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All praise to the lunch ladies

bittersoutherner.com

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Re: All praise to the lunch ladies

#121

Post by cpursley »

bgnn wrote: post #34
cpursley wrote: post #16

Having a school lunch in a "poor" former eastern block country as a guest was really eye opening. It was actually good, fresh made borscht, veg dishes that tasted good (wasn't steamed)! Like, I would order and enjoy it at a restaurant level no-bad. Who knew that was even possible? From what I can tell, a non-crappy school lunch is the norm all over Europe. Why can't America have that?

Unfortunately it's far from the norm in Europe. In the Netherlands there's no school lunch available. Families need to provide it to their children. The norm is just bread and cheese sandwich and milk, doesn't matter how rich you are. That's what most adults eat for lunch too.

fwiw, bread and cheese in the Netherlands kicks the crap out of what is often called "cheese" in the US. However, the situation has at least improved over the past decade if your budget allows it.

Re: All praise to the lunch ladies

#122

Post by slfnflctd »

em500 wrote: post #106
ilamont wrote: post #35

Growing up near Boston, my public elementary school built in the 1920s didn't have a proper kitchen or even a cafeteria because kids at one time always brought meals from home and ate at their desks. Indeed, we did too, bringing metal lunchboxes or brown bags, until the mid-1970s. At that point, something changed and we all ate together in a repurposed room in the basement, eating the same unhealthy and unappetizing…

Elementary schools without any kitchen or cafeteria, kids bringing meals (bagged sandwiches) from home and eating at their desks, is still the standard in probably 95%+ of the elementary schools in the Netherlands in 2025. It's not clear to me if there is any problem to be solved here.

The problem to be solved in the US is that a disturbing percentage of school-aged children's parents are too poor, too busy or too incompetent to pack a lunch for their kids.

In many areas, without schools providing food, the kids would simply go hungry for the entire school day. I and many other people find this unacceptable.

Re: All praise to the lunch ladies

#123

Post by bell-cot »

AstroNutt wrote: post #66

Great read! I sent this story to my girlfriend who works as a lunch lady in a small West Texas town for the last 10 years. She said they are still able to provide nutritional food for the kids. Her mother had an aunt that worked at the same school in the 50's and 60's and they made everything from scratch. Vegetables were bought locally too. She also mentioned the kids hated the whole wheat pasta and breads when Mich…

> It really pisses me off that schools don't get more government funding. Nutrition plays such a huge role in ...

True. OTOH,

- You could expand that "Nutrition plays such a huge role..." logic into saying that schools should also provide broad medical coverage for the students, and clothing, and de facto parenting, and ... In practice - meals are a limited remit, it's relatively obvious if it's being done poorly, kids eating together is socialization (obviously part of a school's job), and "hungry children" pushes enough emotional buttons that subsidized school lunches are relatively well accepted.

Though I've seen quite a few stories about modern-day public school teachers being quietly expected to serve (suffer) as "whatever it takes" unpaid social workers / therapists / family counselors for their students - basically because "somebody needs to", and teachers are convenient victims for social pressures and non-classroom problems.

- There is far too little connection between "money goes to schools" and "schools are competently managed". Modern education attracts way too many well-intended ignorant ideologues (Mrs. Obama was merely one of an endless host), "consultants", "experts", grifters, and worse.

Vs. interest in competent oversight of schools seems nearly non-existent. When was the last time you saw detailed local press coverage of how well a school board was managing the students-and-teachers basics of education?

Re: All praise to the lunch ladies

#125

Post by wtcactus »

slfnflctd wrote: post #122
em500 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elementary schools without any kitchen or cafeteria, kids bringing meals (bagged sandwiches) from home and eating at their desks, is still the standard in probably 95%+ of the elementary schools in the Netherlands in 2025. It's not clear to me if there is any problem to be solved here.

The problem to be solved in the US is that a disturbing percentage of school-aged children's parents are too poor, too busy or too incompetent to pack a lunch for their kids. In many areas, without schools providing food, the kids would simply go hungry for the entire school day. I and many other people find this unacceptable.

Alternate theory: their parents are too lazy to actually prepare proper food for them.

Healthy food actually costs less than pre processed crap. But it does take a lot more time and effort to prepare.

Re: All praise to the lunch ladies

#126

Post by jader201 »

speed_spread wrote: post #79
Auracle wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will never understand why Michelle Obama’s plan included low salt. It’s not like kids have major hypertensive issues.

Because it conditions your expectations of tasting salt everywhere, which is what industrial food provides. Good food should taste great even if it's low on salt.

> Good food should taste great even if it's low on salt.

- Good

- Low salt

- Cheap

Pick two.

(For the most part. There are exceptions, but not many, especially when it comes to school lunch food.)

Re: All praise to the lunch ladies

#127

Post by chongli »

speed_spread wrote: post #79
Auracle wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will never understand why Michelle Obama’s plan included low salt. It’s not like kids have major hypertensive issues.

Because it conditions your expectations of tasting salt everywhere, which is what industrial food provides. Good food should taste great even if it's low on salt.

Good food should taste great even if it's low on salt

Said no chef ever. The first thing any chef will tell you is to season your food correctly. Salt activates our taste buds. Without it everything tastes bland.

They used to pay soldiers in salt. That’s the origin of the word salary. Cities were founded near salt mines. Wars were fought over it. Salt is essential to the function of neurons and kidneys. Salt is life.

Re: All praise to the lunch ladies

#128

Post by thinkingtoilet »

wtcactus wrote: post #125
slfnflctd wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem to be solved in the US is that a disturbing percentage of school-aged children's parents are too poor, too busy or too incompetent to pack a lunch for their kids. In many areas, without schools providing food, the kids would simply go hungry for the entire school day. I and many other people find this unacceptable.

Alternate theory: their parents are too lazy to actually prepare proper food for them. Healthy food actually costs less than pre processed crap. But it does take a lot more time and effort to prepare.

And here we are, back to the poor people are lazy argument. That didn't take long.

Re: All praise to the lunch ladies

#129

Post by dreamcompiler »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #89
speed_spread wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it conditions your expectations of tasting salt everywhere, which is what industrial food provides. Good food should taste great even if it's low on salt.

An enormous amount of traditional food from around the world has a lot of salt in it. Salt is not a modern invention. For example, humans have been eating olives for tens of thousands of years. Olives contain and require prodigious amounts of salt to taste good, usually in the form of seawater.

OMG I ate an olive off a tree once in Italy because I was stupid. Never, never do that.

Re: All praise to the lunch ladies

#130

Post by UncleSlacky »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #62
onecommentman wrote: post #55

Embarrassed by the HN comments here. Lunch ladies, along with other low-status government workers, are as close to an Absolute Good as you can get. Co-opting the warranted praise for these heroes to attempt to score political points for any side is pathetic. Such commenters should be forced to prepare and serve lunches for hundreds of hungry children while also being forced to listen to screaming political rants thro…

My whole family was working poor at best and I was (at best) most of my life too. I've always liked this Barbara Ehrenreich quote about the dynamic. “When someone works for less pay than she can live on — when, for example, she goes hungry so that you can eat more cheaply and conveniently — then she has made a great sacrifice for you, she has made you a gift of some part of her abilities, her health, and her life. Th…

> The 'working poor,' as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society.

Hence the title of this book:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ragged-Trousered_Philanthr...

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