To think banning fried eggs is a step too far?

[NameChanger2026]

Whilst I agree with most of this, what’s wrong with an egg in decent oil?

I think if you look into the most recent research, good fats (not trans fats) including animal fats are not the baddies in terms of cholesterol, heart disease etc that they were once seen as.

Carbohydrates are more dangerous because blood sugar spikes trigger the production of cholesterol. I think carbs are now seen as the problem to a greater extent. We need fat in our diet so some extent.

And we need cholesterol, too, in our systems, to function healthily.

But a fried egg once a week - if they're banning those, that's just bonkers.

Laughing at the idea this is a “step too far”, we have a LONG way to go before we can start saying the pendulum has swung too far. We are in a mess. I’d like to see a reduction in ultra processed stuff more than anything else, but with the need to keep everything as cheap as possible, plus some profiteering in the meantime by some third party providers, that’s not happening.

And you ate it off a real plate, and went back up for your dessert, not like the horrible plastic prison trays they use now, with the dessert going cold on the tray whilst you eat your mains.
I will say, though, at least they don't make them eat liver now. School liver was vile, all tubes. I used to cut mine in tiny pieces and bury it in the mashed potato so I could get it down.

If you want children fed well at school you have to build the kitchens again. And have dinner ladies who cook it there from a standard nationalised recipe.
But I don’t know if that would be possible today. The long list of wants and essentials to avoid for some would make it far too difficult to do I suspect.
From halal, kosher, vegan, vegetarian, no nut, shellfish, dairy etc etc.
In the sixties, shellfish allergies did not matter as it was never on the menu. Nut allergies were unheard of. And the other eating requirements were not something catered for. You probably had to provide your own lunch.
So you probably could not do it today.

Nope, lots of lived evidence for it on diabetic forums, where people are checking their pre and post meal sugars and eating to try and keep them as stable as possible. Aka being in type 2 remission

To put it bluntly - kids are getting fatter and fatter. When I take my kids swimming now, it’s a rarity to see a healthy weight kids. Too many have back fat, tummy fat and quite clearly are having awful diets.

We can pretend that parents are feeding them healthily and we can pretend there’s moderation going on but there clearly isn’t. For most anyway.

So unfortunately, schools need to pick up the pieces. The odd fried egg doesn’t cause obesity, but add it onto a piss poor diet at home, it tips the balance. If parents won’t feed their kids well, then schools have to. It’s as simple as that.

Definitely better than 'restricted sugar cereal'
A fried egg will always be way better than any type of processed cereal (not talking about porridge, but the type that comes in a box and is processed crap). Even the less bad is UPF and will have some sugar on it.

I would have expected more vegetables - like max 1 fruit and more than two vegies/salads per day. Particularly when puddings are to include fruit.

I also would have expected at least one dairy per day.
An egg fried in Olive or Macadamia Oil is pretty healthy.

Microwaved scrambled eggs are less nutrient rich than fried (assuming good quality oil is used).

What’s harmful for a diabetic isn’t harmful for a non diabetic.

besides, primary school puddings aren’t made with sugar. That’s why they’re so gross

I used to love it all. Our liver was lovely. Very tasty. I used to like the meat pie with shortcrust pastry too.
And yes, the scoops of mash.

Oats have a lot more benefit though. My DH is diabetic and has had associated high blood pressure and cholesterol. Regular intake of oats has lowered both and hasn’t adversely affected his glucose levels.

I can have a portion of all bran and get 10g fibre for very little calories or get zero fibre from a fried egg.

The odd fried egg doesn’t cause obesity, but add it onto a piss poor diet at home, it tips the balance.

Those children would need the nutrient dense egg more than the cereal.

There's no way butter would get hot enough to fry an egg without burning. A spot of lard is better

My favourite was cheese pie. I’ve tried to replicate it a few times from recipes online purporting to be the ‘original’. It’s not the same. I actually dread to think of the fat and calorie content of the original !!

Your body needs more than fibre alone, though.

I'd look up the essential nutrient content of eggs before dismissing them so out of hand.

They still send you to sleep in afternoon lessons though !!

On the positive side, and despite the fact I’m cracking on in years, I didn’t know what a Burford Buff was until today - I thought it was some sort of posh breakfast dish.

Disappointed to learn it’s just another breed of a bloody chicken. 🙄

The answer isn't to fortify though - it's to provide fresh fruit at breakfast clubs. I understand what you're saying about the iron but milk binds strongly with iron anyway so not much is absorbed from breakfast cereals, it's food 'bling' ( e.g. ticks the box but doesn't deliver the benefit).

Alarmist nonsense. We need sugar, in the form of glucose. It's our energy source, and we can't function without it. We have to break down the food we eat into the nutrients we need for our bodies to work. As I understand it, that essential glucose can be obtained from eating and digesting carbohydrates, or from fats, which we also need for essential fatty acids, or (if there is no other source of glucose) from protein, although that means sacrificing amino acids, the building blocks of the body. Of course most of us nowadays have plenty of fat stored in the body from eating more than we've needed for energy. That fat can also be processed to release glucose as needed.

Humans have been eating foods containing starch and sugar for hundreds of thousands of years. We are an adaptable species. In every part of the globe where humans have managed to eke out an existence we've survived on whatever food we could find or grow or hunt there. One of the side benefits of eating carbs is that we may get fibre from them, which is mostly indigestible but very good for gut health.

It didn't help when I was at primary school that we didn't have a kitchen. Didn't have a dining hall either (very old village school) so we used to go to the village hall next door. Food was made at the secondary school 3 villages over and brought to us. Puddings were still good, though. And sometimes, instead of water in the big metal jugs, we had milkshake. Oh, happy day.

Without context, I would have gone with one of those naked butlers...

Your body still processes simple carbs the same way. It's the same as saying honey or dates are better than sugar when they are just different sugars
Sweeteners have their own problems

I agree.

The rest of the change is the bare minumum: fried food twice a week? One serving of fruit and veg a day, with at least three across the week? Cereal ok but some limits on sugar? Bare minimum.

In that aspect, a fried egg is better than almost anything else on that menu, both left and right column.

The biggest change they could make is to have actual chefs cook actual food in the schools, rather than reheat and serve frozen meals prepared off site. As a PP said, the fried egg debate is irrelevant because no school is frying eggs (or preparing them in any other way).