Your most loved school cafeteria dish?
Split pears with a dollop of mayonnaise and shredded cheddar cheese mmmmm
My daughter says,
Did they hate children in the old days?
Lol
= new reply since forum marked as read
Caroline Street (elementary) School, Saratoga Springs, NY, lunch was a quarter. You placed it on the corner of your tray and the lady at the cash register would pick it up when you walked by. At some point, I believe it went up to 30-cents. 
The kids who brought their lunch paid a nickle for milk. We also put it on the right-hand corner of the tray. The lunch ladies had all worked there for eons and knew all of us by name and they also knew our birthdays. So different now.
When I was first in school farther north - Ticonderoga, NY - we had a milk break at some point in the morning. Milk was 2 or 3-cents, IIRC, and kids took turns bringing in a package of cookies. Chocolate milk was an option and I regretted the weeks I forgot to choose it. The milkman who brought the milk every day had a daughter in my class, remember envying her because she got to see her Dad. But there were no hot lunches in those old schools, you were expected to bring something from home and we ate right in the classroom.
We got to bring a snack from home to eat mid-morning. It had to be something healthy: an apple, carrot sticks, etc. That was the first time I ever saw a pomegranate. One of my classmates brought one for snack time and I was fascinated; it looked so exotic. I couldn't wait to tell my mom about it when she picked me up that day. She HAD to buy me a pomegranate for snack. It's so funny what we remember.
And sometimes a coconut - it was up to my Dad to deal with those, he'd drill a hole in in and pour the "milk" out before splitting it. I guess they wanted us to experience something different.
One thing I really liked was a big barrel of half sour pickles at the grocery store. There were these tongs and you got to pick out your own pickle! 
Dad traveled a lot visiting cotton gins all over the south and he would bring sugar cane back from LA.
We will agree to disagree about pickles. I have never been able to stand even the smell. Don't know why because everyone else in my family enjoyed them.
I've always liked pickles, especially the half sour ones. I was the first child in my entire extended family so I spent a lot of time with adults. My grandmother would reminisce about the times she and my aunt would take me out to lunch with them when I was really young - they'd let me order anything I wanted and apparently one time I chose a pickle!
And apparently I felt that way all my life. I do know that not everyone cares for pickles, I'm used to having people say "Want my pickle?" I never say no... 
But it does sound like a similar experience. Except it was only white or chocolate milk for us - and I always regretted not remembering to choose the chocolate - and, yes, it was always for the entire week. But from what you said, I guess we were lucky, LOL. One thing I do remember was that it was always ice cold, it was brought right into the class every day by the milkman, whose daughter was my classmate.
And I went to a parochial school for kindergarten. We had a "snack break" there, as well. But no milk for us as 4 and 5-year-olds. I remember that very well, it was graham crackers and ice cold water, served in little Dixie cups. Since my parents paid tuition for that school, I wonder why, but that's just the way it was... 
but I enjoyed them. I think the fact that my mother loved to cook and was fearless and adventurous in her cooking made a big difference. I grew up being encouraged to eat just about any and everything and enjoying most of it. Those split pears weren't bad, either.
we had those rectangular pizzas. I liked them. Relatively. They always came with a side of corn.
buttery and light. I remember like it was yesterday.
I can't believe anyone would serve that to anyone, much less to a child. 
for sure.
