School dinner

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American schoolchildren eating hot school lunches (1941)

A school dinner is a meal (dinner or lunch) provided to students at a school. It is usually served at sometime around noon.

Some schools have theme days whereby food is served in a particular style. For example, the school might serve Chinese cuisine to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

1 School dinner by country
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] School dinner by country

[edit] United States

In the United States, many public schools participate in a federally funded child nutrition program, the National School Lunch Program, which provides reimbursement for reduced price, free, and even a small reimbursement for paid meals to children. The quality of food in the program has been derided by movies such as Super Size Me and in parodic songs such as Adam Sandler's "Lunch Lady Land."[1] As childhood obesity becomes more of a public policy issue, health advocates are working to improve this program. All school meals that are subsidized must meet nutrition standards (lunch must meet 1/3 of the Recommended Dietary Allowance for children). More recent legislation has addressed the sale of foods with minimal nutrition and even a la carte sales. No schools are required by federal regulations to provide meals but some states have state legislation that requires schools with higher numbers of needy students to provide lunches and/or breakfasts.

[edit] United Kingdom

School dinners became a big topic in the UK in 2004 when chef Jamie Oliver spearheaded a campaign to improve the quality of the meals. School dinners at state schools are usually made by outside caterers whose incentive is increasing their profits. Since many of the requirements for nutritional content were removed in the 1980s, there is little reason for caterers to sell anything other than the most profitable food, which will be the cheapest that children will eat. After a television documentary was shown on Channel 4 (Jamie's School Dinners), the public showed support for the increase of funding for school meals, causing the government to create the School Food Trust. The topic became a factor in the 2005 UK general election.

[edit] Japan

In Japan, 99% of elementary school students and 82% of junior high school students eat kyushoku, or school lunch^[1]. Parents pay 250 to 300 yen per student for the cost of the ingredients, labour costs being funded by local authorities. The tradition started in the early 20th century. After the war – which brought near-famine conditions to Japan – the provision of school lunches was re-introduced in urban areas, initially with skimmed milk powder and later flour donated by an American charity. School lunch was extended to all elementary schools in Japan in 1952 and, with the enaction of the School Lunch Law, to junior high schools in 1954.

[edit] Menu

Usually, all meals provided on a given day are identical for all pupils of a Japanese school. The menu is planned by dieticians and changes daily. The average menu has gone through a great deal of change since the basic meals of the 1950's as Japan transformed from an impoverished nation into an economic superpower.

Traditionally based on bread or bread roll, bottled or cartoned milk (introduced from 1958 to replace milk powder), a dessert, and a dish which changed daily. Popular dishes from the early days included cheap protein sources such as stewed bean dishes and fried white fish. Whale meat, another cheap protein, was common until the 1970's.

Provision of rice was introduced in 1976 following a surplus of (government-distributed) Japanese rice, and became increasingly frequent during the 1980's. Hamburg steak, stew and Japanese curry became staples.

Today, school lunches are a diverse affair including soup and side dishes. Dishes range from asian dishes such as naengmyeon, tom yam and ma po tofu to western dishes such as spaghetti, stew and clam chowder.