Loser lunches?

School lunch is a topic of great discussion these days with important folks like the First Lady Michelle Obama and chef Jamie Oliver campaigning for healthier public school lunches in the United States.  After seeing yet another commercial for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution in which the popular chef passionately explains how the American people are killing kids by feeding them junk at lunch, I decided it was time to investigate.

How bad are public school lunches in comparison to other countries? Is one of the wealthiest countries in the world really putting school lunches that far down the totem pole?

What’s for school lunch?

That’s when I came upon a brilliant little blog called What’s For School Lunch.  The author is a former school lunch die hard who collects photos of school lunches from around the world.  Perfect!  So let’s do some investigation.

Here’s what you can expect from a typical U.S. school lunch menu.  Fruit and vegetables are in bold.

• Nachos with chili and cheese, tater tots, a plum and chocolate milk
• Hot dog, French fries, potato chips, ketchup, baked beans and punch
• Iceberg lettuce salad with chicken and cheese, ranch dressing and bread stick
• Fish nuggets, tartar sauce, apple, green beans and carrots
• Spaghetti with meatballs, roll, green beans, fruit cocktail and chocolate milk

We are definitely lacking some major nutritional content here.  Where’s the 100% juice and the skim milk?  Where’s the fruit and vegetables?  Why is everything so processes?

Other countries?

But what about other countries?  Is the United States really that bad in comparison?  Let’s take a look and see what other countries have to offer.  Fruit and vegetables are again in bold just for comparison sake.

• Brazil - Meat with vegetables, rice, beans, roll, banana, acelga salad
• China - Fish, scrambled egg with tomato sauce, rice, spinach, cauliflower, soup
• France - Mussels, artichoke, grapefruit, baguette, fries, lemon tart
• Japan - Bean sprout and spinach soup, noodle salad with cucumber and seaweed, chicken in tomato sauce, rice, strawberry crepe
• Malawi - Beans, assorted vegetables, cabbage
• Poland - Chicken, mashed potatoes, cabbage, soup, tea
• Russia - Salad with cheese, ham and mushrooms, coleslaw, apple, mashed potatoes, baked pudding, orange juice, cranberry juice
• South Korea - Breaded pork with bbq sauce, rice, turnips, cucumber salad
• Spain - Three course meals generally made of soup or salad, rice, veggies, beans, banana, apple, yogurt
• UK - Fried fish, French fries, pasta salad, green beans, corn, white bread, bread pudding

Who’s doing better?

The typical public school lunch in the United States is pretty pathetic in the way of nutritional value.  Just ask experts like Chef Ann Cooper, the Renegade Lunch Lady, who spends her life advocating for changing the way we feed our children.  It comes as no surprise to me that it was the UK is a close second.

Other countries seem to be doing much better than the United States and the UK when it comes to serving healthy meals to school children.  The big difference?  More fruit and vegetables, less sugar, less fat, less processed foods.  Many in the United States argue that schools can only afford to feed kids processed food.  But somehow other countries, even those that are much less financially stable than the U.S., are able to make it happen.   Perhaps we should ask ourselves, why aren’t we doing a better job?

How can you help?

At Playnormous we believe that lunch is one of the most important parts of a child’s school day.  Why do you think Lunch Crunch remains one of our most popular health games?  We’ve covered many lunch-related topics on Monster’s Blog from how to create a cool bento box lunch to basic instructions on how to pack a healthier lunchbox. Hopefully we’re helping make some difference.

You can help too!  Sign Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution petition or pack your child a healthier lunchbox using revamped classics like Mac ‘N Cheese and PB & J.