School dinners abroad..?

[admylin]

Do your kids have school dinners abroad if they go to local schools? How do you cope with local eating traditions?
We are in Gernmany and my 2 refuse the food on offer - and they aren't fussy eaters really they eat indian style, all italian and greek style - fave food is olives and garlic and salads with fish or chicken.
German food is abit "different" so one lunch time they'll offer cream of asparagus soup and then chocolate pudding, another day they have some sort of sweet omlette with cherries and the rest of the time it's pasta ie spaghetti with tomato sauce (the only classic kids dish which mine don't like!)

My brother and his family have just moved to the UK from Spain and one of the many things that outrage them about the English education system in the food. Their children are used to a proper cooked three course meal in the middle of the day - couldn't believe the beans and chips culture in English primary schools!

Sorry that's not much help, I know! Could you do packed lunches, or don't people do that in Germany?

Here in Aus - no dining halls - most kids bring their own or buy things like sandwiches, can buy more 'fast food' pies, pizzas - but also do quiches, lasagne and so on. But nothing like I saw in the UK dining halls.

No , no one brings packed lunch except my 2! Germans like a hot meal for lunch and they tend to eat bread, cheese and cold meats in the evening which we can't get used to - so a few of the mums were amazed when I said mine didn't want the school dinner and would just eat a sandwich as we have our hot evening meal together.

Admylin, our school doesn't offer hot lunches. We pick up the kids at 1.30 pm and they have only eaten their mid-morning (packed) snack. Dd did say they also have to open their lunchboxes and eat what's lest sometime later on. Haven't quite figured it all out yet though.

If the school did offer hot lunches for everyone, I would probably do it. They got good meals in kindergarten. I know the Hort children who have afternoon care get lunches made by the same people who made the kindergarten meals. Unfortunately, I am not entitled to afternoon care though.

My DS goes to an international school here so although the chef is Hungarian the food is pretty international. We get a menu every week and sometimes I look and think that DS won't eat it but he always does.

The teaching assistant had to really persaude him to try one dish last year which he went on to eat 3 portions of and it was lentils! There is one dish that I wouldn't eat so I send in a packed lunch that day - it's "boiled egg dish with green beans and cauliflower" - the easter European kids love it though!

I decided on the school lunches to try to get DS to be more adventurous with food and he does eat the school food. Not adventurous at home of course!!!

Well, I am glad that I didn't enroll mine for lunches as now the rule is to send the kids to lunch at 2 o' clock which is when I pick them up anyway. I now send them with a double snack and they tend to eat it all. The other hort kids are all starving at 2.