What's for (school) lunch?

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to post some short "blurbs" on the blog in addition to my (more frequent) longer stories....in the event that you don't have so much "blog reading" penciled in your calendar.   This particular post is beyond a blurb... I guess my resolution is a work in progress!

Now on to the topic at hand.  When we moved to Sweden, I was a smidge nervous about what my children would be eating for lunch at school.   Alright...alright...nervous was perhaps an understatement...I actually thought that they might starve!  I suppose I had visions of plates loaded with pickled fish and other "new" foods that my girls would refuse to ingest.

Salmon, herring, potatoes...you get the idea

Going back to when the girls first started school, I was asked by the teachers to tag along for the first couple of days (this is when the girls were riding the big bus- see earlier post if you missed it).   Among other things, this provided me the opportunity to see what sorts of food they would be offered (and if they would eat it!).  The first food was a simple school-provided snack at about 9:30;  their teacher pulled out a bag of assorted fruit and distributed it to the eager children.  This is similar to snack time in the U.S., although that fruit might be in the form of "fruit snacks".   Personally, I find these morsels pretty tasty, but they are not exactly what you would find growing on a tree.

It looks a little more like "Saturday's candy" in Sweden

When lunchtime arrived (which was eaten outside unless it was quite bad weather), the teachers pulled out a few different containers  of food that had been prepared back at the school.   First there were several bowls filled with fresh vegetables....shredded carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.   This was quite a change from some schools in the U.S. where the squishy (over)cooked vegetables have been sitting around in a "warmer" for a few hours...not super appetizing as I recall.  I'm not going to pretend that all the kids here filled their plates sky high with these more attractive veggies....but most of the youngsters were hungry enough to give some a try.

Then there was pasta with two kinds of fresh sauces, and a choice of milk or water to drink.  I ate lunch with the children and it was surprisingly tasty.  This is the meal that their teachers ate as well (with coffee to drink).  The afternoon snack was a simple sandwich (open face with a piece of cheese).   Other days that choice could be yogurt or fruit.  I have to say I was mildly impressed with the simple, yet healthy food.  I was also cautiously optimistic that my children would not, in fact, have a hunger strike at school.

"What did you have for lunch?" became one of my favorite after-school questions, partly due to general interest and partly because I was quietly comparing it with the typical U.S. school lunch.   Lucky for my girls, they now are sent home with a school lunch menu and can avoid the interrogation.  First of all, these menus are visually appealing.  Of course, it tells us what the children will be eating each day (with a daily vegetarian option for the non meat-eaters).   Then there are also some pictures and "fun facts".   These include informing us (kids and parents, I suppose) that they serve white "fiber pasta" and some organically grown foods.  I especially like the section that asks if you can become smart by eating fish....can you??

Small print, I know...but you get the idea

The food isn't anything fancy, but it is freshly made, not fried and generally not "icky".  Pasta, fish, chicken or beef in some form are pretty standard on the menu.   They also serve rice with curry sauce on occasion (a favorite of one of my girls), falafel, and some other selections to broaden their food horizons.  A far cry from the fried chicken patties and tater tots that I recall from my youth ( Tater tots ARE considered a vegetable, right?)

The kids (even my 5 year old) go through the lunch line and serve themselves.   My oldest told me that sometimes there is a limit to how much of a certain food they can take (perhaps a max of 7 meatballs), otherwise they can take as much as they want.  On the flip side, there is little tolerance for wasting food.  The phrase "Stoppa maten i din mage, inte i soptunnan, tack" is posted on their menu which means please put your food in your stomach, not in the waste bin.

I guess this is the "American" version!

Although I hear rumors of the "Western diet" moving this direction (and have seen some evidence to support that), I am for now quite happy that the typical U.S. school lunch has not yet crossed the ocean.   While writing this blog, I completed a tiny bit of research on current U.S. lunch menus and found that some appeared a little healthier than I remember (although quite a bit of variation exists).  I know that Jamie Oliver and Michelle Obama are on the rampage, so perhaps things are moving in the right direction.  I also must disclose that I have only seen the lunches at one school (and I understand that differences between schools exist here as well), so if YOUR Swedish school counts french fries as a vegetable then I want to hear from you!

My girls certainly don't LOVE their lunch every day, but it's comforting to know that they aren't starving (and are offered choices that I would most likely eat).  Maybe it's just the chef that makes the difference...

Sorry....I couldn't resist!