School lunch.
For many of us, the dread words conjure one glimmer of hope -- that a delicious carton of chocolate milk could be sipped illicitly, far from Mom's watchful, sugar-phobic eyes.
White, gluey pizza stuck to the plate by "cheese"; burger patties so flat they looked like they'd been stomped on by the gym teacher; the terror of sitting on one of those red shared seats with a classmate of the opposite gender (red means love, orange means friends) -- school lunch, in the best of times, can be traumatic.
When we stumbled upon this Web site of school lunches around the world we felt not terror, but rage.
Look at the French lunch: mussels, a steamed artichoke, baguette, cheesecake, half a pink grapefruit and French fries. Seriously? Was this staged purely to infuriate American diners raised on beaten-down chicken nuggets and gummy peach slices from a can? And French fries? Does a beret come with it, too?
We can't even talk about the beauty of the Chinese and Japanese lunches (though we're sure natives would be able to point out similar issues: "more miso soup? blech!"). Ethnocentrism aside, the stuff looks dang good to us.
Did you go -- miracle of miracles -- to a school that served decent lunches? Does this site not put you into a righteous rage? We're just going to sit here wishing we could take back our youth until someone makes us feel better.
6-10-2009 @3:18PM Lorenzo said... LOL, I can't even get my kids to taste mussels. I could well imagine what would happen to that entre if it were served at my kids' school. Without parental supervision, it seems the average kid goes for greese, starch, cheese, sugar, and burnt crunchy bits. And that's not just American kids. A bad cheeseburger and soggy fries would get chosen over mussels and artichokes every time.
Reply
6-10-2009 @3:21PM Jen said... I just hope that by the time my son is old enough I'll be able to send him to one of those progressive schools that serves real food.
Reply
6-10-2009 @3:50PM noza said... Sure, the 2nd French lunch looks great, but the first one doesn't look any more appetizing than most of the American ones. Also note there's no British school dinners listed; they would make everything else look gourmet.
Reply
6-10-2009 @5:24PM mragan22 said... So simple, pack their lunch!
Reply
6-18-2009 @11:15PM Megan said... I went to a small private school in southern louisiana and we had lunches that still make my mouth water. Red Beans & Rice, Crawfish Etouffe, Jambalaya all sorts of great stuff.
Reply
6-11-2009 @8:56AM Gobo said... School lunches are driven by what's cheap & plentiful as well as popular. Kids in Belgium grow up eating mussels & fries, but tiny shellfish cooked in cream and wine with a side of french fries isn't any more healthy (probably a lot less so) than chicken and veggies --- which is what's cheap & popular here in the States.
I'm a crazy adventurous eater NOW, but in elementary school I loved the crappy pizza and bologna sandwiches I got for lunch.
Reply
6-11-2009 @11:34AM Slashfood Editor said... I'm with you guys. In school, I was always stoked for pizza day, regardless of its quality. But I have to say even as a junior eater I would have loved half a fresh grapefruit over those terrifying jarred fruits. As a total food dork these days, I do wonder if I would have been _such_ a fussy eater right up until college if we'd had more interesting food, prepared better. But yeah, most of the time I had a bagged lunch, too. --Alex
Reply
6-11-2009 @1:38PM Arleen said... http://home.alcportal.com/content/view/13/40/
this is the best looking lunch !!!
Reply
6-11-2009 @1:50PM Arleen said... More about great lunches
http://www.choiceusa.net/Alachua%20Learning%20Center.htm
Reply
6-11-2009 @9:43PM AL said... Also check out a similar site from a national angle:
http://americanlunchroom.com/
Reply
6-13-2009 @1:51PM Jessica said... I work in a high school, so I still eat school lunch. So much of it is controlled by the state and city government, and locally, we have a nutritionist who only allows certain foods. You would think this would result in lots of fresh veggies and inventive recipes, but no, no, no. I pay 3.25 for basically nothing. Now, in the school where I did my student teaching, they had TWO really good salad bars with several pasta, potato, and chicken salads, along with fresh fruit, cheese, and crackers. There was also a fast food line, and a homestyle cooking line with a meat and veggie plate. I have seen the website and I believe that the United States needs to overhaul school lunches.
Reply