One pineapple ring didn't even make it to the table, I ate it on the way! Inside the pitta bread are baked beans and mini sausages. It's quite difficult to eat because it all falls out as you pick it up! I'm not a fan of sweet milkshakes and mine today wasn't sweet, or chocolatey. The cupcakes today were all iced with strawberry icing and I liked that off first!
Food-o-meter- 5/10
Mouthfuls- 29 not including cake licking
Courses- main/dessert
Health Rating- 4/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0
Wristband- Yellow
Over to Mr Rettele's 4th grade class from Spokane, Washington, in the United States (19 seconds!) I think I am a 5th grader but I am not sure. The class have done a critic of their lunch.
'Chef Salad Lunch -
We had a crunchy salad consisting of lettuce, cabbage, turkey, ham, cheese, tomato, cucumbers, radishes and carrots. On the side we were able to have peaches, kiwi, cauliflower and pickles. We have milk everyday - your choice of chocolate, strawberry or white (which is boring). For desert we were given fruit snacks. The vegetables were crispy and full of juice.'
Thank you guys from Room 201 at Arlington Elementary School! The food looks scrumptious, white milk is boring but I see you have more compartments on your tray!
VEG
Hi, I am homes schooled so I don't have school lunches!
ReplyDeleteI'm homeschooled too! :)
DeleteCongrats on going viral! I shared you blog with my co-workers here at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. We are located in Hatfield Massachusetts, USA.
ReplyDeleteWe are trying to help advocate for better nutrition in schools here and your blog is a great example of how EVERYBODY can be involved!
Keep up the great work!
Wow, what a wonderful idea and good for you and your family to decided to act and make a change. I shared your blog with my daughters ages 9 and 12 both so they could see what you are doing and know that it doesn't matter how old you are, everyone has a voice and can make a difference. Way to go!
ReplyDeleteBoth my daughters attend the Methow Valley Community School in Winthrop, Washington.(http://www.mvcommunityschool.org/)
Their school lunches are through a program called Locavores (http://mvcslocavores.wordpress.com/)run by Tess Hoke of Local 98856 in Twisp, WA.
The students help to make the meal each week as well as help grow and produce their food. All other items are as fresh, local and sustainable as possible.
I would love to send you a photo of their lunches but not sure how. You can contact me via email: caramelizelife@gmail.com
Keep up the great work!
Rachelle
That sounds like a brilliant way of doing lunch. Impressive.
DeleteVeg's Dad
Dear Martha (my detective work from your Jamie Oliver message),
ReplyDeleteI love your blog I am a Mum who volunteers at my children's school to let the children have some experience of cooking, using chefs knives as I used to be a chef and chatting about food and ingredients. I have a question if you have time to answer it: What is you favourite container (I really like the Taiwanese bento style box) to eat from, would you like to eat from proper style plates or do you like the compartments. The reason for my question is that my children's school is looking to start cooking in-house and to re-vamp the eating area. It would be great if you could generate the question on your blog for me so that I could see other children's feedback and help change my children's school dinners. Keep writing VEG you are an inspiration. Thanks
I just discovered your blog today!! Keep up the great work!! (When I was your age, my school didn't have cafeteria service, so everyone brought lunches from home.)
ReplyDeleteFantastic blog! I can see why your food-o-meter was a 5. Not sure that everything on your try goes together. Are you taking photos with a mobile phone or a camera? At our school we do not allow children to have mobiles. Your writing is superb and clearly for a purpose, a 21st century learner! Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteVeg uses a camera which she has permission to take to school to only photograph her lunch. Thanks for your kind words,
DeleteVeg's Dad
Congratulations on your blog! It's very inspirational to see what someone can do with the right resources. :)
ReplyDeleteI have to say when I was in school we all wished we had lunches as good-looking as yours!
You do a great job with your blog! Really like to read it though I'm quite shocked about what you're getting to eat...! Hope they will make some changes now!
ReplyDeleteIn Switzerland we don't have school lunch in most schools as kids normaly go home for lunch and then back to school in the afternoon. You only have school lunch when you're living to far away to go home during the lunchbreak (which is between an hour and 1 1/2 hour) or your parents are not home.
At one in business school lunch was ok, at least after we've found out that some things are simply inedible and made sure that we don't order them.
Hi Veg! I really love your blog, it's great that you have enough strenght to do this every day! I think your school lunches are pretty unhealthy compared to mine... We never have cupcakes, hamburgers or ice pops in Finland! :D This blog is so interesting to read, and I'm always waiting for the evening so I can check out your newest post!
ReplyDeleteIf you wanna check out, here's a link to a typical Finnish school lunch.
http://www.markovilkman.net/blogi/2012/02/17/59
There is cubic pumpkin, cucumber, lettuce, cottage cheese and potato strips with vegetable sauce. Crisp bread and milk.
Our school lunches are always filling because we can take it as much as we want to. It's also healthy, but usually the taste isn't the best...
Anyway, I like your blog very much and adore your hard work with this all! :)
Helmi, A high school student from Finland
Mmm... can't say it looks to good! Glad I am homeschooled ~
ReplyDeleteYour blog is so cool :) Great details.
By the way, I found your blog through a friends.
I love your blog! I added you to my blogroll and look forward to reading about your food! I shared it with my students also, they always complain about their lunches. They love your blog too. In fact, one of my students loved it so much she started her own blog. I hope you can check it out: http://food2die4whs.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteIf you visit her blog, please leave her a message. She is just starting and would love your feedback (but don't tell her I sent you!).
Dear Veg,
ReplyDeleteI think you are a great writer and you're absolutely adorable. Keep up the great work. I really enjoy reading your blogs!
Brilliant blog! I laughed out loud at the “pieces of hair = 0”! You are inspiring. It is so neat to see what a difference you can make at a young age. I read about your blog on www.ksl.com here in Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in school over 15 years ago we did not get choices other than the main dish. You could choose between main dish X or Y and then you were given a veggie cup, fruit cup and milk. The lunch monitors walked around watching you and you were not allowed to leave the table until you ate all your food and drank all your milk.
ReplyDeleteHow times have changed! Now my kids go to school and the quality of their lunches disgusts me. I pack their lunches every day to make sure they are eating enough healthy food to keep them going all day.
I think your blog is great! Good job advocating for better school lunches.
ReplyDeleteSam (33 year old mom of twins, living in Seattle, WA)
I love your take on things - so mature for such a young girl, I'm more than impressed. I'm a 23 year old and still lack the confidence to do the same, at least regularly enough to garner a following even a smidgen as decent as yours.
ReplyDeleteWell done, I look forward to your continuance of this blog, and hope you find yourself not only with healthier, yummier lunches, but with a following of like-minded school-fellows and friends.
Good on ya,
Brittney, 23, Canada.
Martha, We have the same last name! :) I think that your blog is absolutely amazing. Your writing is so well done and intelligent. I would've never thought you were only nine. What you are doing is such an inspiration to other kids. You are making a difference in your school and from the sound of it, all over the world! I found the story about your blog on my local news station in Utah in the USA. You have fans all over the world so don't stop making a difference :)
ReplyDeleteHi, VEG
ReplyDeleteYou're nine, so you would probably be in fourth grade in the States. In Canada, it is called "Grade Four". It isn't just the UK and the US that are "separated by a common language".
I've shared your blog on my Fb, and asked my global friends to share their school lunches with you. I love what you're doing!
An American living in Canada
Hey Veg,
ReplyDeleteI love your blog! You should have seen the taco my friend got yesterday.... It was the most disgusting thing in the world. The grease dripped off of it and formed a pool of this orange/red grease. He couldn't even eat it all, because it was making him gag so much. I wish I had taken a picture so you could have seen it.
Loving the Blog,
Jenni Foster
Oregon
What a fabulous idea, Veg! And so well written. My kids are homeschooled/unschooled in Virginia, USA, so usually, lunch is their job to prepare. Your little lunch made me sad. :o( So here, I'll share a virtual lunch with you for tomorrow. Here's what's on the menu:
ReplyDelete1) watermelon, (it's a little early, but several have been quite sweet,)
2) bean tacos with guacamole and tomato on soft flour tortillas,
3) sweet corn-on-the-cob.
(Did I mention we're cheatin' vegans? Sorry. No meat, cheese or eggs - well, except those that come from our pet chickens.)
Enjoy!
We just found your blog through a news story and we LOVE it! You are an inspiration and we look forward to seeing your lunch each day. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteLove,
The Martin Family from Birmingham, Alabama USA
Great Project. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the portions just don't seem to be enough for a growing kid.
Every time I see your lunch or the ones from somewhere else in the world, I get so sad-- we still get served oily pizza, cheese sticks, and chocolate milk.
ReplyDeleteJessica | Vixenelle
Congratulations for bringing an issue into public and getting some change going! You totally rock.
ReplyDeleteI pack my family's lunches and make lunches in the Japanese style called bento (I'm an American. It's just a weird hobby. We Americans can be odd).
Just so you can get an idea of what other people's lunches can look like:
http://noelfigart.com/blog/2010/08/22/save-money-with-bento/
That's a great idea. May well use that. Thanks!
DeleteVeg's Dad
You are a clever girl!!! I am SO glad you are bringing attention to something that is a big problem. I went to school in Finland where school lunches are somewhat healthy. My own children are currently going to school in the U.S. where their lunch is just as gross as yours. A cheeseburger and pizza are not healthy, and you're bringing it to everyone's attention. Children don't just need calories, they need nutrition. Thank you for your blog!!!
ReplyDeleteO, Wonderful, Glorious Martha. I put up a long blogpost mostly about you and NeverSeconds and a little about me and my food-reviewing blog experience in Sacramento Homeless blog: "Martha's lunch v Libby Lunch" You are an inspiration. I hope that somehow you can keep all the highly deserved praise you are getting from going to your head. If you don't get a fat head, someone like you will have a wonderful life and the world will always feel enriched by having you around!
ReplyDeleteThat enchilada looks disturbingly like a small flounder.
ReplyDeleteEverything else just looks small.
hiii cute... im from malaysia, i love your blog coz im love cooking.. today my breakfast is NASI LEMAK! if you can't imagine what is nasi lemak... you can google it... that was malaysian favourite breakfast....
ReplyDeleteI hate to be the skeptic here (as I haven't seen any in the comments I've read) but are your April 30th/May 8th posts really the oldest pictures you have of your school lunches since you've been a blogger here since Nov 2009? Were you asked to take them down in order to not be inflammatory towards your local council? Or is this a continuation of another blog -after- the change you have incurred? I see no mention of it. By itself this blog seems a little contrived as there seems to be a lot of back story missing.
ReplyDeleteWhere we are primary/elementary schools tend to not have cafeteria's in them, so kids either go home, bring their own lunch, or have had their parents arrange with the school to provide lunches for them. I'll admit when I first experienced the school cafeteria in high school they were gross, and seeing some of the school lunches my kids -could- get, I would rather (and do) pack them their own lunch. However, not every parent will be as conscientious. Many packed lunches we've seen seem to be no more than a couple of jam sandwiches and another sugar+carb snack. One parent actually dropped off McDs every single day for her 3 kids for an entire school year last year. We only noticed because our daughter was in half day pre-K and saw the lunches constantly being dropped off. Not exactly brain food. I think your Mary's Meals charity kids are getting better meals than what many parents pack.
So even if your May 8th pictures are the first of your school lunches, that is sadly a better meal than what I think many kids out there are getting.
Veg is too young to have a blog without adult supervision hence set up under my account. Thats whay the dates are out. I signed up in 2009 but never blogged.
DeleteInteresting to read your experiences.
Thanks,
Veg's Dad
What a great idea for a blog! I used to love school lunch when I was a child. We had homemade food everyday. (My favorite was always the apple crisp with cheese on top!) Now the lunches my children are served are simply "warmed up" pre-packaged food. To be fair, they do have a vegetable and fruit bar that they are allowed to take one trip to before sitting down. I think we can do better in America too! Keep up the good work - it brings attention to an important topic to millions of growing children around the world!
ReplyDeletefood in german schools: www.schulverpflegungev.net
ReplyDeletehttp://naturalmentefelice.blogspot.it/2012/05/mai-seconde-porzioni-never-seconds.html
ReplyDeletejust wrote about u and your blog on my Italian blog ! Great job and keep up! Emma:)
Well, today's meal is rather odd?! Did you think so? Beans and sausages pitta - really can't imagine that being a great combination. I think there is always so much stodge - lots of white bread, carbs, white-flour based pudding in your lunches. And the cooked carrots with the pitta thingy - just a bit weird. Always seems badly thought out as a whole. A lot of your meals look quite unappetising. Also, in Stirling, where my kids go to school, I think they've stopped giving out flavoured milk as it's just way too sugary. Keep up the great work. I loved the blog of the chef at the private school in London who posted the other day - he's cooking great food that looks appetising. Wish all children could have that level of lunch every day. Hopefully we can make that happen...
ReplyDeleteWe are a 14 y.o. secondary class from Caspe (Spain), we are reading your blog in English class with our teacher. Your lunch photos are amazing!! Aren’t you hungry?
ReplyDeleteWe also had lunch at the school canteen when we were in primary school,this is a normal day menu for lunch with 2 courses and desert: rice with tomatoe, chicken with chips, and a youghurt. On special days we even drink coke! Some of us think meals were homemade,healthy and delicious!!But some others also found pieces of hair in our portion of bread!!! disgusting!! Anyway, all of us prefer to eat at home!!We have been studying a food and drink lesson in English class, and we have published recipes you can visit in our blog.
MY FIRST ENGLISH BLOG http://www.catedu.es/arablogs/blog.php?id_blog=629
You can add a comment if you want!
We are following your blog!!
2ºESO B STUDENTS
IES MAR DE ARAGON, CASPE (ZARAGOZA)
SPAIN
Hey! I really like your blog, so nice to read! In Germany most of the schools around my hometown dont provide lunch so usually we bring our own food and dont have a warm meal for lunch. Have a nice day at school! Susanne
ReplyDeleteHi Veg! I'm from Brazil.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Luiz and i loved your work. Here in Brazil, there is much inequality when it comes to school lunches. There are many politicians who steal the money that should be the feeding of children especially in poorer regions.
Go Veg!!!
Beautiful Blog!! Mainly regarding the Liberian children. Although you face sometimes a 'bad meal', in Brazil we are far away even from that. Sad but true. Congratulations, I hope you keep inspiring others to do something similar in their daily life.
ReplyDeleteA fellow food blogger I read wrote about you this morning. Thought you would enjoying seeing how far your blog has gone :) Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeletehttp://fedupwithlunch.com/2012/05/scottish-student-advocates-for-better-school-food-plus-updates/
Veg's dad..... You and your lovely daughter are an example to us all. She's a lucky girl to have you and you're even luckier. A world-wide following is no mean achievement.
ReplyDeleteThere's hope for us all.
Hi Martha, congrat's for your blog it's owesome. I would like to see something like this here on my country(Brazil) but the politics are more carefoul about their sons than the other ones. Sorry, my english isn't so good.
ReplyDeleteHello! I dont know if you know, but I just saw a story about you and your blog in a Brazillian site: www.g1.com.br, one of most famous sites from here.
ReplyDeleteI'm very proud about what you have been doing, I thing if somebody starts to do the same thing around here, the schools should improve their foods.
Congrats for your work and my hugs to your dad for support your cause.
Keep doing it!
Sorry about my poor english =/
Hi Veg!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations for your blog...
I'm from Brazil!!
Gob Job!
Hi Veg
ReplyDeleteYour Lunch looks very poor in this picture.
Here is a ling to my schools lunch today.
http://todayschooldinner.blogspot.co.uk/
Congratulations (from Brazil) for you and for all your family... You are a very smart girl.
ReplyDeleteHi Martha anda Veg,
ReplyDeleteContratulations for this iniciative.
children around the world should be able to eat properly in order to make a better world in the future that awaits them.
but this is not what we see around, governments should be ashamed for contempt because our children.
Thank you Martha and Veg for the wonderful work that they are paying not only for his school, but also for the entire world.
Marcos, Brazil.
brasil
ReplyDeleteraizesdotrono.blogspot.com
Like some others, i'm from Brazil, and i believe that you're doing a great work. And also, you're being a inspiration. Unfortunately here in Brazil we don't have good meals at schools, and i really hope that your blog can be enjoyed for many many people, and also be used to improve the meals, not only at your school, maybe in Brazil, and why not in all world?
ReplyDeletexoxo
Parabéns Martha... otimo trabalho, nota-se que você será uma uma brilhante jornalista! Boa sorte!!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations for your blog Martha!
ReplyDeleteKisses from Brazil!
http://itgloss.blogspot.com
Camila
Hi Veg,
ReplyDeleteWhat an intelligent and clever girl you are! Keep doing this AWESOME job!
I discovered your blog today, it was noticed here in Brazil. Although our food is a little better and healthier, no way we have kids at you age writing like you do! Love it!
Fran, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Fran, I'm from Santos, sp and I get amazed in how well she writes too... I wish it were possible here, that our kids could be reading and writing and speaking our language so well in their 9s..
Deletelol... It is a pure Dream !
Once more, what Amazing job you parents are doing with this girls !! Congrats !!
What a great blog! Thanks for your efforts. Think I would prefer the Spokane lunch :^)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations for the wonderfull jornalist work and, more important, the real world work. I hope this inspires all countries to fix their school food. As you could read before, |Brazil is not the best one about school food and I though Scotland, as more developed than us, should have a wonderful meal to their kids. Please, keep the good work posting and I hope your school be sensite enough to change their meals´ quality and portions and also, not pest you back because of your jornalist work!!!!
ReplyDeleteAlso congrats to Jamie O. (we watch him here in Brazil\) to support you too!!
xoxox from Brazil. Lucia
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI just heard about your blog today, it's really interesting, and you show a great deal of initiative exposing a system that many kids don't like, but accept tongue-tied because think that there's nothing they can do about it. I hope you inspire more kids to do the same!
Débora, São Paulo, Brazil
Hi Veg,
ReplyDeleteI discovered your blog today, like many other people from Brazil. I'm really, really impressed. This is amazing! You certainly are an isnpiration.(:
Lots of love,
Carolina Ardente de Oliveira
http://estudanteativista.blogspot.com.br/
ReplyDeleteHi SUPER VEG! I'm from Brazil, also as well..and i know about your blog today. AWESOME PRETTY ANGEL!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI will to put this ideia in the restaurants around me too! Can i copy your brilliant idea?
Congrats and Regards
FERNANDO AGUIAR
denlouder.blogspot.com
What a great blog! You are such an inspiration to so many people! I hope you keep writing; you have such a gift!
ReplyDeleteKeaghan
Tillsonburg Ontario, Canada
Great iniciative Martha, here in Brazil in the public schools served old food and in private schools, the snacks are full of oils, fried foods and lots of soda, Keep it up, Congratulations
ReplyDeleteMuito bacana o blog! Parabéns pela iniciativa !
ReplyDeleteHi Veg, Well done, your blog is brilliant. The pitta pocket looked disgusting as well as the grey sludge in your cup. I don't think Mr. Cameron and his colleagues would fancy sitting down to this! I hope this makes politicians sit up and take notice - it's one thing writing reports and studies but this shows the world a picture of what is really going on. I can't send you a photo of my old school lunches (photography was only just invented then) but I find the comparison pictures from around the world fascinating.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the hits coming in - I watched the counter going up and up and it looked like my electricity meter!
Susan in Glasgow
Hei,
ReplyDeleteI'm from Brazil and follow here the link from the news about your blog at brazilian BBC. It's in portuguese, but don't worry.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/noticias/2012/05/120524_menina_blog_comida_cc.shtml
Congratulations!!!!
A Hug.
José B. De Broutelles
Flower, congratulations .... I live in Brazil and I am a student of Journalism in Sao Paulo. Congratulations on the blog to use a subject that will benefit everyone in your school. JOURNALIST FUTURE!
ReplyDeletea kiss! You'll go far seen!?
kiss,
Rayalla Brandão
I found that Brazilian children eat poorly in school. But after I saw this blog, I saw that the English also eat very badly. Apparently this is not just a problem of third world countries. It is a global problem.
ReplyDelete__
Eu achava que as crianças brasileiras comem muito mal nas escolas. Mas depois que vi esse blog, vi que as inglesas também comem muito mal. Pelo visto isso não é só um problema dos paises de terceiro mundo. É um problema global.
Silvio but it is still better than ours !! Don't you think so ??
DeleteI do believe that in Public Schools in Brazil we do not offer the children a balanced meal, sometimes at school it was hot dog day, or 'sagu' day, or 'polenta' day and just that!!!!!!
DeleteAline is better than ours, but still not very good. I think this is not food for a child of nine years.
DeleteTatiana from the pictures, it seems that there is also the day of the burger.
Keep up sharing your dinners... it's a truly interesting read!
ReplyDeleteHi VEG, what a creeepy food.*örks*
ReplyDeleteVeg- What a brilliant blog! You are a talented, bright young lady who has started something enormous, all in a way that probably just seemed like a great bit of fun to you. Which is great, because if its fun and you make an impact, its all the more special!
ReplyDeleteKeep writing, keep taking photos, and keep coming up with ideas. Clearly you are lucky to have all the skills and smarts to do wonderful things... so never stop! You never know what great, unique opportunities it might lead to!
-JT in Aurora, Colorado
The baby carrots actually look somewhat tasty, although i'd be better if they were raw. The meals you post from other people all look so much better, arnt you a little jealous? =)
ReplyDeleteFantástico seu blog, Martha!!! Parabéns para você, para seus pais que te apoiam e para a escola - que mesmo não parecendo ter comidas assim tão boas permite a você mostrar de modo livre o que há para comer lá, e parece estar tentando melhorar! Seu blog está fazendo o maior sucesso aqui no Brasil!!! Muito bem!!!
ReplyDeleteFantastic your blog, Martha! Congratulations to you, to your parents because gives support to you, and to your school - which does not seems to have good food, but allows you to freely show what there is to eat there, and seems to be trying to improve. Your blog is doing a great success here in Brazil! Congratulations!
I'm shocked at these pictures, what has happened in the past 35 years since i last ate a school meal? non the less, Great Blog, i hope it creates debate at the highest levels, well done.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Tom.
Veg...I read about your blog in a leading newspaper in Chennai,India and was amused to see the interest that it's created. We in India are not too familiar with school lunches because we most school children bring their food from home. When I was in school I didn't even have a cafeteria :)
ReplyDeleteOur Public school mid-day meals(which are free) are a real sad state of affairs...wish I could take a pic of them to show it to you...we still have a long way to go...
It's really fascinating to read your blog...keep it going...all the best
What a cool blog you have! Keep it up! You have Belgian fans too now! Look at the Total Pageviews, it keeps going up and up, it's crazy!!
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Belgium
By the way.. It's 7.05 PM over here! ;)
ReplyDeleteHey! I'm from Brazil and saw your blog on a famous brazilian website:
ReplyDeletehttp://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2012/05/blog-de-menina-com-criticas-a-merenda-obriga-escola-a-mudar-cardapio.html
Congratulations and keep up the good work!
Greetings from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Lots of coments from Brazil! Well, your blog just turns into a hit here, it's been published in newspapers.
ReplyDeletehttp://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2012/05/blog-de-menina-com-criticas-a-merenda-obriga-escola-a-mudar-cardapio.html
By the way you're a very good writer, very honest writing, congrats.
Hi Veg,
ReplyDeleteread your blog yesterday for the first time...
I don´t envy you...
I thought about my own experiences with canteens: At my school I decided against it (Germany)...but during an exchange in France I couldn`t escape...but it wasn´t a comparison to yours.
I think the worst of your meals is that one which consist almost only of a pizza. I had to show it my mom.
I like your work and it seems to me that it isn´t only my opinion...:D
Marie
Hi Veg,
ReplyDeleteI am from Utah, USA and found your blog yesterday from our local newspaper. I love it! My 3-year-old daughter likes to look at it too.
Thank you for being an example of how to incite change without complaining. Telling the truth can be enough. Good luck!
Hi, I`ve found your blog through a Brazilian news website, keep up your good work, I wish that someone in Brazil can send a picture of a lunch at a Brazilian Public School, sometimes I used to enjoy the school food, but I guess everything is kind of different now.
ReplyDeletexoxo Tati from São Paulo, Brazil
Veg, your blog is delightful! I wish we had had the tools to do something like this when I was your age back in the 1970's in Houston, Texas, USA. Let me tell you about one of our worst school lunches. It showed up in the rotation about every 4 weeks or so. I don't know if you have seen crispy tacos before. You can see a nice picture at http://www.tacotime.com/menu/tacotime_tacos.html This taco looks very much like the ones my mother used to make at home. The crispy taco plate we were served consisted of one taco shell (normal size), a tiny drizzle of cooked hamburger meat (maybe a teaspoon or a little less) some of which was hard little balls that we weren't sure were meat - maybe bits of cartilage, melted cheddar cheese (enough to kind of glue the "meat" on the shell, a small amount of lettuce and tomato, and milk. We only had white milk. There may have been a small dessert item but I can't remember. This lunch was far from satisfying and even then I found it disgraceful that the school district considered that an acceptable offering. I think due to the efforts of people like you and your dad things have improved quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work!
Caryl in Austin, Texas
Hey Veg, It is very good that you are highlighting what I do view as a plight for school meals. I am 29, so its a fair while since I was at school, but I do remember back in the 80's that we had good meals - the school cooks were also the Home Economics teachers and all members of the WRVS(I think thats the name). The only dubious thing we had was some BBQ rib thing.........It tasted nice, however, it also tasted how burning pigs dung smelt, so that put us off!
ReplyDeleteMy wee girl goes to school in 2 years, and I hope by then the meals are better!
I see comments about the cost and what they can and cannot provide...........I see that you pay £2 for your meals. I think that IS an awful lot for what you actually recieve. We have a canteen at work. It is a healthy living one, run by an outside firm and our meals are £2.40 for those that have no meat and £2.60 for those that do, and £2.50 for a baked potato. We have about 3 times as much on our plates as they are giving you, and this company still manages to employ staff and make a profit. So I do not understand why your Local Authority does not seem to be putting more thought into your meals. My daughters nursery even has bigger portions - not that all the kids will eat all they are given, but they are given the choice and it is all vetted and cooked to strict government guidelines so it is healthy.
Keep up the good work Veg!
Hi Veg, I just found your blog via Clean Eating Chelsey - and I'm a teacher in Spokane, WA and am friends with Mr. Rettele - imagine my surprise when I found his class's lunch here! Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteAwesome blog!!! So cool you got a picture from Spokane! That is where I grew up! I live in Billings Montana now. Keep up the great work!!!
ReplyDeleteI understand you, your schhol food is very very bad. And did the children parents complain??
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say I love reading your blog! The food is always so interesting! I really enjoy seeing food in other countries, even though I didn't realise I would before seeing this blog. :) I think it's really cool that you got a picture from Washington, it's where I live!
ReplyDeleteoh, and for the record, you'd be a 4th grader in the USA.. :)
Hai Martha! What a great blog you have! Would it be possible to email me a picture of you, so i can post a few lines about your blog on our Dutch platform Motherbook.nl? Keep up the good work!! Greets,
ReplyDeleteMirjam Leslie-Pringle
Mirjam@motherbook.nl
School cafeteria meals? Pfft... UK and US were lucky. In Australia we have canteens or tuck shops, a window in the side of a building where kids line up and pay too much for basically convenience store food.
ReplyDeleteThere are no cafeterias: indoor, seated, civilized areas for kids to eat. No, in Australia children are expected to eat their own lunch, or a pie and coca-cola from the cafeteria, not sitting like human beings, but running wild around the playground like animals, rain or shine.
Australian schools suck. There are parents who care about their kids and make them healthy lunches from home, or there are parents who don't care about their kids and send them with 2 Quid to eat the fake plastic food the school provides.
I say forget about critiquing food and BRING YOUR OWN! What's so hard about that? Aussies have to do it all the time (unless the parents are chavs/bogans who don't care about their children's health).
Really cool blog!
ReplyDeletenice blogspot.. update more post... we are vegetarian caterers catering services in chennai and caterers in tambaram , anna nagar chennai .
ReplyDelete