The truth about French school lunches

[marmar]

.....(snip).....

French school lunches are notoriously sophisticated. Food and eating are considered part of the academic curriculum, starting in nursery school. A child’s palate is as worthy of education as a child’s brain.

There is no coddling going on here. No dumbed-down kid menu. Even the three-year-olds sit down at tables with knives and forks and spoons and real plates and are fed the same kind of food their working daddies and mommies are probably eating at the brasserie on their lunch breaks.

There is also no rush. The lunch break lasts a full hour and a half, at least 45 minutes of which involves actual eating. Fresh ingredients– local meats, fruits and vegetables– are used as much as possible.

Other menu items include: ratatouille, grilled fish, cabbage remoulade, sauteed chicken, paté, lentils, assorted cheeses (even stinky ones), sweet potato salad, petit poids, cucumber and chevre salad, and, at least once, escargot. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/the-truth-about-french-school-lunches/

[tridim]

1. Wow. I'm thinking back to my school lunches..

A dry hamburger, tater tots, a fake onion ring, 2 or 3 canned peach segments and milk.

I'm guessing the meals haven't changed much.

[yardwork]

4. I've heard that they're even worse now. All pre-packaged, pre-cooked crap.

[HangOnKids]

9. My Daughter Refuses To Eat The "Hot Lunch" At School She Said It Stinks

From the time she was in first grade, I packed her lunch, then one day I was rushed and didn't pack her lunch and sent her to school to have the "hot lunch." She said she was starving when I picked her up from after school care, I wanted to see what she was talking about, so I took the time to see what they were serving. Holy shit, the stuff was disgusting. Basically all processed garbage. She is now in the fifth grade and I pack her a lunch EVERY morning. Her typical lunch is low fat yougurt, fruit, bag of raw almonds, lean chicken breast slices (she does not like bread), raisins, and as a snack pretzels. Sometimes she likes a laughing cow cheese slice, and hummus instead of yougurt. Her classmates think she eats "weird." I know she eats fine. I would NEVER send her to school without a home packed meal.

[Broderick]

21. I loved the pizza

honestly.


The rest could come or go.

[Scuba]

36. Sounds better than the 5-days-a-week goulash our school served.

[Skidmore]

38. When I was a kid, we had

meals at school, not snack foods. We were given a main dish with 2 sides, dessert, bread and butter, and milk. Main dishes included casseroles or a meat with gravy. There was no pizza or hamburgers. The closest we came to that was a maidrite sandwich maybe once a month. Our schools had cooks in fully functioning kitchens, not just serving lines.

[xmas74]

41. Same with us.

We had actual meals-turkey/stuffing casserole, meatloaf, oven baked chicken, ghoulash, and lots of soups and stews. Hamburgers were in high school and even then it came with fruit and veggies. Once a month in the regular line we'd have pizza (made by the cooks, not from a box) and Sloppy Joe.

Everything was made by real cooks with actual cooking skills. Most of the teachers ate the school lunch because it was good and even the public was encouraged to come in and try it once or twice-as long as they called the school by 9 am. (Ham and cheese roll-up, chili and chicken pot pie were the busiest days for the public to dine at the local schools-the meals were that popular and cheaper than fast food!)

[Skidmore]

43. I loved school ghoulash.

Always served with green beans. We had all of the items you mentioned and mac & cheese, fish, and so many other basics.

[xmas74]

44. We usually had fish/meatless every Friday

and not just during Lent. On Fridays we'd rotate between grilled cheese and tomato soup, veggie soup and tuna fish sandwich, tuna casserole, and once a month was "Fish Fry Friday", which was very popular.

Our ghoulash also had green beans. Strange how that happens. Now Fish Fry Friday was always served with hot potato salad (minus any bacon),creamed peas and rosy applesauce, along with a dinner roll and usually jello or pudding. (We always had a fresh dinner roll made on grounds every morning, unless we had a sandwich of some sort for lunch. And the sandwich bread was made on grounds too.)

I remember our desserts were always either jello, pudding and a cookie or bar cookie (just one cookie was a serving). Once a month we had birthday cake. They made white, yellow, and chocolate and a sign was posted with everyone's birthdays that month-students, teachers, staff, even up through school board members.

[niyad]

2. when I remember what passed for "lunch" . . . .

"Food and eating are considered part of the academic curriculum, starting in nursery school. A child’s palate is as worthy of education as a child’s brain. "


would that this country as a whole felt the same, along with the benefits of art and music.

[wakemewhenitsover]

3. I have public-school teacher friends who have told me stories about how students act after lunch.

Usually, the kids eat crappy sugar-based fast-food in 25 minutes or so and, back in class, go from bouncing off the walls to spaced-out. There's no doubt about the connection between a decent diet and optimum brain function, but what are the odds of seeing that dirty word, science, applied to public school lunches here?

[yardwork]

5. No-bid agribusiness government contracts.

[wakemewhenitsover]

13. Good call. n/t

[cyberswede]

6. Just today - article in nearby paper about 15 minutes for school lunch

Sad.

http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20120125/NEWS01/301250013/How-long-should-school-lunches-last-

[sharp_stick]

8. That's all my daughter got in kindergarten last year

this year they've up'd it to 25 minutes so at least they can finish the food.

At first we didn't understand why she was always bringing so much of her lunch home unfinished. Then I went in to have lunch with her, no sooner did I get the stuff out of the bag then the attendants were telling them to pack up. So much waste, a lot of food went right in the trash.

[riderinthestorm]

10. My daughter's high school is 15 minutes. nt

[progressoid]

29. Mine too. n/t

[leveymg]

7. A good diet and too much leisure time makes them unfit for productive work and war

That's why we're #1. We're #1 . . . in both childhood obesity and war debt in the world today.

[RZM]

19. Actually I think the exact opposite is true

First off, I think the premise is wrong. I don't think food or scheduling at schools is part of some master plan. But even if it were, the government and employers would actually prefer students be fed a healthier diet and given more leisure time (particularly time to play sports).

That's certainly how it was as modern industrial society took shape in the 19th/early 20th centuries, which also coincided with the rise the nation-state, large armies, and modern empires during the 'new imperialism.'

Back then, employers and governments took an interest in the health of their populations precisely because they wanted to the best possible human material for service in the military and in the colonies. Physical fitness was deemed important and the mark of a good soldier or imperial subject for obvious reasons. Interestingly, both employers and governments took an interest in sports as well - not coincidentally some of the early professional sports teams were sponsored by industrial firms and this period also witnessed the first modern Olympic games. Sports not only promoted physical fitness, but also group cohesion and the hierarchical relationships that you see in the military and on the factory floor, i.e. 'work as a team, play your position, and do what you are told.' International sports competition also fostered a sense of identity and nationalism, both of which were encouraged by governments.

I don't think there's any way to argue that a bad diet makes one more suited to work and war. It actually does the opposite. I seem to remember reading something recently about the army publicly commenting that they are concerned with the poor health and fitness of today's recruits when compared with previous generations.

The poor food in cafeterias seems to me to be there simply because processed crap is cheaper than fresh produce, good breads, quality meats etc. That's a problem we see across our entire food culture.

[leveymg]

26. Maybe, I should have hit the snark icon.

Of course, Generals, Coaches and other pea-brained authoritarians have been pushing the manly ideals of physical fitness and a healthy outdoors lifestyle of hunting, riding, shooting, fencing, and fist-fighting for many centuries. Part of that is a balanced lean diet with greens and whole grains to go with heaping platters of fresh-killed game.

We should all look like this well-fed, physically active guy (he's French):



Let's see, where's that snark button - well, there are a few new ones at DU3 - here's something close.

Seriously, I agree with you. Many Americans eat crap because apparently there's more profit in mass-marketed cheap food, and because most of the 1% have never eaten a public school cafeteria lunch.

[Selatius]

37. The problem is budget-cutting on the school side coupled with profit-seeking on the food vendor side

Of course the vendor trying to win the contract to deliver school lunches is going to attempt as large a profit margin as possible at the expense of the quality and quantity of the food provided the kids.

In an age of budget cutting because the folks who run government at the local level don't want to pay taxes (maybe because they tend to be wealthier), the crap that passes for school lunches is the best that can be had.

If the US spent as much money on education and health care as it does on war and war preparation, we might actually be found in the Number 1 spot. Nope, war profits come first.

[leveymg]

42. Both sides of that problem seem to come back to the 1 Percent who have no stake in public education

That's why I've long thought we should "public-ize" elite private secondary schools - Exeter, Andover, Choate, etc. -- along with private universities, and make their admission policies entirely merit-based. If the rich kids can compete and make it in, great, maybe they deserve to run the world.

Tax the undeserving rich, raise inheritance taxes drastically, and spend the money wasted trying to educate the Dubyas on the poor but worthy. If more rich kids had to go to public schools, the school lunches would be better. I can guarantee it.

We've recently seen the difference between a merit-based President and a legacy. I'll take the former, thank you.

[LeftinOH]

11. *Many* US schoolkids would not eat meals like that-

-maybe even a majority of US schoolkids.

Those meals look great to me, but those of us who know American kids are pinfully aware that ratatouille, cabbage remoulade, lentils, etc. would be lightly picked over, then tossed in the trash (no matter what "tasty" sounding names are applied to the food). If they're hungry, they can go straight to McD's after school and eat all the crap they want.

[Snake Alchemist]

15. I know many kids who will not eat anything but luchables and pizza.

Sad.

[Arugula Latte]

16. Sadly, that's probably true.

Our whole culture would have to change from the ground up. Our society does not value conversation and enjoying a healthy, leisurely meal. It only values money.

This is a revelatory statement from the article: "French school lunches are notoriously sophisticated. Food and eating are considered part of the academic curriculum, starting in nursery school. A child’s palate is as worthy of education as a child’s brain."

[Codeine]

17. They eat as their parents eat -- piles of shit disguised as food.

Nobody tries to expand their children's culinary horizons when it's so much easier to drop another glob of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese on their plate and call it dinner.

And heaven forbid kids should use utensils -- everything is a fucking finger food now! Nobody knows how to properly hold a knife and fork anymore, even adults. When Jamie Oliver was cooking for american schoolchildren he discovered that they aren't given utensils most of the time because they don't have a clue what to do with them.

On a totally unrelated note, ranch dressing is the devil's sauce. Apropos of nothing, just a pet peeve. Vile stuff that people put on every goddamned thing now.

[Arkansas Granny]

24. That is largely because the crap foods are the ones they've been raised on.

Very few families sit down together for nutritious home cooked meals for dinner. Some of the reasons are the low cost and availability of fast food or kids and parents being overscheduled with work, school and extracurricular activities. Also, it seems that very few people learn how to cook complete meals anymore.

Maybe some of you who still have children in the school systems can tell me if they still teach good nutrition as part of the curriculum any more? It seems like everything is working against them. They aren't offered a good diet, they aren't allowed enough time to eat and they aren't encouraged to get enough physical activity.

[Snake Alchemist]

28. To that point.

I have a friend who is married and just had a child. Even before the baby was born they went out to eat EVERY night. Not 5 nights a week, not 6, EVERY single night. I asked him about it and he said that they just didn't like cooking.

[LanternWaste]

27. It then is a good thing we do not pass laws predicated on...

It then is a good thing we do not pass laws predicated on the tastes of *many* US schoolkids.

[redqueen]

33. Just gonna post this here.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002195438

[Hugabear]

12. I used to love school lunch pizza

Remember those greasy rectangular slabs that used to pass for pizza? Back when I was a kid, I used to absolutely love it. Of course, this was probably because most of the rest of the lunch menu absolutely sucked.

[Adsos Letter]

14. Oh yeah! I also remember french bread slices drenched in butter.

And I do mean drenched.

[Codeine]

18. Oh good lord, you're right!

I had forgotten that, but they completely soaked them in butter. Gah.

[tridim]

30. There is zero chance that was butter.

We should have been so lucky.

[The Genealogist]

23. Our elementary school's pizza was unfit to eat

They made it on a very thick, flavorless crust, it had no sauce, funny tasting cheese, and ground beef that I always thought tasted like it had soap in it. Pizza day was the WORST for me! I liked the elementary school tacos, the chili, the veggie-beef soup with toasted cheese sandwich, though.

[tridim]

32. I hated ours too, I only liked spaghetti day..

Until one day when I threw it up during class. Oops.

[jeff47]

31. Ours came in little pizza boxes

And being scientifically-minded youth, we decided to perform a test.

The box tasted better than the pizza.

[Mopar151]

34. We ate acres of the stuff (they sold extra slices cheap!)

But ours was scratch-made, and a lot of the ingredients were from surplus commodities - infact, they scratch-made nearly all the breads at our high school.

I've had the bad end, too - Our junior high lunch ladies were fired en' masse - weevils in the crackers, all meat derived from hot dogs, lousy disgusting food! When the high school's lunch director took over, we got pizza like the high school, and a fresh-baked, hot dinner roll any day the main dish wasn't bread. I think the PTB knew they owed us...

[xchrom]

20. du rec. nt

[AngryAmish]

22. School lunches seem weird to me

Back in the stone age of the 70s and 80s we did not have school lunches. Everybody brown bagged it and we had a milk lady who had a cooler full of milk (howya doing Mrs. Zanghi!).

There was a cafeteria in high school but less than half the kids ate there because it was vile.

If you are a parent the minimum duty you have is to feed your own kid.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

35. My experience was the same.

but I think we got an hour for lunch, and myself and a lot of other kids would walk home (15 minute walk each way), even in the winter. High school was 45 minutes for lunch, and most of us just hung around and smoked cigarettes.

[surrealAmerican]

40. It depended on where you lived ...

... and how old the school buildings were. I was in school about when you were (perhaps a little earlier) and had school lunch nearly every day, starting in first grade. Our elementary schools, as well as the junior high and high school, all had full kitchens.

[PotatoChip]

25. I always loved the fake potatoes-- No really!

I rarely got to have school lunches as a kid-- once in a great while my mother would relent, if I begged hard enough.

But I always seemed to be able to trade just about anything for those scoops of fake potato, even a boring old apple or a boiled egg. Most other kids didn't really like them. I never understood why.

[piratefish08]

39. our son's rural elementary school serves fresh made, local and balanced meals every day.....

we are very lucky they still make meals a priority - for many kids here, it's the only truly full, healthy meal they get all day.....