At the Lunch Table: A Report from the Field

I had lunch last Friday at my daughter Julia’s school with her K-1 class. Julia usually brings her lunch from home because she doesn’t like most of what is served as “hot lunch,” and because her Dad is one of those people who wakes up at 5:30 and throws soup together before taking a shower. But recently, I joined a group of parents concerned about school lunches in our district, and having lunch at school was our first research outing.

Hot lunch last Friday was mac n’ cheese (yes, the neon yellow kind) and green beans in the “hot”plastic containers, and a big slab of chocolate cake and two or three orange slices in the “cold” plastic container. I had to wait in line, pay for lunch and then collect it before I could sit down. When I joined Julia at a table with twenty or so other seven- and eight-year-olds, I noticed that she was already halfway through her bok choi and chicken noodle soup. According to the clock, I had eight minutes to eat, and I was not the last one on the lunch line to sit down.

“Eww,” said Franklin, who was sitting next to me. “Why did you take white milk? Chocolate is SOOOO much better.” I looked and, sure enough, I was the only one at my table who had chosen white milk.

Sean advised me to “start with the chocolate cake, the best part of the meal.” And I had to agree that the cake was generally moist and chocolate-tasting. I did not mention the rumor that the chocolate cake is made with beets. The orange slices were also roundly enjoyed, although my tablemates tried to figure out why some kids got two slices and others three. The kids were sure that those with three orange slices had smaller pieces of the chocolate cake, but in my opinion every piece of cake was too big for these youngsters. I am pretty sure that Julia could have thrown out the rest of lunch and been fine with chocolate cake and milk until afternoon snack time.

I was just going to say something about sugar in chocolate, when Lisa, across from me, said, “You don’t have to eat those green beans. They are mushy and taste like slime.” Actually, I thought they were not bad for frozen beans, though I did note the slimy aftertaste. The green beans were generally ignored by the kids, except for Johnny, who told me that he was a vegetarian and he didn’t like the mac n’ cheese. He was not the only one who avoided the mac ‘n cheese, even though this meal is touted as one of the kids’ favorites.

The two Asian girls who sat across from Julia eyed her bok choi and noodle lunch. Lisa said, “I really like bok choi. My grandma makes it for me sometimes.” And Eileen added, “Noodles are my favorite and we never get that in school.” None of this banter persuaded my daughter to offer up any of her lunch, and I had to resist the impulse to volunteer my husband to pack lunches for these two girls. I looked around our lunch room and wondered how many of the Asian kids here would appreciate a rice or noodle dish for hot lunch a few times a month.

Before I finished eating, the bell rang, and the kids made a mad dash to gather up their lunches, throw out what was left of their food and its plastic containers, and head outside for the playground. A quick look in the trash confirmed my suspicion that either the servings were too big for first graders or the kids didn’t have enough time to eat. And the amount of plastic thrown away? That has to be a topic for another post.