"lunches" news and stories

One of the sweetest moments of Eat, Drink, Man, Woman has the late Sihung Lung delivery a slew of warm, tasty gourmet meals to a little girl at school. The school kids ooh and ahh over the selection of meals she is given, even though peanut butter and jelly, and the other lunch staples we all know, are nowhere to be found.

I couldn't help but think of that as I read Faye's latest post this week, about the picky pressures of first graders. She's struggling to find foods that her son can take to school, and they can't be "soup, pasta, or anything rice related in a packed lunch, because he says his friends will make fun of him." A peanut butter gallet with pretzels wouldn't even do the trick. "They laughed," he said.

Poor kid! We've gone over kids' lunches before, but how about memories of food taunting? I remember being about the same age as the boy, and ranting up a storm when my friend put ketchup on her scrambled eggs. Me, I got taunted for eating a hunk of bread dipped in mayonnaise.

What dishes or food habits have people chided you for?

Although some children will be quick to point out which foods are healthy ones to their parents, not all children have reacted so positively to the recent changes in school lunches. At least, they haven't in the UK. The BBC conducted a survey of secondary schools (middle and high schools) and found that at 60% of them, there had been a drop in the number of students that were opting to buy the school-provided lunch since the switch to a healthier menu. Only 10% of schools had an increase in the number of students taking lunch since the change.

It's too bad that there isn't any US data on this phenomenon after so many schools and school districts have placed restrictions on what types of food are appropriate for kids to have access to during the day, but it seems likely that the problem would be a similar one, especially with older kids who can easily leave campus or go out after school to get the fries and pizzas that they have always had access to at school until now.

The problem is one that will gradually go away over time, as the kids who were used to the "old way" of doing things graduate and the number of students who think that they are entitled to something greasy and unhealthy will decrease compared to he number of children who might actually look forward to a healthier lunch.

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What would you do if your child were punished because you did not pack a lunch that met the schools' guidelines?

In Kent, England, a 10-year old boy was made to leave the lunchroom and eat outside under supervision because his lunch contained "one more snack than allowed". At Lunsford Primary School, a lunch is only permitted to contain two snacks (the type and quantity of other food items was not specified) and young Ryan Stupples's lunch had cheese biscuits, a cake and a fromage frais yogurt. We can assume that the school felt that the contents of Ryan's lunch would have a negative impact on the eating habits of the other children, or else they would not have sent him outside to eat. "Ryan said he...felt upset and frightened and feared he was 'going to be suspended'."

The school defended the decision to remove the child from the lunchroom, stating that they had given the father a warning about packing appropriate lunches.

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With all the hype about making sure kids' lunches are healthy, perhaps the best hing to do is send your kid to school with something healthy you've made at home.

But a sandwich in a brown paper bag is boring! These photo lunch boxes from Ogg Studio will make "taking lunch" a lot more fun. You choose any digital photo, send it in to Ogg Studio, and within a week, Ogg will send you a classic metal lunchbox that features your photo on it. Imagine your kid carrying a Superhero lunchbox, where the Superhero is...himself! Each lunchbox costs $35, and for an additional $10, you can add a second photo to the other side.

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Jamie Oliver is really passionate about making sure that kids get healthy food. Really passionate. He has even, in recent weeks, been known to call parents who feed their kids junk foods a few less-than-complimentary names. As a result of his very bluntly voiced opinions, his popularity is on something of a yo-yo, as people are alternately pleased and offended by his level of concern. One of his shows, Jamie's School Dinners, is about to go into its second season in the UK and its first in Australia, though there doesn't seem to be a scheduled air date in the US in the very near future. The show was, and still is, intended to reveal how inadequate school-prepared meals are, in terms to quality and nutrition.

With the popularity of Super Size Me, Fast Food Nation and Chew On This, the show appeals to anyone who is interested in health, nutrition and what kids are eating. It's probably only a matter of time before the show makes it into the US, too. If you haven't seen it yet, and want to get a feel for the program's content, take a look at the video clip after the jump, which features Jamie showing some kids what exactly goes into those salty little bits of breaded and fried processed meat: chicken nuggets.

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