Concern regarding school lunches for kids in the US has been a common issue past few years. Parents are worried about their kids’ healthy diet and want to make their school lunches look attractive too.
A centrally assisted program to serve school kids called the National School Lunch Program (NPL), has been initiated to provide free or low-cost lunches to students in non-profit private and public schools as well as in residential child care institutes. It’s an initiative that is presently serving over 31 million children, i.e., around 92% of the schools in the U.S.
Naturally, most parents expressed their apprehension about the kind of food provided to the children, both in terms of the health and appeal. Sweetgreen, a string of salad cafeterias, addressed this concern of the parents. They decided to educate the students about fitness, healthy diet, and sustainability.
They thus organized a program, which had a series of photographs of the kind of lunch consumed by kids across the world. Turns out these schools were acing their culinary skills by providing kids with the best of each type of food.
Why don’t you scroll down to see what kinds of school lunches are consumed by kids in other parts of the world?
France
Look at the plate filled with everything healthy and tasty: green beans, fresh fruit, carrots, steak, and cheese.
Italy
Well, they have to offer some tasty pasta and tomato sauce on the side. And some local color with fish placed on arugula, some Caprese salad, grapes, and baguette.
Brazil
Now here are some baked plantains to go with bread and pork missed with veggies. Also, there’s rice to go with black beans.
Finland
Who doesn’t like to start an heir meal with some soup—especially one with peas in it? There are some beet salad and carrot to add to the healthy diet, as well as a slice of bread and a dessert pancake (pannakkau), garnished with juicy, fresh berries on it to make the meal attractive.
South Korea
Oh, fish soup! Fresh veggies on the side, tofu placed over rice, and kimchi. Now doesn’t it appear mouthwatering?
Ukraine
Do you see that dessert pancake, syrniki? Well, before the kids jump on that, they’ll have to finish having borscht (beet soup), mashed potatoes with sausages and some cabbage too.
Greece
Here’s some mix of healthy and tasty food. We can see some fruits like fresh oranges, cucumber salad, and grape leaves with stuffing, along with baked chicken nicely placed on orzo. And finally, Greek yogurt garnished with seeds of a pomegranate, to end the meal with.
Spain
To begin with, we have gazpacho (cold soup) to go with bread, fresh peppers, a slice of orange and some veggies. Along with this, we’ve got some shrimp placed on brown rice to complete the meal.
USA
And now, there’s a mix of a nutritious and scrumptious meal: there’s a big cookie, chocolate chip flavor, a cup of fresh fruits, mashed potatoes, and peas to start the meal with. However, the main delicacy for the kids is popcorn chicken (fried).
Sources:
a) businessinsider.com
b) soyummy.com
c) thekitchn.com
