They installed a salad bar at my kids high school here in Central Florida. My daughter says it pretty dang good.

Of course its 4 bucks a day that we pay.

what's not to like ( )??

chocolate ...

It looks like a minescule bit of iceberg lettuce...did the kid eat the salad before the pic was taken, or refuse it when the lunch server offered it, or is that "something else?"

PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Somehow, some lettuce accidentally found its way onto the foam tray.

no to the lettuce or ate it before the pic was taken!

I hope there was something "veggie" on the menu in that place!

That said, the subthread comments on this observation are hysterical!! Chewing gum! Soylent green! Wasabi!

I figure that eventually the English language will be shortened to mere partial soundings of single letters. Pizza will will devolve into the sound of "puh"

No wonder too many children in the U.S. are overweight.

Brazil looks good, too!

and they had pretty good desserts, too.

It was a brand new high school and the mayor of Marseille came to speak at the opening dedication. Afterward, each student was entitled to two drinks of hard alcohol from several dozen tables covered with cocktail glasses. I think I had a martini and something else. I was 15 years old and some students were as young as 13. In France, alcohol doesn't have the forbidden, taboo allure for young people that it has in the U.S. since kids typically have a glass of wine with their meals at the family table from a young age. I believe this is also true for other countries of Latin influence like Italy and Spain. I never saw young people going overboard on alcohol just to get high and I attended several wild parties during school breaks. I never saw anyone drunk in class or falling asleep in class. Public schools there would quickly expel someone for that. The public school I attended was pretty strict.

We young 'uns would usually have a mix of wine and water with a teaspoon of sugar in it. It was a very weak mixture so it didn't really affect us too much...but we did have a nap after lunch. We had a long break at that time from school, two hours at least, and since everyone went to a neighborhood school, everyone went home for lunch--there was no "school" lunch at all.

At the French high school, everyone including teachers had a two hour lunch break. And then school let out at 5:30 pm or sometimes later depending on the day. But again I never saw classmates appearing drunk in the afternoon. They knew better because every student was given only three warnings during the academic year and upon receiving the third, expulsion was required. I do recall a friend getting a warning for smashing a cream cake into the face of a classmate in the cafeteria which caused the supervisor writing up the warning to crack up.

and lunch was the bomb (what? Kids still say that, right?)

I wouldn't turn my nose up at horse (I cannot stand the animals), but there is no way I could eat cat (knowingly).

I was rather shocked when my children started going to an American school. Hot Dogs, fish fingers and chicken nuggets. Flavored milk that was so sugary it tasted like melted ice cream. They introduced healthier options but they usually stay untouched and the only kids that take advantage of the healthier options are not the ones that are not the ones at risk for obesity.
I don't think it would go over too well if they removed all crap and only had healthy choices.

Get Jamie Oliver involved and things might turn out for the better

Thank God.

It pisses me off, too... seeing what passes as our national food program in public schools. This is shit. Did you see how many faces and attitudes represent the shit they've eaten in this burgh?

They're all hypertensive, and obese. The DJ on that station probably was on a bender the night before his interview with Jamie.

that the dj's buddies got him to act like an ass to Jamie as a joke

And I had originally heard about Jamie's work due to his TED speech. You'll have to look that up, tho. I can't do videos on this Kindle

Washington state. I delivered dairy to schools in both states. One of the perks is that the school cooks gave me treats. Also, school cooks are among the nicest possible people to deal with.

It wasn't even close. The Idaho kids got way better meals and there were more cooks employed to do it. I could see lots of the same stuff on the menu as when I was a kid 40 years before. The difference is that they have a little more choice. Two main items to choose from I think.

that even closely resembled what was served?

A little lighting... arraignment... food coloring...etc and a meal served in a North Korean reeducation camp could be made to look like it was served in the finest 5 star restaurant in NYC.

.... I'd say the French meal is minimally doctored if at all. The only thing that would pass muster for a shoot is the bread. Of course, it was clever, in that case, to make it the focus of the picture.


On the other hand, the USA meal is deliberately badly presented. Thrown on the plate. So too the tex-mex pic you posted. Both could be improved greatly by presentation without any doctoring.

Still... I'm just talking about LOOKS... what the items actually do for kid's nutrition is another matter altogether.

These food photographs in the OP are far from professional. I know because I work in an area that calls for food photography.

Here's a professional food photograph:



The cynicism here abounds.

And also, you should take to heart the poster's comment upthread, that people who work in food service at the schools are some of the nicest people he's met.

Like teachers, they're not in it for the money.


Cher

I've seen the helping of fruits and veggies the kids get. Problem is, too many of them only know/want hotdogs, chicken nuggets and french fries. The schools can't afford to feed them what they won't eat. Choices begin at home. I have grandchildren that would rather have cauliflower and broccoli than candy. Only problem is...it has to come with Ranch dressing. But, at least they are getting something out of it.

many rural schools don't offer up healthy alternatives.

From France: Mussels, Grapefruit, Yogurt, Whole artichoke, Tarte au citron (perhaps), and a big plate of Freedom Fries!

Last Thanksgiving, my brother-in-law's sister was complaining about how Michelle Obama wants to 'dictate' what kids are eating in school. Trying to abolish pizza from the menu, etc, etc. She was basically reciting an anti-Michelle Obama screed from Fox News. The funny part is, the sister works in the local school cafeteria. I have a feeling she'd rather dump stuff out of cans than actually make real food from scratch.

you'd see that your sister isn't alone in wanting to open up a can and throw it on the buffet line. He met great resistance to his ideas for improving school lunch fare from 'lunch ladies' on up to the school board.

It's only fair to point out though that a lot of schools have cut back to such an extent that lunch staffs are almost non-existent, so workers are stressed to the max.

Where the school lunches (inspired by Alice Waters) are pretty incredible:

?w=500&h=397

http://blog.ted.com/2008/10/26/school_lunches/

Which ranks it #208th in the state of California. Quite low, actually. (Google is easy, and I think you could have answered this very quickly.)

The reason Berkeley has these great lunches is that they've put a tremendous amount of effort into it in the community, from parents and other interested parties; because the culture of Berkeley is very "natural" and health" oriented anyway; and because, as I said, people like Alice Waters have taken an interest in making it an experimental outpost for how you can feed children on a budget with fresh, healthy foods and get them to like it. They've put efforts into educating kids on nutrition too. And of course, unlike many areas of the country, they have year-round access to fresh, local, organic foods.

For more information on "What happens when parents decide to transform a school lunch program?" and "Is it replicable"? see the website for Lunch Love Community (disclosure: this is a media project by a friend of mine):

http://www.lunchlovecommunity.org/

My sister lives in Alameda and it's an incredibly affluent area. A little too gentrified for my tastes though and the trend seems to be continuing.

http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cities/Berkeley.htm

It's just not possible in some school districts to even come close to replicating this. I've always thought school funding should be nationalized, but the richer districts seem to be against that for some reason.

It's about allocating resources inside the district. Berkeley's program uses the same USDA-bought food as anywhere else: they just don't buy any processed food, and what they buy they cook themselves.

Is it replicable? The people who did it there think it is, on some level, if the will exists. And it's replicable in small steps: buy the USDA available chicken, not the Tyson prepared chicken nuggets; next year, instead of the DelMonte fruit cup in syrup, buy fresh apples:

Please view: http://lunchlovecommunity.org/but-is-it-replicable.html

Many district can't afford fresh chicken especially with today's prices.

It's the same damned chicken the USDA sells to other districts.

People must take back control of local government....and in many places in this country it is controlled by the right wingers...who see no benefit in healthy kids...well at least the ordinary ones who can't afford to go to a private school.

Students are encouraged to list their college town as their residence in the census, as that's where they spend 9 months of the year.

College students tend to earn either no money at all or relatively little with part-time/low paying jobs. So I'd say that has a lot to do with Berkley's numbers. Take out the college kids and its probably a lot higher.

The question has nothing to do with the relative income of Berkeley. On economic grounds, the question is this: does this (small) district put out a healthy lunch for close to the same per pupil price as other districts? Maybe, maybe not. Look it up yourself; I've been doing other people's research on this all morning, and I'm busy.

Certainly better than what I got as a kid.

All I'm saying is that income levels tend to be artificially depreciated by large numbers of college students. Many partly live off their parents, whose income is usually recorded outside of the college town where the kids live.

we can make a difference......

This too looks minimally doctored. But the meat & spinach leaf stuff on the right has been arranged, and they obviously picked a good looking pear. But , other than friendly lighting, that's about it.

Quality selections, but unfortunately that's not the norm, even if it should.

That is one great-looking lunch!

The schools I've taught at even in the poorest parts of China, the school lunch selection was three out of four walls.

Made to order stir fry, yangzhou fried rice, Chinese meatballs, noodle dishes, soups, bao zi, jiao zi, vegetarian dishes. . .all made by hand. No crap like that picture of the chili cheese dog and french fries.

Americans could learn from that.

The Chinese lunches you describe are more than likely what they eat at home.


So are the USA lunches.

Just sayin'.....

I still live here, albeit in a much wealthier section of Jiangsu called Nanjing. But when I was in Shijiazhuang in Hebei. . .not really true.

As for the "eat at home. . ." I'm not talking about the culinary selection based on culture, I'm talking about the culinary selection based on quantity.

Imagine a rectangular room 600 feet by 200 feet. Along the two 600 foot walls and one of the 200 foot wall is nothing but foot, priced anywhere between one yuan and four yuan, depending on the choice.

For nine kuai (street slang for yuan), a student can pig themselves out and have to throw food away. Nine kuai = about $1.45

Compare that with the Floridian that has to spent four dollars a day on a salad bar.

I used to live in & teach in Guizhou for 2 years. Youre right about the lunches. ZOMG soooooo gooooood....

She ate school lunch while she was in grade school, but once she began High School she started taking her lunch. Her weight dropped every summer but would increase during the school year. Beginning her Freshman year there was no weight increase in the fall. She also has noticed that her skin looks better and her hair and nails are in better condition.

Made a huge difference when her lunch went from being deep fried starchy crap to organic veggies and fruits with lean proteins...



Laura

at some public schools in Chicago:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-04-11/news/ct-met-school-lunch-restrictions-041120110410_1_lunch-food-provider-public-school

Although, in their defense, it appears that they are trying to get the kids to stop bringing unhealthy lunches and snacks to school. Sounds like the parents have a worse understanding of nutrition than the schools...

Even if it was crap (and it often was) because the meal couldn't touch a teenage appetite, we'd be starving well before school was out and be ransacking the pantry or at the fast food joint ASAP.

The meals greatest contribution to obesity was to make constant snacking on crap a priority and promoting binge eating when you finally had access to some calories.

It was bad. SERIOUSLY bad. Bad to the point that you couldn't stand the smell of it. Not much danger of gaining weight from that stuff, either!





Laura

I have been in my g'dtr's cafeteria at lunch time and aside from what is served, the portions are puny and would not satisfy a healthy child with a healthy appetite. Just MHO. But I've fed people in various combinations and situations for a very long time, and have a good idea what a decent serving is for a child as well as an adult.

Nonetheless, my g'tr, like my daughter before her, gained weight (too much weight) when she went to school and her activity level decreased greatly sitting at a desk all day (even very young grade-schoolers - have to teach for the test, I guess).

And g'dtr, like dtr, is absolutely starving when she gets home.

They get pre-packaged crap nuked in plastic bags.

Kudos to St. Paul on the other side of the river - they actually have cooks who cook food for the kids.

But that was 25-30 years ago. The food looked nasty then, too.

Is cultural.

I gotta no idea how to change that.

Parents in liberal towns who can afford fresh produce (how sad is that when processed crap is dirt cheap and a bell pepper is $2? ... anyway I digress) are changing the way they feed their kids. I live in Portland and a lot of the kids grow up eating fresh fruits, veggies and lean proteins -- often organic. Same goes for places like Berkeley, Seattle, San Fran, Boulder, Cambridge, Takoma Park, ... etc. But the norm for most of the country is to eat high fat, fried, processed, high-fructose corn syrup filled junk.

We live within Portland, Ore. city limits and child obesity is relatively uncommon at the schools my kids have attended (there might be one fat child per class of 30 or so). However, when my kids' sports teams have played kids from the suburbs or even outlying parts of eastern Portland, there is a marked increase in obesity among the kids and parents. Part of it is socioeconomic and part of it is cultural. I hope as a country we can make a change. It is going to take a lot of effort on many fronts.

When they get to college, at least here in northern NJ outside NYC, they are vitally interested in natural foods and vegetarian meals.

I teach speech communication and research writing. Every semester, my students' favorite topics are:

organic food
vegetarianism
GMOs

and many other topics related to the above.


Cher

that's the only way i can think to change it.

been a picky eater all my life ... at least now i try new foods ... but i still cannot bring myself to eat most vegetables (unless they are covered in the stuff that's not good for you). some of them, like brussel sprouts, even the smell makes me start to gag. no way i could eat them.

things like carrots that are deglazed, aka sweet, and you do not need too much sugar will do the trick...

But actually we encourage the picky eater. The kids I at times worked with, they had no choice, and they craved the fresh fruit and vegies we at times brought. You see they were real poor, so that was extra food.

That is one thing I have observed, people who have been hungry for real, lose a lot of the icky food factor, for the most part.

But it is also cultural. In other places fruit and vegies are truly mainstays of the palate, here it is not. We really need to change that aspect of the culture.

seasoned with salt/pepper. Particularly if you buy them on the stalk, though I haven't seen them sold like that for years now.

because A) they store well and B) we subsidize the hell out of them.

(and indirectly that means we subsidize meat/dairy).

You can't change A) so much, grains will always dry and store better than broccoli. But we can work on ending B).

but they clearly went out of their way to make the US meal look as unappealing as possible. Not exactly an accurate representation.

/but again, ours do have considerable room for improvement.

What specifically leads you to believe they went out of their way, and your assertion that it is not an accurate representation?

every other meal is nicely organized with either no silverwear or the silverware neatly arranged.

The American one is zoomed in, with the food clearly scattered (I guess all American lunch ladies just throw the food at the trays from across the room) and a spoon carelessly jabbed in the side.

Oh and the lighting is terrible.

Any photographer worth his salt could take the same meal and photograph it in a variety of ways (many more if he can rearrange the items) to make it more or less appealing.

Oh and the gum I'm guessing stuck in the top corner of the tray? Yes I'm sure all American kids are served lunch on a tray with chewed gum stuck to it.

In Oakland, which is right next to Berkeley and Alameda, but is really poor, in elementary school we got a hot tray and a cold tray.

The cold tray usually had a piece of fruit and a small green salad, and the hot tray typically had some kind of vegetable, a starch, and a "main." For example, green beans, mashed potatoes, and meatloaf. And milk on the side, of course.

Don't get me wrong, it was pretty vile, but the school tried to feed us something that wasn't all nutritionally bankrupt.

High school, on the other hand, I remember splitting a Taco Bell burrito and a cup of fries with my friend almost every day. It wasn't what we were served, but it was what we picked out for ourselves.

With most of these lunches, I guess my question is what age group they're feeding, and whether it was something the school was serving on that day or whether it was something the kids picked out for themselves.

I found what Oakland is serving now:

http://publicportal.ousd.k12.ca.us/ousd/lib/ousd/_shared/Meal%20Menus/Elem_Lunch.pdf

Still doesn't look great, but they're obviously trying here.

They are much worse than anything I had growing up. I see it first hand, having a child in school. Until this last year, a fruit roll-up counted as a piece of fruit. Chicken nuggets were served once a week, fries almost every other day, etc.

They are trying now, due to new statewide legislation, but it will be years before it makes a huge difference. By that time it'll be too late for an entire generation of children.

I graduated in the early nineties. I have a child in middle school now and her lunches are not good, nor are they good for her. (That might be why I encourage lunches from home.)

You'd be shocked at how much some have changed for the worse. There are a few districts that still have good lunches and a few who have changed over, attempting to make them better. The problem is that they are few and far between.

I don't know if chicken nuggets were even an option when I was in high school. I remember having real cooks who made real meals-oven baked chicken, spaghetti, chicken fried steak, chili,turkey, salmon croquettes, etc. We always had fruit, veggies, and fresh baked rolls, along with a simple dessert made by the staff. (One cookie, a serving of jello, or pudding.) The meals were simple but filling and they tasted good.

I don't think I've ever noticed oven baked chicken, any kind of fish, or any number of things on the menu. I do notice lots of Tony's pizza, chicken nuggets, hamburgers, and hot dogs on her menu. And everything seems to have fries or potato chips!

And if they do, people have the power to change it if they care enough. It's usually not any more expensive either.

Even down to the tray, I think ours were green.

And we wonder why our kids are obese.

Not one meal looks tasty, except for Italy's. We should treat kids better.

We Red-blooded patriotic 'Murricans reat processed food like GAWD intended!!!

Look, I don't want to be a champion for US school lunches, but:

Nearly every other photo is a nice, restaurant-ready, neatly prepared meal, with each item neatly placed on the tray or plate. Hell, even the utensils are neatly staged.

Likewise, the USA lunch photo is clearly staged to give the impression of haphazard carelessness, with randomly dropped french fries and fork, and a squashed chili cheese hotdog.

The USA photo looks precisely as did the HS lunches served in the mid-eighties. Also, in the story, the platters are not merely photographed, but mention menu and ingredients also...

A9dditionally, what some may see as propaganda may just as validly be interpreted as merely editorializing...)

across the lunch room, including a half chewed piece of mint gum carelessly mixed in there?

while the lunches from other countries offer real food, much less processed or even fresh, and healthy fruits and vegetables.

Like I said, I don't want to defend US school lunches.

I'm just saying, the photos are clearly staged to give a certain impression.

Wish I was kidding.

Looks like something fished out of the toilet and put onto a bun.

Sans pink slime?

For my Junior and Senior year, I lived in a small Oklahoma town ( pop. 5000) The lunches we had were incredible.
Everyday at about 11:00 you could smell the homemade from scratch yeast rolls the lunch ladies made. The smells filled the hallways.
By today's standards, the lunches may not have been "healthy", but they sure were good.
We always had fresh mashed potatoes, some days chicken fried steak with gravy ( beef country )
and the green beans were flavored with bacon and onions. Chili day was a treat we looked forward to, and also spaghetti day.
Desserts were usually cobblers. Peach, cherry, and apple brown Betty and sometimes chocolate chip cookies.

-----------------------

For the heck of it, I looked up the Tulsa menu.. looks like a wide variety is offered, even for vegetarians

Elementary breakfast: http://www8.tulsaschools.org/1_Administration/03_STAFF_MEMBERS/_DEPARTMENTS/child_nutrition/_documents/pdf/Breakfast.pdf

Elementary lunch: http://www8.tulsaschools.org/1_Administration/03_STAFF_MEMBERS/_DEPARTMENTS/child_nutrition/_documents/pdf/Lunch.pdf

Middle and High school lunch:
http://www8.tulsaschools.org/1_Administration/03_STAFF_MEMBERS/_DEPARTMENTS/child_nutrition/_documents/pdf/Secondary.pdf

they had two areas for lunch.

One was an outside line and served mostly snacks and single items, wrapped hamburgers, hot dogs, apples, milk, peanuts, stuff like that.

The other was inside the cafeteria and served real meals cooked right there in their complete kitchen, real mashed potatoes, real butter, fresh and frozen vegetables, all types of real meat (not canned), pastas, fresh salads, fruits, desserts, well you get the picture and you always had multiple selections to choose from.

A lot of the food they used was USDA surplus, so they probably purchased it at a reduced rate, but it was high quality.

The cost for a complete meal in 1959, when I was a senior, was .35 cents.

I ask you, are we really doing the best we can for our children, or just caught up in a system of corporate greed?

I graduated in 93 in a suburb 30 min east of SF.
The lunch ladies actually cooked nearly everything that was served including the sammich bread (we had to-order subs that were good even with gov'mint cheese)
The pizza bread was fresh, but the sauce was canned (it wasnt THAT big a kitchen) and they sold something called a zombie for breakfast - a ball of bread with cheese in it DELICIOUS on a cold morning.

I used to work in the lunchroom (mostly to stay out of trouble) so I know what they did.
There was also a salad -like bar.
The food was decent and healthy with tasty options.

The perfect example of how you can have a balance of taste and health. Of course not all schools had the kitchen we did, so we were lucky. My HS had more money because it ran several ROC programs including a radio station and Auto repair. in its hay-day it had a renown metal and wood shop as well as a (then) college level drafting program. That is if you took all 4 years of drafting, you got college credit at the local JC (which was also #5 in the country)

Point being that the people at MY HS cared enough to try, and the parents supported the school even now. A lot of districts may not have that level of home support that mine did.

anyway, from my experience in living abroad, and what my ex tells me about food there, I'd say those pictures aren't an exaggeration. HOWEVER... The American lunch IS meant to invoke a unfair reaction. But it's not that far off from what is made/sold today. They forgot to replace the milk with a can of pop BTW

It looks like the healthiest is Singapore, but all these meals feature processed grains. I will never understand why schools don't offer whole grains instead of the pure sugar that is processed grains. Sheesh.

A hot dog is not bad if it is topped with fresh veggie relish. Good food does not have to be costly for school districts. The problem is a lack of creativity among administrators that run school kitchens.

It depends which school type (branded [Private or "select public"] or neighborhood) and the type of service. Almost all schools contract out to outside vendors and, in many schools now, they are run much as the fast food places the kids go to after school. Rice is often cooked with high sugar content coconut milk. Singaporeans also inundate much of their food with salt and many of the vegetables are so overcooked that very little nutritional value may remain. Sure the portions are good sized and inexpensive. Fresh fruit is available, but drinks are mainly sugared teas and sugared yoghurt. As a result, obesity is a real problem in many neighborhood schools. Add to the lessening of PE due to a "got to pass the test" mentality that is ripe in the system and there is also a rise in diabetes at an earlier age. (I currently teach in a very typical secondary school in Singapore and have not seen a great variation in the many schools I have visited over the years.)

It's always easy to diss that closest to you. I don't know if the little farts in my neck of the woods are eating the meals, but in the town where I live it's salads and veggies and fruits and whole grain this and artisan that on the school menus in the local paper. Lots of turkey and chicken, not much beef, either.

but it is NOT a valid example of what is offered in a school lunch.

Since before Christmas. Hostess fruit pies are occasionally served as a "side of fruit."

The schools here are underfunded, and a loophole provides that the only place that the District is legally allowed to make a profit from students

but not really super good, either. (Though the high school I went to had a pretty decent snack bar. =) )

I really doubt that. It wasn't that way when I was a kid.

Also, look at all the styrofoam trays. While other countries reuse their plates and trays we produce more waste.

The food looks like processed crap. No wonder we have such a problem with childhood obesity.

get for lunch.



I think that part of the school lunch problem is also how quickly children have to get thru the lunch line find a chair and have to shove it in their mouths before they have to get to the next class.

But what the freak do you expect from a country that counts Ketchup as a Veggie.

The staples were pretty gross usually...but the salad bar and deli was pretty good. Yeah, we were able to get sub sandwiches with freshly sliced meats and cheeses. Just like ordering at a regular deli.

Breakfast was also basically bagels or taylor ham, egg and cheese on a hard roll. Perhaps not the healthiest, but my school knew how to do good NJ food. It was pretty cool being able to go through the line and order a sandwich just like you would at a sub shop.