I read on the internet a lot about how America is trying to change their school lunch program and make it healthier. And I read a lot about how some people are not happy about this. They complain that kids won’t eat what they don’t like, food gets wasted, etc.
All of that may be true. But I thought I would share what school lunch is like here in Japan.
Children in elementary schools across the country receive a hot lunch every day. The menu is widely varied, with international kid favorites like spaghetti with tomato sauce, the local preference of curry and rice with salad and yogurt, to more traditional foods like fish with miso sauce, vegetable pickles, and wakame seaweed soup. Most days the meals are heavy on vegetables. They include fruit in season occasionally, and maybe once a month or so there is a light desert like jelly (jell-o) or ice cream. Some days they have rice, other days they have bread, still other they have noodles.
And, with a few exceptions, the kids love it!
Why is that?
Part of the reason may be attitude. When my husband was a kid, they didn’t have the facilities to prepare rice and noodles, so he looks at the monthly menu and says “ii na-,” I wish I could have had that! Let’s go back another generation, to my father-in-law. He had bread and milk only every day (ironically enough, he says it was supplied by the occupying US forces,) and he was grateful for it at a time when there may or may not have been dinner waiting for him at home. But- hamburger steak and pickled cabbage with tomatoes? “Ii na!”
In our city, preschoolers, junior high kids, and high school kids have to take their lunch. A bento lunch can be a wonderful thing, but it isn’t hot and doesn’t come with milk.
But perhaps the most important reason is that the kids themselves are involved in food preparation. Each week, half the class is in charge of serving the other half. They carry the pots and trays and multiple little dishes and utensils up to their classrooms, then ladle and scoop and pass the food to each other. When time is up, they clean it up and go have recess.
So if you don’t eat, or you take too long, you make your friends late for recess. That’s quite a motivator there, isn’t it?
Japanese children, in most cases, don’t have the option of taking their lunch if what’s on the menu that day isn’t to their liking. When my son was in first grade, that really bothered me. There were days when he only ate rice, or only ate bread, and I would have been happy to have been able to pack him a sandwich or a banana or something! But after being faced with foods he wouldn’t normally try, day after day, he’s blossomed into quite the adventurous eater. He eats so many different things now. Dinner time is much less of a battle than it used to be, and I think that’s due to the varied and interesting food he gets at school every day.
Do your children have a hot lunch at school? What’s on the menu for chow time?
This is an original post by World Moms Blog contributor, Melanie Oda in Japan, of Hamakko Mommy.
Photo credit to the author.
I’m in WA state USA, and we have the option for paying for hot lunch or sending in a packed lunch each day. My 8 year old son who has been very picky most of his life started his first years in school bringing lunch mostly, but last year he bought the hot lunch more often than packed. It’s a mixed bag in my opinion, because the hot lunch is not all that varied or well rounded in my opinion. The menu repeats often, and I think the quality of those meals if made at home and packed to send who be more beneficial than what comes out of the cafeteria. However, my son doesn’t want to make those meals at home to send in. If we pack lunch, he wants a pb&j with fruit. That gets old day after day. So I allow him to make the choice, and based on what the menu offers (pizza, hamburgers, teriyaki beef, spaghetti), I make sure to round out breakfast and dinner with lots of fruits, veggies, or anything I suspect he is skipping. My son really likes the independence of managing his daily lunch, and I don’t want to hold that back. Still, I wish our menu offered more healthy options and variety throughout the year. I think, as you mentioned, that the kids would adapt. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
I am all for varied, healthy food at school, with a reasonable level of choice, but not the option to munch on chips and fried food. I used to be a very picky eater and grew up on a diet of mashed potatoes and beef. It took me many years as an adult to undo this habit. I had to double my efforts to help my kids be healthy eaters. Kids learn what we teach them. Given the choice between a healthy meal and a junk plate, my kids will probably default to the tasty junk. So I love that their school only offers the healthy option. And they eat it quite happily, together with the rest of their schoolmates.
I really like how you describe that your son explored new food on his own choice! If school only offers healthy, and he sees his peers eating it, is will come naturally. Sounds great!
I remember Japanese school lunch from when I was a foreign exchange student there — this post brought back memories!!!
I love how it’s laden with veggies. Our school lunches in the US need that!!
Jen 🙂