School Lunches from around the Globe

[Guest guest]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4298245.stm

BBC NEWS

School dinners around the world

In Britain there has been much debate about the healthiness - or more

particularly the unhealthiness - of school lunches.

Education Secretary Ruth has promised to toughen the minimum

nutritional standards of school meals in England.

But at present, a snapshot survey of pupils' eating habits showed that

40% of pupils had eaten chips that day at school and 85% had eaten

sweets, cakes or biscuits.

BBC News takes a look at what pupils in a selection of other countries

are eating during their lunch breaks.

FRANCE - BY BBC PARIS CORRESPONDENT CAROLINE WYATT

In a country where food is virtually the national religion, school meals

are naturally a subject of intense interest, not least as the nation

worries about the rising obesity rate among its children, especially the

under-15s.

Many schools already employ their own nutritionist, who works with a

parents' committee to ensure lunches provide a healthy, balanced diet.

Much more is spent per meal than in Britain, with a French school lunch

costing anything from £1.50 to £4 a head, depending on region. Poorer

parents pay only a portion of the total.

And there's no pandering to children's love of pizzas, burgers or chips;

these are adult menus served in child-size portions, as the French

believe good eating habits start early.

FRENCH SCHOOL LUNCH

Grapefruit starter

Grilled chicken and green beans

Cheese and rice pudding

On the menu this week in a typical Parisian primary school in the 11th

arrondissement is a mouth-watering menu: a starter of grapefruit,

followed by grilled chicken with green beans, then a cheese course and

rice pudding for dessert. The day's snack is a tangerine.

One day a week, chips are on offer but with a salmon lasagne, rather

than sausage or burgers, while Thursday's pizza is served with a healthy

green salad.

The meal is accompanied by plain water, rather than fizzy drinks. There

is no choice, so children must either eat up or go home for lunch.

Yet France is still worried by the rapid growth of childhood obesity.

According to the International Obesity Task Force, part of the World

Health Organisation, 36% of Italian children are overweight, compared

with 22% in Britain and a larger-than-expected 19% in France - a hefty

increase for a country that has always prided itself on its healthy

eating habits.

Obesity already affects 15% of French under-15s and, by 2020, the figure

is predicted to rise to 25%, if current trends continue.

As a result, vending machines are not allowed in primary schools and

will be banned in secondary schools from September this year - meaning

an estimated 8,000 will have to be removed from state schools.

And while French schools may be offering healthy meals, what happens

outside school or even at home is another matter.

The traditional, balanced French meal is now eaten by only 20% of the

population - and Mcs and other fast-food outlets are as popular

with French children as with their British or American counterparts.

One million people eat at one of the 1,009 Mc's restaurants in

France every day, and the French now also drink an average of 42 litres,

or 74, pints of cola per person each year.

These days, the average French person consumes 34kg of sugar annually,

compared with 23kg just five years ago - while the under-15s consume

most of all, a frightening 39kg per year each, most of it from snacks,

sweets and soft drinks.

A French government commission has made healthy eating such a priority

that primary schools offer nutrition classes, teaching children the

lessons about healthy eating that their parents used to learn at home.

USA - BY THE BBC'S KEVIN ANDERSON IN WASHINGTON

Walk into almost any school cafeteria in the United States and the

students will be grousing about the " mystery meat " and the pile of green

stuff on their plates that once in a former life was spinach.

Students don't like the food, which means as soon as they can drive,

they head off campus to the nearest fast food franchise.

And critics say that school lunches contribute to the fattening of the

United States.

The humble school lunch has had more than its fair share of controversy

in the US.

Attempts to limit the amount of fat by limiting the servings of French

fries have only been met by student rebellion.

US SCHOOL LUNCH

Burger and chips

Fizzy drink

And of course, the most controversial moment came when Reagan's

budget director, Stockman, proposed classifying ketchup as a

vegetable to meet dietary requirements while also slashing costs.

Both federal and local officials have been trying to improve the school

lunch programme, so it is more nutritious for students and the food is

more liked by them.

But it's a massive undertaking. The National School Lunch programme in

the United States feeds more than 28 million students in 98,000 schools

across the country.

Schools also provide breakfast in some districts to low-income children

and, since 1998, the federal government has also given schools money to

provide snacks to students who participate in after-school programmes.

In 2003, the US Department of Agriculture said the school lunch

programme cost $7.1bn (£3.7bn).

The menus vary greatly from district to district, but they must meet the

applicable recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines Americans.

These say no more than 30% of an individual's calories come from fat,

and less than 10% from saturated fat.

School lunches are also required to provide one-third of the recommended

dietary allowances of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, and

calories.

The food is mostly packaged, with some critics complaining that

lunchrooms are merely dumping grounds for agricultural surplus.

Dr Walter Willett, head of the department of nutrition at the Harvard

School of Public Health, says of the foods offered to schools by the

Department of Agriculture: " Their foods tend to be at the bottom of the

barrel in terms of healthy nutrition. "

A 2001 Department of Agriculture study showed that 80% of schools

offered menu items that could be combined to meet dietary guidelines.

But more than one-fifth of lunch programmes offered commercial fast

food, and most schools had vending machines. The study found that

students often made bad choices.

But there are attempts at broader reforms.

A new programme partners schools with local small farmers to bring more

fresh fruit and vegetables to students.

And some states are pushing to ban vending machines in an attempt to

keep the students from subsisting on snacks and junk food.

NORWAY - BY LARS BEVANGER IN OSLO

There is no system of school canteens here, and all Norwegian school

children bring a packed lunch to school.

It usually consists of open sandwiches with cheese or salami toppings.

Most schools also offer a cut-price subscription service on milk,

yoghurt or fruit.

Lunch breaks are only 30 minutes long. All the pupils eat their lunches

in the classroom, often while a teacher reads to them from popular books.

NORWEGIAN SCHOOL LUNCH

Open sandwich

Milk

Yoghurt or fruit

The Norwegian school lunch reflects the general focus on healthy eating

in this country.

Nutrition is part of the national curriculum, and many teachers see it

as their duty to encourage pupils to stay away from unhealthy foods and

drinks which are rich in sugar. It is rare to find soft drink dispensers

in schools here.

But some children do turn up without packed lunches. As there is no way

for them to buy food, they go without for the entire school day.

This has led some to argue schools should introduce a state-run system

of canteens, similar to what is operating in neighbouring Sweden.

But most agree such canteens should offer only healthy foods, keeping

Norwegian schools free from soft drinks and chips.

UKRAINE - BY HELEN FAWKES IN KIEV

Chips, pizza or burgers are defiantly not on the menu in Ukraine.

But that doesn't mean that school lunches here are necessarily all that

healthy.

A typical meal has three courses and a fruit drink.

To start, pupils are given an appetiser like borsch, the traditional

Ukrainian soup made out of beetroot, vegetables and meat.

UKRAINIAN SCHOOL LUNCH

Borsch

Sausage or meat cutlet and mash

Pancakes or syrki

It's followed by a main course of something like sausages or a cutlet,

which is made of chopped meat mixed with egg and breadcrumbs and then fried.

That's accompanied by mashed potatoes or boiled buckwheat.

The dessert often will be biscuits, pancakes or syrki, which is

chocolate covered cream cheese.

In some Ukrainian schools, children who have special diets are given

healthier meals. They are not served fatty foods.

The ingredients for these special meals are steamed rather than fried.

This healthy option is something which has been around since Soviet times.

Virtually all meals are made from fresh ingredients in individual school

kitchens.

Meals used to be free but now most children pay for them. In Kiev a

pupil has to fork out around $2 (£1.04) a week.

In Ukraine poverty and corruption are a real problem.

This means that what is served up in school canteens varies across the

country.

According to the authorities in one western region, meals are very poor

quality and pupils are unlikely to be given fish, meat, eggs, juice,

cheese, milk, or butter.

In Kiev, the city mayor pays for all school children to be given juice

and biscuits at break time.

What are school dinners like in your country? Are you concerned that

they are not healthy enough for children? Send us your comments and

experiences using the form below.

I'm currently teaching English at elementary schools and a junior high

in Japan. Everyone in the school, including students, teachers,

secretaries, and even the principal eats the same required lunch every

day. It always consists of a glass bottle of milk, a bowl of rice,

usually some type of fish, a pickled salad, some kind of soup usually

with tofu and vegetables, and a piece of fruit. The menu changes every

day, and as an American who grew up dreading the provided school meal,

the Japanese lunch is actually a tasty treat to look forward to. It's

healthy, with tofu and lots of vegetables and protein, and hardly any

fat or sugars. From a subjective viewpoint, the only bad thing about it

are those not so lovely " jako, " or little whole dried fish (eyeballs and

all) that they love to sprinkle on everything.

a Winter, Kochi, Japan

In Bangladesh, giving children healthy food during Tiffin period does

not fall in the high priority list of school authorities, or parents of

most children. The school-goers love to eat the traditional junk food

consisting of different fried snacks, oily food items like tehari,

ice-creams, colas, different types of chilly and sweet chutneys or just

anything that tastes good to eat. More over, eating Western-type junk

food is more of a food fashion statement for both children and their

parents and in some cases also for the school authorities. And those few

kids who do get to eat, or are forced to eat healthy items get rebuked

by peers as in " oh look at what he/she is eating! " . So in the end, the

child either stops bringing healthy food or asks the mother for

something more acceptable.

Mahfuza, Karlsruhe, Germany

Generally non-fee paying schools in Ireland don't have any school

dinners as such. The default option is for students to bring a packed

lunch. Traditionally this would involve sandwiches, but an unhealthy

combination of chocolate bars, crisps and snack food is probably more

common today. Fizzy drinks are the main accompaniment, although some

schools offer subsidised milk. Many schools do have some form of lunch

facilities, for example, soup and pre-packed rolls, but it entirely

depends on how well the school supports itself financially (schools in

Ireland by default make a loss without contributions or fundraising),

and even so, the students usually pay normal retail prices.

Conal, Ireland

I am originally from Germany but my children have lived in the UK for

all their lives. When my daughter started school last September she came

home asking me why she is not given the same food as most of the other

kids. They have crisps, white bread sandwiches, fizzy drinks and

chocolate bars every day while my children get a sandwich made from home

baked wholemeal bread, some salad stuff and water from the water

fountain at school. As a snack they have a piece of fruit or a savoury

oatcake. Obviously my kids also like crisps, but to give these to

children from an early age every day is outrageous. I believe crisps and

fizzy drinks should be banned from packed lunches, which would force

parents to look for healthier alternatives. My daughter is now quite

happy with her alternative food and simply has realised that some kids

are different.

Liz, Oxford, UK

In Korea, schools don't provide any meals. Children always bring packed

lunches and eat them in their classrooms (the tables are rearranged by

the pupils so that they sit in groups of 4-8). What's interesting is

that the children share their lunches. They have no concept of the

lunches being their own, and the mums think of it as packing a meal for

the class rather than their own child. The meals themselves usually

consist of steamed rice, a meat dish, eggs and a few vegetables.

Harry, London

I went to school in Paris, France, in the 80s and the canteen food was

atrocious back then. It made you hate green veggies because they were

never cooked properly. Even fries were soggy! The overall nutritional

value was probably healthy, but the lack of love going into the cooking

was very contrary to our being raised to love our food. I hated lunch

time so much that I refused to eat, and paired up with French's

obsession with being slim, which resulted in serious eating disorders.

School lunches are a very important part of education, as it can shape

kids' eating habits for ever. Giving kids chips or soggy spinach will

just enhance their addiction to fast food, as they will see that the

options are healthy but disgusting, or unhealthy but tasty. Which one

would you go for as a child? The solution is to teach them to love

healthy food by making it simple but tasty. They might even encourage

their parents to cook better!

Alice, London, UK

Most American school menus are much more extensive then burgers and

French fries. Most high schools offer at least three separate choices: a

traditional meal, which changes daily, consisting of roast beef, mashed

potatoes, apple sauce, etc. The second choice is a " fast food " option,

where you stand in line and get a bag with a cheeseburger and French

fries. The third choice is usually a rotating schedule with a potato bar

(lots of fatty toppings like melted cheese, bacon), the taco salad bar

(again, lots of fatty toppings), and various deli sandwiches. Needless

to say, few choose the first option, as it is not considered " cool " .

Pelsner, United States

In this small rice-growing town on the northern island of Hokkaido, for

three years I ate the most amazing selection of Japanese dishes. Miso

soup and rice (a bowl of plain, sticky rice with no adornment) were

staples, but the miso soup often contained such items of interest as

scallops, tofu or seaweed. The main part of the meal was often protein

based, such as a pork cutlet or grilled salmon, and then there was a

salad. My favourite was something I had not expected to enjoy eating,

consisting as it did of pickled seaweed, cold scrambled egg and

tangerine pieces. Occasionally we had noodles in soup, and to hear an

entire room slurping it up in the accepted fashion was an experience!

Dessert was often a milk-based pudding, and, like in France, there was

no choice and children were expected to take part in the togetherness

ritual of the meal. They ate on trays in their classrooms.

Knights, Chippubetsu, Japan

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/education/4298245.stm

Published: 2005/03/01 11:19:12 GMT

© BBC MMV

[Guest guest]

> provided school meal,

>the Japanese lunch is actually a tasty treat to look forward to. It's

>healthy, with tofu and lots of vegetables and protein, and hardly any

>fat or sugars. From a subjective viewpoint, the only bad thing about it

>are those not so lovely " jako, " or little whole dried fish (eyeballs and

>all) that they love to sprinkle on everything.

>a Winter, Kochi, Japan

Wow, great post! I liked the one about the Korean mums too. Yeah,

gimme those jako ...

Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

Deanna-

>>The traditional, balanced French meal is now eaten by only 20% of the

>>population - and Mcs and other fast-food outlets are as popular

>>with French children as with their British or American counterparts.

Thank God. Now the French paradox will go away and we can relax in the

knowledge that saturated fat is indeed bad!

-