Why can’t they have basic fish?

[PleasePassTheCoffeeThanks]

School dinners. My DC never seem to have fish that is not deep fried, battered or hidden in a dish (covered in mash and/or sauce, broken down in small pieces).
Why can’t it be simply pan fried or steamed?
It is almost as if we don’t want DC to «see» the fish.
AIBU?

I think mass catered steamed fish would be pretty grim tbh

Because lots of children don’t like fish. Simple.

And steamed fish not served at once is horrible. Like cotton wool.

Fish is easy to get wrong. Needs to be served freshly cooked. Doesn't work without a sauce or something if mass catered.

Does you school have a team of chefs in a proper working kitchen op?

No? There’s your answer then

They wouldn’t eat it, you know they wouldn’t.

I'm a non fussy adult, and mass catered (even expensive) plain fish turns my stomach

Are you suggesting giving them plain fish? Are you in the habit of eating plain hunks of meat?

Kids do find a slab of grey mushy stuff (which pollock would be) so appetising.

DS- we had steamed fish for lunch at school today.
Me- lovely, did you have any?
DS - no,it was rank.
Me- fair enough.

The obvious answer is that it would be hard to mass cater.

Because they get the cheapest stuff possible, pre-made and reheated.

It would dry out nastily if not served immediately. School dinners are cooked, and then served over a period of up to an hour.

They are going with what they know works. My kids primary trialled salmon fishcakes, for example, they weren't popular so they went back to ordinary cod fishfingers. Mass catering has to adapt to what the mass market will eat I'm afraid.

Fish is expensive and they have to bulk it out with other things.

Cheap, frozen, pre-made and reheated white fish - delicious!

Plus the serving size per child would be tiny. It needs to be bulked out with the coating or mash and sauce.

How many pans would they need to pan fry the fish for all those children?

Steam some fish at home.

I'm a huge fan of fresh fish. I don't eat meat so fish plays a large part in my diet. Almost all the fish I eat comes to the plate looking like the fish it is.

My children grew up eating different types of fish cooked in various ways, no fish fingers or fish pies, just the fish, but even I can see how attempting to provide plain fish as part of school meals would not work.

Fish has to be eaten as soon as it's cooked if you're eating it hot, it doesn't reheat well and although some fish can be served cold, I can't see many school children seeing that as a desirable option on the school lunch menu.

Far from making children want to eat more fish, serving it up at school lunches would render it so unappealing it would probably put them off it for life.

DS had fish twice at school this week. Battered cod and chips today and garlic salmon and potatoes earlier in week. He ate the fish in batter. He eats salmon at home

The issue might be bones left in the fillet.

How would a school made pan fry several hundred pieces of fresh fish all to be served in a short window to an extremely limited budget OP?

Pan fried ??!! , have you ever seen a school kitchen op ? How many pans would you need ? It's covered in batter or bread crumbs because they can shove large quantities in an oven.

have you seen the price of fish lately. Also they are likely using a less expensive fish than cod or haddock simply because of the cost, but that is why it will be in fish pie etc.The fish is likely oven baked rather than deep fried for healthy eating resons as well as fire risk of hot oil - same with chips

I don’t see the problem with fish fingers at all. Theyre only fish in breadcrumbs. What’s wrong with breadcrumbs?

Because they can’t cook for a few minutes and immediately dish up and plop in front of the kiddos. Simple.