Несъедобные обеды американских школьников

[peacetraveler22]

At my school, there was no cafeteria. Each morning, my mom awoke early and packed lunch for my sister and me. It grew monotonous, eating the same sandwiches and fruit each day. Secretly, I dreamed of being like my friends who went to public schools, lining up each day to have some old woman with a net around her hair throw slop on my plate. In the U.S., there's constant debate over what school children are fed in the cafeteria. A lot of schools have removed snack and soda machines, and guidelines about nutritional values for school meals are always shifting. Over the weekend, I looked at the menu from my nephew's elementary school, listing the meal choices for each day in the month of May. Common choices include pizza, tacos, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken nuggets and pastas, all served with some type of vegetable and potatoes or rice. There's always one healthy option like grilled chicken or fish, and a wide-variety of fresh fruit is available for purchase. Yet only the most disciplined of children would pick such options when there are tastier and more indulgent choices placed in front of them each day. All of this creates a very sad picture on the white tray. I grew curious, and began to read about school lunches around the globe, and here's what I discovered!

Look at the culinary delights thrown on these plates from Brazil, Greece and France. The Greek dish looks especially appetizing to me, while the plate from Ukraine has the same sad and pathetic appearance as the USA lunch, filled with greasy sausages, potatoes, cabbage, borscht and a pancake.


If the topic is of interest to readers, I can take my camera and join my nephew for lunch one day to explain more about what school kids in the USA eat. Of course, many parents still pack lunches for their children, so they aren't forced to eat this cafeteria slop each day. However, I think there's some level of excitement for most young kids to go through the cafeteria line each day, pick from a choice of foods, and create their own meals. It's a rite of passage for almost all American school children.

What did you eat during your school days? Cafeteria food, or homemade lunches? I have no idea what Russian children are served in cafeterias or dining halls, because I've never once visited a school there. Has it changed a lot from the Soviet era? What happens if the family has no money to pay for a child's lunch, does the Russian government subsidize it?

Comments

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I used to eat peanut butter sandwiches all the time! It was my favorite thing for school lunch. :) How do Europeans and Russians live without peanut butter? :)) I could not do it!

[dmitiry-s.livejournal.com]

We can't understand how you are eating it) just everyone who I know don't like peanut butter. It is not typically for us. Usually we're eating soups and meat/fish/chicken with sudedish like as potatoes, rice, pasta or buckweat. We think that it's healthy. Russian schools have the same menu. And it's free.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Sure, I understand. Peanut butter is something unusual or exotic for Russians, but for Americans it's totally normal. Almost all children are eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches during their childhood. :) I eat peanut butter on a lot of things - celery, bread, crackers, and it's most delicious on red apples. :)) In the U.S., school lunches are not free. Children must pay for them, but the U.S. government subsidizes the cost for low income families.

[seadevil001.livejournal.com]

Peanut butter is horrible. That one thing only famine will force me to eat. Mind you, I do not have anything against peanuts per se.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I guess it's an acquired taste for foreigners. :) You don't even like the greatest of all candies - Reese's peanut butter cups? :))

[seadevil001.livejournal.com]

Oh gawd! Even reading this candy name I shudder.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

:))

[saccovanzetti.livejournal.com]

You have to put jelly on it to make it palatable on an open sandwich.

[dubovich.livejournal.com]

Well, nowadays so many children have peanut allergies that peanut butter is not being served in many schools.

[mb-b.livejournal.com]

On my first exposure to peanut butter ('make your own sandwich'), I spread it over turkey breast, causing some dropped jaws around the table. Soon after that, I earned the distinction of 'family trash pail' for eating anything the kid(s) wouldn't finish, I just couldn't stand the idea of anything going to waste - perfectly understandable considering where I had just come from. Years after, it was still officially maintained that I 'had no taste buds'.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

:))