true that is.
ReplyDeleteJamie Oliver has a new TV show in the US about trying to get the schools in West Virginia (apparently the most obese place on earth) to change their lunches from all processed foods to fresh. Problem is, their parents are feeding them the same processed foods at home! They really have never tasted fresh food and when they do they don't like it because the flavor is different than greasy fried food. In a grade one class, the children couldn't identify one fresh vegetable, even a potato or tomato, and had no idea where french fries came from. They could identify every processed item he showed them though. Even when Jamie showed a group of kids how chicken nuggets were made, from all the gunky leftovers from a chicken, they still wanted to eat them. Jamie said that had never happened before (in England). The other problem is, of course, MONEY! Fresh is more expensive. But aren't the kids lives worth it? Perhaps they should look into what other countries are doing. The Japanese lunches look wonderful!
ReplyDeletePS-I also made my daughter lunches as the food in the high school cafeteria was so bad. She often fed her friends as well so I made her big lunches!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X-5mk3BcfM&feature=player_embedded#
ReplyDeleteHere are some You Tube videos of Jamie Oliver's show about school lunches
unbelievable! I remember reading about Jamie Oliver working with schools in the UK a couple of years back, he had come up with some great menus and a lot of the kids were enjoying them then this bunch of STUPID mothers decided that their kids didn't want to eat the meals and started standing at the school fence at break time and taking orders for the kids then they would go down to the chippy and buy them bags of chips and pies. It was like he was fighting a loosing battle, obviously it is the parents that need educating, not just the kids. Makes me thankful that Ebi-kun will be getting 'real' food.
ReplyDelete