Elementary School Lunch

2017年4月18日 (火)

I was surprised recently by a topic that came up in one of my classes. I learned that almost all elementary school children in Sapporo eat school lunches. My students told me that only children with allergies bring lunch boxes to school.

In Los Angeles, where I grew up, the quality of school lunches was terrible. They often are just canned fruits and vegetables, with some processed meat or potatoes or rice. The food is made in a factory, and delivered to schools, and usually includes chocolate milk or orange juice. The food tastes bad, and is not nutritionally balanced. During my 6 years of elementary school, I only ate a school lunch one time. I can still remember it, because it was such a shock.

At my school, most children brought lunch boxes every day. Basically only poor kids ate school food because they could get it for free. I read a recent article from LA Weekly about this problem. You can find it here: http://www.laweekly.com/news/why-los-angeles-schoolkids-get-lousy-meals-2171048

In Sapporo, it seems like the quality of lunch food is good, and the taste is not bad either. I think Sapporo children are very lucky. How about you?

How was your experience in elementary school? Are school lunches delicious all over Japan?