Monday 14 May 2012

Last Thursday I went to a small radio studio in Oban and recorded an interview with a BBC radio programme. It was played today and it is very strange listening to your own voice. I talked about my blog and my lunches. 325,000 people have visited the blog now. I am still catching up with your comments. Thank you for sending them all.


Today I had vegetable soup and sausages with roast potatoes and salad. The lady on the radio said I had a choice everyday of mini tomatoes and watercress, but I have never seen them. My soup tasted of mainly carrot but i am not sure. I had three wee roast potatoes which were a bit small and the sausages are very different to the ones I get at home. They are very crispy on the outside and the texture is like a baked potato.

Food-o-meter- 8/10
Mouthfuls- I must take a pad to keep tally!
Courses- starter/main
Health Rating- 6/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 1 (under the cucumber)

I'd really like it if other people could send in their photos of their school dinners and rate them the way I do. I'll put them on my blog. Please send them to NeverSeconds@gmail.com


VEG



52 comments:

  1. I really like your blog- here in New Zealand our students don't have lunches provided like in UK but they can buy things from a tuckshop. In my school I'm really disappointed that we sell too much processed food and snacks high in sugar- and I'm a teacher! I hope our food providers read your blog and have a deep think!!

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  2. I'm noticing more of a nutritional balance this week. I suspect your school canteen have taken notice of your blog!

    The reason the sausages are strangely textured is because they will have a high rusk content and low meat. This makes them pappy and soft and not very pleasant. Shame they can't spend some of your £2 on some decent bangers.

    I'm disturbed about the piece of hair!

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  3. See now, I think that looks fine. *shrug* Particularly given that most schools would have free fruit at break. I think people have lost all sense of what constitutes an appropriate portion size, especially for children.

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    1. One reasonable looking meal does not make a weeks food.

      Veg has taken a stand on the quality of the food she is offered and rightly so.

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  4. I posted on Blogspot, Tumblr and Facebook about this, and I definitely support you! Can't believe they are trying to censor your writing from the Internet over there. You are a citizen journalist and you have the right to be heard. Keep it up!!

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  5. Greetings from Denmark!! you made the news papers over here, i am a british girl living here and look forward to your updates to see whats new , i do hope the school is shamed into doing something about it soon. and i do hope they are forced to wear hairnets to stop the hairs :D

    keep going !!! yours is the first blog i have ever followed.

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    1. Thank you! Veg reads the comments and likes hearing from Denmark as a friend lives there. We are surprised it made the newspapers in Denmark.

      Veg's Dad

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  6. It doesn't look too bad, but the portions still seem very small.

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  7. Hemm it seems very delicious..hehe you is very creative kids...

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  8. Hi veg.
    I am still shocked by your post's. the food you get is very poor. Please take a look at my blog and if you can some how encourage others to look at it please. I am a chef in a private school so our pricing and food policy is a little different from your's but even so.
    Any way here is the address. http://todayschooldinner.blogspot.co.uk/
    Thanks

    Chef

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  9. I heard your interview, well done! I showed this photograph to my 4 year old, he said "that doesn't look very nice to me". So there you go. I'd never serve that up. And how do you feel about your plates with compartments, we don't eat like that in any other place...bring on proper plates!

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  10. It's the strange combinations that are entertaining me - roast potatoes and salad? I can't wait until you get tuna steak and custard...

    I'll ask my class if any of them want to add their school lunch to your collection!

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  11. The sausages were probably pre cooked and frozen, then deep fried...yuk. Great blog, keep it up :)

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  12. Well done you, on You and Yours :)

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  13. Greetings from Slowfood and Mensa Civica Spain!! Your Blog is the voice of protest against the bad food in schools canteen. It is necessary to initiate a turn in Europe. Jorge Hernandez Slowfood Spain. http://www.eatingcity.org/

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  14. Schools can offer very low quality meat products or deep fry foods regularly. People need to set this blog in context. I recommend reading this;

    http://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/downloadableDocs/Government%20response%20FINAL%20VERSION.pdf

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  15. I must say that I love the 2nd appearance of three whole slices of cucumber. Or that a cheeky 4th slice hiding there? Keep up the good work. I've shared your blog with many friends since your 2nd post and they all think it's genius. I hope the recent improvement to the quality of the food you're getting remains and standards consistently improve. The TRUTH always wins in the end.

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  16. WOW! You´re doing great! I hope the responsibles will read your Blog and change something. Here in germany, the food is very different. I don´t think, that your lunch is good for growing little people. :/
    My 2 years old son in the "Kindergarten" get´s better lunch than you. Perhaps the kitchen at your school is rather a fast food restaurant.

    I´m very sad about the state at your school! It woudn´t work here in germany.

    Wish you good look! <3

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  17. Greetings from Germany. Good Job. Keep on going. The Food seems to me a little sparse.

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  18. *CAN'T! Not can... Schools CAN'T offer low quality meat or deep fry.

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  19. Greetings from Germany
    Schools, together with parents and responsible authorities, should consider issuing contracts for school lunches to local food growers in order to ensure a local market for healthy foods.
    Good luck to you and keep it up...

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  20. It's a shame that those rules don't apply in Scotland, it has its own government and so that makes the rules on school lunches in Scotland.

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  21. When I look at your pictures I always try to figure out why the vegetable portion is so small. Besides the rest of the food doesn't look tasteful and suitable for a child. This is not the first time I heard of bad school lunch in GB. Why is there such a disinterest in good but affordable food for children? Hope you can actuate a change in thinking. Keep doing! Best wishes from Cologne in Germany. :)

    There is an article about you in the biggest boulevard newspaper in Germany. http://www.bild.de/ratgeber/2012/mittagessen/martha-bloggt-ekel-schulessen-internet-hit-24142888.bild.html

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  22. This it´s the right way. Never give up! Congratiolations! Greetings from germany :-)

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  23. You even made it in the German "Bildzeitung" (like "Sun" or so). Congrats, I like this Blog and I hope you can move things!

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  24. Greetings from London.
    I love your blog. I predict great things for you.
    Prime Minister one day perhaps?
    Don't stop.

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  25. I just read about your blog in the german online newspaper "Bild". (quiet similar to your "Sun") So you already made it into the worlds papers.
    Congratulations for your blog. I guess these are the things that might change the world.
    Good luck and go on!

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  26. Great idea, this blog! Fairly shows up the unappetising stuff you're expected to eat. In France the pupils and staff have great meals with considerable choices in a two-hour lunch break. BTW, your Dad's right about your name - I speak Latin! :-)

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  27. even my two years old daughter eats more at lunch then you kids get ...how can u even learn with that weird food?

    Keep up posting and cheers from Berlin
    Dirk

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  28. Hello Veg

    I love your blog and recommend to everyone I know to read it.
    I look forward to reading it everyday when I'm at work.
    You are doing a fabulous job.
    Veg for Prime Minister!

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  29. You're doing an interesting thing - and making it interesting. Son't get bored? Keep it up!

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  30. Hey! I'm a spanish girl, and in my school the food is similar :( I can't send you a photo of the food, because they forbidden the camaras in the school, and i can't take a photo :(

    Today, i have for lunch: A strange soup (i think it was water with pasta...)
    A strange chicken... it was so bad, and bad cooked...

    Lucky you! :)

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  31. Have you got a link to your radio interview you can blog, please? Would you lovely to hear you on the air!

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  32. Great Job! Great Blog idea! I'm from Germany and the school food from my daughter is excellent. They have a kind of 3 course menu. They have a starter soup and can choice for different Meals and always an dessert. But everything is very healthy, no junkfood. I'm shocked about your Schoolfood. Hope you can change a bit! Go on!!! :o)

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  33. I am pleased to see how a child is able to make their voices heard. I write from Venezuela, listen to your blog in the news and I was impressed because I have children who go to school and have a snack of home made by me, and lunch take it home. Here there are no canteens in schools, except in public, and only when there is sufficient budget for it. First time I keep a blog and I congratulate you because although our latitudes are different and our climate and so on. I will tell when the food is deplorable. I hope you win this fight

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  34. Has Scotland continued rationing food, thinking the war is still on?

    Please give this young woman a square meal!

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  35. Keep up your blog, it's a good thing we get to see the reality of what's served up in schools!

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  36. WOW! How many portions do they manage to extract from one carrot? Are you sure the hair you found was not actually a shred of something healthy?

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  37. It makes my heart happy to see someone standing up and being counted when it comes to the cafeteria food in schools. I shudder when I see or read of what some children are being fed these days....and they call it food!!! Keep up the good work. Your blog hopefully will help other children to speak up and demand healthy food choices from canteens at their schools.

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  38. I LOVE that you are doing this blog! Maybe it will wake some people up. Keep going.
    ~a new Never Seconds fan from Colorado in America ;)

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  39. Greetings from Florida, USA. Wonderful writing, Martha! Very witty, engaging, and informative! Keep on the good work, keeping the school lunch program accountable. And kudos to you and your parents for striving towards well-rounded meals. You have quite a sophisticated palate! You "little" blog is changing your community, and helping to nourish and develop the growing minds of your peers. What blessed work!
    -Wendy

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  40. The fresh food initiative in the state of Vermont, USA brings the lunch programs here to a new level in my book... your next mission, if you choose to accept it, is to check it out and teach your teachers how to do it!!! Very impressed by your honest and critical look at your situation. Looks like the world's behind you too!!! here's a bit of homework for you. Good luck! http://www.farmtoschool.org/VT/

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  41. CIAO Martha,
    I am Italian and leaving in Greenock.
    maybe to find it you will spend less than 48sec. ;o)
    I am very impressed about your MANIFEST!!!
    That will be helpful for my 2 kids starting the primary school very soon.
    THANK YOU!!!!
    GO GO GO GO GO MARTHA ;o)

    P.s. BTW just for your knowledge the Public School doesn't provide any food at all.

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  42. hi, Martha,
    are you really a 9 yr old? Liked your pictures very much. My niece was amazed to see that people ate from crockery just like the ones in India, and food layout looked similar too. She thought all England ate like come dine with me, or all western world cooked like master chef.

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  43. Hello Martha,
    here is Jamal. I live in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and I am the founder of feinpad.de. I think it's super awesome what you do and I hope many other children around the world will do the same thing as you: say no, not with us!

    best regards


    Jamal Jaber

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  44. Hi Martha,

    I'm from Germany and currently do live in the UK. I admire your courage to do this blog. Keep on going, the school food looks so disgusting! Reminds me of my "healty" food the NHS gave me in hospital after giving birth : )
    Your pictures reminded me of an internet site I've seen years ago.
    Advertising vs reality.

    http://www.pundo3000.com/werbunggegenrealitaet3000.htm
    http://www.pundo3000.com/htms/101.htm

    Jamie is right, keep on going! And hopefully start having your own lunch box every day.

    Alles Gute Dir,
    Jana

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  45. Hey, your blog has a very good theme and it's interesting. I come from Finland and oh my, if you could just see what kind of a food we sometimes have... You would be shocked. I'll definitely send you a photo when I arrive from my summer vacation!

    Keep it up :)

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  46. Hi Veg, great blog, it's really fun to read!

    I love how you point out, "The lady on the radio said I had a choice everyday of mini tomatoes and watercress, but I have never seen them."

    Shame about the hair, hope that's the last of them!

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  47. Veg ! The hair on your plate represents the school dinner lady loves you very much!
    Love your blog! :o)

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  48. your blog ist realt great! Very interesting!

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  49. I am from Hong Kong.Our E-learning programme has a passage about you and it give me this link!Your story is great.I will keep on checking your blog.

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