School lunch just isn't what it used to be. Remember how tasty everything was when we were in elementary school? (Except the tostadas.) Yummy spaghetti, savory corn dogs, scrumptious cookies, delectable pizza slices. Okay, maybe my memory has been warped over time, but it sure seemed delicious back then.
Yesterday, I ate lunch at school with Daniel. Actually, it would be more accurate to say I had lunch with Daniel's classmate, Fatima. Daniel, though he has been begging all year for me to come eat lunch with him, spent the entire time talking and giggling with the child next to him. But the girl across from us (Fatima) was more than happy to be my lunch partner and talked my ear off while I chewed (and gagged). I opted for the salad, which was nothing to write home about, but I also tasted Daniel's slice of pizza and was sorely disappointed. It had a very wheat-y crust (why do they feel such a need for it to be healthy?), the cheapest sauce available, very chewy cheese, and a pathetic little row of 3 pepperonis. (The photo above looks better than what I ate.) Thankfully, though, they still serve chocolate milk, so I had something good to wash it all down with. (Fatima very kindly showed me how to insert the straw into the carton.) I know--you're probably thinking, "What were you expecting for $3.10 in a school cafeteria?" I guess I just wanted it to be like it used to be. But $3.10 seems like a reasonable price for making my son happy. To his credit, the first thing he said when he got off the bus yesterday was, "Thank you for having lunch with me today, Mom!"
You must have had a charmed childhood. Our school lunches were disgusting. The absolute pits. And I always had to buy. I still remember the meatloaf looking exactly like it just came out of a dog food can. Shudder.
ReplyDeleteI've eaten school lunches here as a sub--far superior!
Funny because at my book club the other night, the ladies discussed how the big uproar was the poor quality of school lunches (like the fact that the pizza doesn't have wheat-y crust) and how childhood obesity is out of control. I was wondering what the big deal is. It sounds like the are attempting, poorly, to solve the problem where you are. : ) I loved school lunches as a kid, probably because I didn't get them as often as I wanted!
ReplyDelete