Japanese School Lunch: Week 12

2008.08.22 • Japanese School Lunch

Please note that the American menu provided is from my middle school in the US. It is meant to serve as a comparison.

Well, the school year has started up again. Technically, it started on Tuesday this week, but due to the “welcome back to school” testing, I wasn’t summoned to classes until Thursday. The testing also affected other things, like the school lunch delivery system, so I had a bento that day. The school lunch delivery started on Friday…except I was sent to a preschool, which has its own independent kitchen.

One thing I regret is not being able to run this project completely; that is, I can’t take pictures of the food served on the US menu. However, Holy Taco has archived some images of what I believe is typical school lunch fare in US public schools. My memory is fuzzy but I think the quality of food has actually gotten worse than since I was in school (although the spaghetti and thin crust pizza look about the same).

If you’re unfamiliar with the US public school type lunches, I urge you to click that link and see the slop we feed our kids. The menus may include all the food groups and have some nutrients but it just looks awful.

August 22, 2008

Japanese Menu	American Menu
Rice with umeboshi Miso soup with dry wheat gluten and green beans Tempura pumpkin and white fish Orange wedge Barley tea	Tuna salad on croissant Pickle spear Grapes Brownie Milk
Other Notes
On this particular day, I would take a tuna salad over the fish they served. Preschool diet is very bland, due to the small children being, well, small children. Their stomachs are still developing, I think. So the food, while nutritious, is generally not as tasty as elementary/JHS school lunch.