Wednesday 14 November 2012

Didn't taste like real chicken.

My name is Ian and I’m from San Diego, California. Usually my dad makes my lunch, but this week we did something different. Today I ate school lunch. There was no lunch line because I was late for lunch because I stayed at my table too long so I didn’t have to wait in line.


Food-o-meter- 3/10
Mouthfuls- 36
Courses- Chicken nuggets, salad bar, didn’t take milk
Health Rating- 3/10
Price- $2.00 US?
Pieces of hair- 0

I ate some ketchup, chicken nuggets, canned pears and 3 orange slices. The chicken nuggets were cold and the only choice to eat left. If you would say, “Is this food weird?” I would say yes. They didn’t even taste like real chicken! The orange slices were fresh like just pulled off a tree. The pears had added sugar. They tasted really, really good but would rather had fresh slices. I ate it all.

21 comments:

  1. Wow, I'm not really sure what to say. I'm wondering though, what is that red piece of food near the upper-right of the box?

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  2. At least there was some fruit, but good grief! American school lunches for the most part are an embarrassment. (I know some schools and some districts are working really hard to do better, though!) The only thing that would have made that lunch worse would have been french fries (chips) on the side!

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  3. That is the saddest lunch I have ever seen. I am so sorry that this was even available to you.

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  4. Those are McDonald's chicken nuggets. They use the same cutter for all their nuggets and only have about 2 or 3 shapes that they use for them all. While McDonald's chicken nuggets aren't the healthiest, they are still made of pureed chicken.

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    1. Yeah, pureed chicken what? skin, fat, bones, innards, feet, lips, eugh!!!

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  5. Nothing about this "lunch" looks even remotely appealing.

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  6. Keep in mind, that not ALL American lunches look and are like this. Most are trying really hard to improve, but with the mentality of the parents of how they feed their children...this is hard. Not all US children are used to junk food, or food out of a box. My DD is 10, and says her lunches look much, much better than these ones. 2/3 of her lunch trays are required by the district to be fruit and veggies...and they are not permitted to use sweet stuff at all. So sweetened apple sauces, or puddings are completely out. They do have some "junk" type foods....burgers, pizza and such, but its healthier. Burgers aren't fried but are broiled. Pizza is on whole wheat crust, with real cheeses and a decent sauce. There's a lot of baked sweet potato fries...sliced veggies and fruits, and there hasn't been a "dessert" in her lunch in the last two years.
    Most days my DD takes a packed lunch as she's not so crazy about the taste of some of the school foods, and being the unusual child she is, she dislikes pizza. I have to admit, I do wish they had the option of a soup/salad bar at the elementary schools...but they DO at the middle and highschools (which is 6th-12th grades). PLUS Most american schools serve children breakfast nowdays too. Which is things like apple slices with cheddar cheese and a container of milk, unsweetened scones with fruit, yogurt with granola and the such. For a lot of kids...these meals are the only really "healthy" meals they get all day....and even worse for some these are the only meals they get period.
    School lucnhes aren't perfect anywhere, and its not just american ones that are full of not so healthy stuff. On this blog, we've witnessed many, many lunches...which is an excellent jumping off point for discussions with our kids on the benifits of school lunches, and the healthy choices that they can make...irreguardless of what's in the lunch. My Daughter loves this blog and is excited to read the many posts throughout the week, and excited to see how other kids eat and what they consider to be healthy food. A huge thank you to Veg for having the courage to speak out about lunches and starting discussions in homes across the country on the healthiness of school foods.

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    1. I'm curious what city you live in where you get nice lunches? I know there are plenty in the US but more often than not, it's really this bad. It's a bit deceiving since Ian didn't really take advantage of the salad bar with all the good stuff on it. They have black beans, corn and often fresh fruit. BUT, I don't let him eat the school lunch because of his choices to actually pick the sweetened fruit and hardly any veggies and of course all the fried stuff that is unrecognizable as food.
      Ian's mom

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  7. Seriously... they actually serve food like that? Simply put it in cardboard box? I find the lack of a plate absolutely disconcerting and horrific.

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  8. Top right of the box is meant to be ketchup, at a guess.

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  9. It's ketchup (catsup). They serve it with everything here.

    Robyn from Ohio, USA

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  10. I am 99.9% sure that "red piece of food" is a big squirt of ketchup.

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  11. @Lance Alcabasa: I guess it's ketchup.

    @AMusEd Student: The main problem is not neccessarily the pureed chicken. It's the thick, deep fried breading and some of the things which hold the puree as well as the breading together.

    By the way, here are the ingredients of Chicken McNuggets®:
    "White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning [autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natural flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid], sodium phosphates, natural flavor (botanical source). Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced
    iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, bleached wheat flour, food starch-modified, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, dextrose, corn starch.
    Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent."
    (Source: nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/ingredientslist.pdf)

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  12. The food in schools of Brazil is worse.

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