School Lunch (Updated 6/15/12)

       Images source: NeverSeconds

       I remember liking hot lunches in elementary school, but when I really think about what I was served, it   

       was all quite bad. Every week was essentially the same: pizza (the square kind with cubes of 

       pepperoni), chicken nuggets, hamburgers, mashed potatoes with a meat patty, spaghetti, and some type 

       of stroganoff. On rainy days, we had pb & j with carrot sticks and juice. I always chose the chocolate 

       milk over plain. What kid didn't? The vegetables generally came from a can. The worst being green 

       beans, which I poked at with a spork but didn't eat. As a treat, I'd buy a creamsicle or fudgsicle from 

       the cafeteria side window, or sometimes, teachers passed out otter pops ("fla-vor-ice," my husband 

       says) for good behavior or what have you.

       There's a lot of hub bub about school lunches lately, but I mainly find it interesting to see pictures of   

       them. A 9 year old Scottish girl named Martha started a blog documenting her meals called Never 

       Seconds. The blog got over 2 million hits, which is probably how her school found out, and she was told 

       that she was no longer allowed to take pictures of her lunches. I can see why they are concerned. I think 

       this is the saddest looking meal that she photographed.

       Martha goes by the alias Veg because she states, "My dad says I should call myself Veritas Ex Gustu,       

       truth from tasting in Latin but who knows Latin? You can call me Veg." I think she should continue to  

       blog about food. I wish I was that clever when I was little .. or now even! Anyway, I love seeing what  

       people eat so here are some more pictures that other kids sent in to NeverSeconds.

       Finland - free lunch

       Sendai, Japan

       Chicago Illinois, USA

       NanNing, GuangXi province, China

       San Francisco, California, USA

       Taiwan

       Tel Aviv, Israel

       British Columbia, Canada

UPDATE:

6/15/12 - Martha's blog, NeverSeconds, has been reinstated! According to The Guardian:

Roddy McCuish, the council leader, told BBC Radio 4 that he had ordered an immediate reverse of the ban, imposed earlier this week. He said: "There's no place for censorship in Argyll and Bute council and there never has been and there never will be.

"I've just instructed senior officials to immediately withdraw the ban on pictures from the school dining hall. It's a good thing to do, to change your mind, and I've certainly done that."

It marks a complete reverse of the council's position earlier this morning, when a statement directly attacked the NeverSeconds blog, set up by Martha just six weeks before as a writing project, for "unwarranted attacks on its schools catering service which culminated in national press headlines which have led catering staff to fear for their jobs".

I guess that's understandable, but I still disagree with the ban. The school council probably received more negative feedback for the ban on the blog than the actual food. Still a kick in the pants either way.