School Lunches

I don’t think there is much of a debate here; in a majority of public schools, lunches are made by women who grab boxes of questionable frozen things and warm them up in ovens for students everywhere. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a meal that was actually cooked for once? Of course, but, unfortunately, home cooked is expensive, and expensive is something public schools can’t afford. Recently, many schools around the country have been forced into new regulations in which they have to serve smaller portions and healthier choices. I don’t disagree with healthier foods, but they taste like, well for lack of better terminology, nasty. It’s not just because they’re healthier now either, there were only ever a few school lunches where kids felt satisfied. In some schools, kids are told to take either a fruit or vegetable for a side, but after the student leaves the lunch line, the fate of the healthy side is in the hands of the student (most end up in the trash). Smaller portions at school is not going to end the obesity in America; it instead is going to leave the kids that may not get a full, or quite frankly, any meal at home, hungry. There are many kids like this around the country that depend on the school to provide them with a filling meal, something they can’t always get at home. School lunches are cheap. I actually mean that in a good way; they are usually under a couple of dollars, but there are times where I’ve thought eating a couple of dollars would have been more filling and appetizing then what I got for lunch. Folks will argue that if a kid doesn’t want to eat what they’re offered, they can bring lunch, but in today’s working world many parents are too busy to pack a lunch for their kids and most kids won’t do so themselves. I just wish we would take a little more time and effort in this country to provide meals that don’t look like they want to get up and walk off the tray, and to instead make something with fresh ingredients.