What’s for Lunch? School Lunches Around the World

It is important for children to eat nutritious and healthy food. However, judging from the looks of school lunches in different countries, it seems that schools do not fulfill the objective of providing healthy foods to little kids. There has been released a whole range of comparisons between school lunches in different countries around the world. Such comparisons give an opportunity to analyze how cultural and geographical peculiarities can affect the variety and nutritious contents of school lunches. From the perspective of American and British nations, the lunches provided at schools in different countries seem to be fresh and diverse. This especially concerns South Korea and Brazil whose school lunches look delicious and tasty. In some other countries, the providers of school lunches have a reputation of the distributors of bad-looking and rather harmful food varieties.

Let us discuss the diversity of school lunches across different cultures to find out what children around the world eat for lunch in educational establishments.

Japan. This country is a world-wide known proponent of healthy eating. Due to the fact that Japan has been isolated from the rest of the world for many years, it has a specific range of foods and distinguished eating habits. Japanese people eat much marine food and a number of other healthy options that explain the high longevity of the Japanese population. As for the school lunches in Japan, 99% of elementary school students and around 80% of high school students tend to eat kyushoku, which means a school lunch. According to the teacher of English in one of the Japanese districts, students in Japan usually eat a bowl of rice, some fish, a salad made from pickles, some sort of soup and tofu added with vegetables and fruits. Japanese students are also given a bottle of milk for every school lunch. This variety of products is traditional for the Japanese people and represents quite a healthy and nutritious range of foods.
The United States. The typical school lunch in the USA is burger and chips. Such food is not as nutritious as expected. It leads to such health problems as obesity and overweight in the later years of life. Some military officers even claim that nowadays the school lunches in the US are making children so overweight that they do not meet the military standards of physical abilities. However, recently, the American government has passed an act according to which school lunches should comprise of more nutritious and healthy foods. This can be achieved through partnership with local food providers and increase of reimbursements for schools. The American schools should also be forced to follow the established standards for the range of products provided by vending machines. Hopefully, such measures will help to improve the quality of school lunches in the US.
China. In this country, school lunches are generally provided by schools that usually order them from food manufacturers, while the quality of food is monitored by the educational authorities. This is mainly typical for Beijing, although in many other parts of China, children usually eat lunch at home, which encourages families to spend time together. Chinese lunch is comprised of healthy foods even though typical Chinese food is considered to be fatty. Nevertheless, children in China can enjoy a healthy school lunch due to the fact that their parents cater for what their children eat.
India. Schools in India do not provide school lunches. Therefore, children in India typically eat lunch at home. There is also a service of providing fresh meals and delivering them to school. This service is carried out by dabbawalla, which means a food service dealer. The containers from school lunches are then picked up by the servicemen. A typical school lunch in India comprises of flat bread known as “roti” and a meat or vegetable curry. Such lunch can be considered a nutritious option being beneficial for the health of children.
South Korea. In this country, nutrition occupies a significant place. The country’s government has actually banned the fast food advertisements because they might negatively affect children and make them eat unhealthy foods. The typical school lunch in South Korea consists of “kimchi”, tofu, soybean sprouts and rice. Such lunch is absolutely healthy for children and somewhat resembles the kind of lunch provided by Japanese schools. South Koreans are known for taking much care about health and nutrition. So their school lunches definitely stand out compared to other countries.
Great Britain. In Great Britain, the debate over school-provided lunches and packed ones is on the rise. In 2004, the governmental authorities initiated a campaign aimed to improve the quality of school lunches. This has facilitated the emergence of an independent agency whose purpose was to provide meals to schools meeting all standards of quality. If you have ever seen British school lunches, the custard dessert and a pie would not be of much surprise. The quality of British lunches has gradually improved over the years, and today the British schools provide a number of healthy and nutritious options to children.
West Africa. Schools in West Africa heavily rely on international aid. It is a fact that nearly 50% of the whole population in West Africa is below the poverty level and many of local people constantly suffer from malnutrition. The United Nations organization initiated a campaign according to which meals would be provided to primary school children in the rural areas. There are many other organizations that provide help to African schools in an attempt to improve the situation in the country and provide children with healthy school lunches.
France. In this country, school lunch consists of a gourmet meal. It might include cucumbers with herbs, chicken thighs, natural yogurt, fruits as well as red and green peppers sprinkled with olive oil. According to the French educational authorities, the lunch time at school should be aimed at teaching children good manners and good taste, and French school lunches definitely serve this purpose.

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