Fed up with Lunch: The School Lunch Project

This submission doesn't seem to be about any one article, but about your blog as a whole.

That would be spamming for your views.

Tim, this isn't her blog. And I've posted this project elsewhere... I was surprised to find it hasn't been on Neatorama before.

Tim: Apologies if the post format lead you to believe I was self-promoting. Would you have any suggestions as to how I could improve my posts so it doesn't trigger your spam alarm?

Miss Cellenia: Thanks for digging deeper and checking me out!

What do you expect? the whole education system has a "fast food franchise" style to it.

Oh, you should see this: http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html

Very cool project, though projecting this one school's food to the entire country would be a big assumption. I admit I only skimmed the blog, and I see that the topics are indeed universal to the entire US, but the food itself seems to be that of only one school.

As a child of a former food system chef, I can personally account that not all food systems are the same, and even all food service in a single district can vary in quality and selection - which is perhaps one of the points to this project?

Another point I want to make is that lunch is usually 1 meal out of 3 for a child's day. The other two are (likely) eaten at home with the child's parent(s). Instilling good habits and learning to make good choices has to start at home. Yes, there needs to be healthier options. Yes, children often make poor choices when offered poor choices. Yes, school lunch programs have a great deal of improving to do. But, Parents are also responsible for teaching their children to make better choices.

CHEESE SAMMYS ALL AROUND!!!

Sandwich?!?! That's a Pop Tart!

I always liked school lunches. I really only ate them until the 7th grade when I had other options(ditching school) but I remember loving the elementary school food and it was super cheap. If I had a problem with the school's food I'd just make my kid's lunch myself.

School lunches probably come from the same supplier as prison food. They're disgusting and hardly fit for a dog to eat. I was really lucky I guess; back when I went to school we had actual cooks in the kitchen who prepared the meals like you would at home. Can you imagine, no prepackaged shrink wrapped microwaveable slop, just actual honest to goodness food.

Don't hate, appreciate.

I recall enjoying Salisbury steak and green beans. Delish. Call it Beeftek Sou-vide avec beans verter or something and you could sell it at 3 * restaurants.

I remember loving my school lunches as well. Elementary school, my fav was the honey PB&J sandwich served with hot veggie soup and cornbread.
Middle school was just as good.
HS was awesome. Tons of options and all of them tasty.

Too bad schools can't go back to what they used to be.

@ TRC - that is a misconception. School lunches are not supplied by the people who supply prisons.
There are people who have the qualification to be cooking in high class restaurants, who make those lunches. But they have to follow guidelines and budgets. Which just crushes their cooking spirit. :(

I do not remember school lunch fondly. We had beans and cornbread twice a week. Soy burgers on Friday -that was the highlight of the week. NEVER had hot dogs, pizza, spaghetti, or tacos. Chicken nuggets hadn't been invented. Even the soup was nasty. And they never had a "vegetarian option" or an alternate choices. But then, we weren't allowed to eat in the cafeteria after 6th grade because it was too small.

Chicken nuggets hadn't been invented but soy burgers had?

the school lunch program is ridiculously complex. there are food accountants to keep track of things.

additionally, it's not run by the USDA, it's run by the Dept. of Defense. the DoD took over in the 70s.

So, mom, get your ass out of bed an hour earlier and make your kids some lunch. While your at it, COOK them some breakfast, too.

In elementary school, I went to a small private school with delicious homemade lunches. In junior high and high school, I went to public school and the lunch system went through at least 4 major changes in the system. These lunches look...unhealthy...

What is wrong with packing a lunch???

At the El Paso TX high school where I teach, it's expected that a lot of the students will go to the restaurants and places nearby to eat. They have an hour to do so. As for the rest of us who eat cafeteria food, including much of the staff, some of the dishes are bland, including the burgers which are cardboard, but there are plenty of vegetable choices, fruit choices, entree choices, etc. And there's the snack bar which serves fruit, icees, ice cream and other treats. While it isn't fine dining, I definitely believe the food selections differ from school to school. We just have a bonus in living on the border, which nets us some great cheese enchiladas and breakfast burritos.

To those who are helpfully suggesting that if these lunches are so bad, parents should just fix something at home or serve a good and big breakfast: that may have worked for your family, but school hot lunch programs serve many students for whom this is one of their only guaranteed meals of the day.

19 million children in America qualify for free or reduced-price lunches at school and depend on these meals. The real tragedy here isn't that kids are forced to eat crap, it's that the programs are so under-funded that we force them to rely on this crap for nutrition because "oh, their parents should just make them something to take in if they don't like it."