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AIBU?

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Original poster

School food in North America - is it that bad?

135 replies

UndertheCedartree · 20/08/2022 18:33

My DD and I were watching a video on 'school food around the world'. The North American meal didn't look very fresh but ok. It was chicken nuggets, very gloopy looking mash, peas, a giant chocolate chip cookie and some tinned fruit. But in the comments loads of people were saying that's gourmet food compared to what you actually get. People saying the food is routinely burnt, under cooked, rotten. Loads of comments all agreeing on this. So I'm just being curious - can it really be that bad? If it was wouldn't parents, teachers and governors complain? And how could they pass an inspection?

OP posts:
Kendodd · 20/08/2022 20:31

Is it true that one of the first things Ronald Reagan did when he came into office was reclassified tomato ketchup as a vegetable so they could give it to school children to count as one of their two veg?

dreamingbohemian · 20/08/2022 20:32

MuffinMcLayLikeABundleOfHay · 20/08/2022 20:21

Why would a chicken sandwich be an entree?

In the US entree means main course (for some historical reason)

Original poster
UndertheCedartree · 20/08/2022 20:33

steff13 · 20/08/2022 20:18

Those are just examples of the entrees that you can choose I just pick those out of the air it's three different entrees every day they rotate them throughout the month. One day this week she came home and told me that she had sticky rice.

Thank you for the information. It sounds quite similar to my DD's primary school. They have a choice of 3 main courses (1 is always vegetarian) plus jacket potatoes with a variety of fillings are available every day. They have things like pizza, curry, chilli con carne, roast dinner, stir fry, bolognese, fish with potatoes/rice/pasta. They get vegetables and whatever they want from the salad bar with it. Then yogurt and fruit for dessert most days, but once a week something like shortbread or a flapjack and a piece of fruit. Water or plain milk to drink.

OP posts:
SummerLobelia · 20/08/2022 20:33

'entree' in the US means a main course. Not like here where it means an appetiser.

School meals around the world is potentially my Mastermind subject. But there are loads of amazing youtube videos on the subject which I can recommend.

liveforsummer · 20/08/2022 20:35

I don't think schools are generally nut free in the UK? Certainly the schools on our local authority area you can bring a peanut butter sandwich in if you like. They don't serve it (doesn't meet other dietary guidelines) but none of the food is guaranteed nut free and they do serve egg which in our specific school we have more allergies of than nuts. Not the point of the thread but has been mentioned a couple of times. A friends dd has multiple allergies and has been told by dr that it's important to learn to manage it herself as she can never control the environment everywhere she goes and they no longer advise exclusion policies around certain foods

Original poster
UndertheCedartree · 20/08/2022 20:35

mindutopia · 20/08/2022 20:19

I should add there is a lot of lobbying by the soya, corn, wheat industries in the US to make sure their (quite beige, not super nutritious) food is bought and served by schools. Jamie Oliver (annoying as he is) did a whole series about American school lunches. Can you imagine if breakfast clubs here served doughnuts for breakfast every day?! 😬

I think my DD would want to go to breakfast club! I must admit for a Brit a doughnut seems a strange breakfast food! I'll have to check that series out, thank you.

OP posts:
Gherkingreen · 20/08/2022 20:36

DCs were in elementary/middle school in the US for a few years. They took packed lunches as it's what they were used to in the UK, and the food on offer was pretty awful. Sugary cereal, chocolate milk as standard, pizza and highly processed food for lunch. Many kids took PB&J sandwiches to school and parents would go in and take fast food with them for their kids.
Generally we found everything (apart from home cooked which we did for the majority of meals and we baked bread so could control ingredients) was sweeter, bigger portions, more processed or full of corn syrup. People ate out a lot, like 3 or 4 times a week. And the drink sizes with refills were mad.

Original poster
UndertheCedartree · 20/08/2022 20:38

steff13 · 20/08/2022 20:21

Because it's not a side.

Show quote history

An entree means a starter in the UK i.e a course eaten before the main course. I think that is what caused the misunderstanding. @MuffinMcLayLikeABundleOfHay - @steff means the chicken sandwich is the main course.

OP posts:
Connie2468 · 20/08/2022 20:40

Surely the word 'entree' is literally just French for starter? How confusing Confused

Onesailwait · 20/08/2022 20:42

North America or USA?
I can give you an idea of what's available in my daughter's Canadian high school. Salad bar, poke bowls, sushi , Thai food, Vietnamese food , jacket spuds of course pizza, Mac & cheese, grilled cheese. Good variety I think

MuffinMcLayLikeABundleOfHay · 20/08/2022 20:43

entree' in the US means a main course. Not like here where it means an appetiser.

I see. I thought a chicken sandwich was a strange lunch entree.

Original poster
UndertheCedartree · 20/08/2022 20:48

mondaytosunday · 20/08/2022 20:26

Oooo I fondly remember my high school food! There were 2000 kids. We had a salad bar (not fancy but healthy options). A burger and chips station. Hot option. And probably some sandwiches (ubiquitous peanut butter and jelly and others) and a cookie and milk shake stand.
Our primary school had an often quite average but edible hot selection or sandwiches. Kosher food at Jewish holidays. Fish on Fridays.
TV shows always go for extreme examples. No doubt those featured exist, but not in my experience.

Thank you for that. This wasn't a TV show it was a You Tube video. There were hundreds of comments from Americans/Canadians saying how the food at their school was worse than shown in the video. Saying the food was burnt/under cooked and rotten! I mean it was like people were keen to outdo others in terms of how terrible their school lunches were! 😂 Then again we Brits like to moan about the weather...despite where I live the weather being quite nice!

OP posts:
gwenneh · 20/08/2022 20:50

Like most things in the US it depends on your district and your level of funding.

Where we lived in the US, the catering company contracted to do the food partnered with a local farm-to-table initiative so it was fairly good. Every day had a "theme" (Thai, Mexican, Italian, Meatless Monday, etc.) and there was always a salad, option a soup option, and an "alternative" option (peanut butter and jelly sandwich).

As far as the schools being nut free, it depends on district. We've been to one that is nut free, one that is not nut free, and one that is not nut free but when you bring in treats for the class they have to be nut free.

Original poster
UndertheCedartree · 20/08/2022 20:52

dreamingbohemian · 20/08/2022 20:30

You can't possibly generalise about every school in North America, sorry OP but it's kind of a strange question :)

My American high school had much better lunches than my son's British secondary school today, I don't think that means much though

I've not asked anyone to generalise, just let me know if they experienced the burnt, undercooked or rotten food that hundreds of Americans were commenting they had for school lunches. Thankfully, it appears to at least not be universal!

OP posts:
fyn · 20/08/2022 20:56

I went to school there in the mid 2000s. If you went for breakfast it was a doughnut. We definitely had chocolate milk, pizzas, tater tots, really great warm chocolate chip cookies, chicken sandwiches etc… I remember there was sad fruit but can’t remember ever picking it, things may have changed in the past 15 years though! We only got a 30 minute lunch break so it was literally queue, eat as fast as you can and back to lessons.

Original poster
UndertheCedartree · 20/08/2022 20:56

Kendodd · 20/08/2022 20:31

Is it true that one of the first things Ronald Reagan did when he came into office was reclassified tomato ketchup as a vegetable so they could give it to school children to count as one of their two veg?

According to an article a poster linked to upthread he tried (just why?) and failed.

OP posts:
Original poster
UndertheCedartree · 20/08/2022 20:57

SummerLobelia · 20/08/2022 20:33

'entree' in the US means a main course. Not like here where it means an appetiser.

School meals around the world is potentially my Mastermind subject. But there are loads of amazing youtube videos on the subject which I can recommend.

Please recommend!

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 20/08/2022 20:59

steff13 · 20/08/2022 20:21

Because it's not a side.

Show quote history

I think an entree is what we would call a main course in The UK.
Starters are appetisers

Original poster
UndertheCedartree · 20/08/2022 20:59

liveforsummer · 20/08/2022 20:35

I don't think schools are generally nut free in the UK? Certainly the schools on our local authority area you can bring a peanut butter sandwich in if you like. They don't serve it (doesn't meet other dietary guidelines) but none of the food is guaranteed nut free and they do serve egg which in our specific school we have more allergies of than nuts. Not the point of the thread but has been mentioned a couple of times. A friends dd has multiple allergies and has been told by dr that it's important to learn to manage it herself as she can never control the environment everywhere she goes and they no longer advise exclusion policies around certain foods

Certainly, where I am, all the schools/nurseries are nut free. I had assumed it was the case everywhere.

OP posts:
fyn · 20/08/2022 21:01

I’ve just looked at my old high school menu out of curiosity- the menu for one day next week is breakfast- souther fried chicken biscuits, marshmallow matey cereal or fruit cup. For lunch it’s a soft pretzel, dominos cheese or pepperoni pizza and mixed spinach salad or stewed beans. I don’t think it’s changed that much! It’s a well funded school in an affluent area.

MrsR87 · 20/08/2022 21:02

liveforsummer · 20/08/2022 20:35

I don't think schools are generally nut free in the UK? Certainly the schools on our local authority area you can bring a peanut butter sandwich in if you like. They don't serve it (doesn't meet other dietary guidelines) but none of the food is guaranteed nut free and they do serve egg which in our specific school we have more allergies of than nuts. Not the point of the thread but has been mentioned a couple of times. A friends dd has multiple allergies and has been told by dr that it's important to learn to manage it herself as she can never control the environment everywhere she goes and they no longer advise exclusion policies around certain foods

UK secondary teacher here. All of the schools I am involved in are nut free.

Original poster
UndertheCedartree · 20/08/2022 21:03

Gherkingreen · 20/08/2022 20:36

DCs were in elementary/middle school in the US for a few years. They took packed lunches as it's what they were used to in the UK, and the food on offer was pretty awful. Sugary cereal, chocolate milk as standard, pizza and highly processed food for lunch. Many kids took PB&J sandwiches to school and parents would go in and take fast food with them for their kids.
Generally we found everything (apart from home cooked which we did for the majority of meals and we baked bread so could control ingredients) was sweeter, bigger portions, more processed or full of corn syrup. People ate out a lot, like 3 or 4 times a week. And the drink sizes with refills were mad.

Thank you. I think the chocolate milk as a basic drink does seem strange to us in the UK.

OP posts:
gumball37 · 20/08/2022 21:03

As an American....yes. it's awful. There were tasty yet seriously unhealthy things at times when I was a kid. But now there are healthy food guidelines and that combined with lack of seasoning means its awful. It's also made as cheaply as possible. Fresh isn't a word I'd ever associate with school meals. For schools to receive government money to cover costs of meals....well part of it....they have a checklist of things they have to abide by. If they don't, that's more money the school district has to come up with. This means that no matter what the kids, parents,and teachers think, it won't change until the government does. Oh and the health guidelines also mean you have to take x amount of each thing...no more, no less. So loads of waste with kids taking things they don't want because they have to and older kids not receiving an adequate amount of calories for a meal for a child that size/age. (Note: my experience is solely based on rural public schools)

liveforsummer · 20/08/2022 21:04

UK secondary teacher here. All of the schools I am involved in are nut free.

That doesn't mean they are everywhere though.

MuffinMcLayLikeABundleOfHay · 20/08/2022 21:04

UK secondary teacher here. All of the schools I am involved in are nut free.

They shouldn't be, it's against guidelines. And dd is anaphylactic to peanuts.