USA School Lunch - Taco Scoopers (Nachos)

Country: USA (Nebraska)

Contents: "Taco scoopers." Essentially nachos. Meat, tomatoes and cheese on tortilla chips.

Source: http://listinglolz.blogspot.com/2009/07/nebraskan-entrees.html Thanks K.M.!

Notes: This is just the entree. Tasty? Probably? Why kids are fat? Probably.

USA School Lunch - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Country: USA (Minnesota)

Contents: Grilled cheese sandwich, orange slices, wheat roll, tomato soup, veggies with light ranch dressing, fat free chocolate milk.

Source: Anonymous

Notes: Looks like delicious comfort food for me. Perfect meal for those winter months, and really pretty good by school food standards.

Japan School Lunch - Rice Ball and Soup

Country: Japan (Motoyama Elementary School)

Contents: Rice ball with salmon wrapped in nori, soup, salad, milk and an orange.

Source: http://grayinjapan.blogspot.com/2008/11/japanese-school-lunches.html

Notes: Apparently the rice ball is meant to be eaten like a sandwich.

USA School Lunch - Taco Chalupa

Country: USA (Nebraska)

Contents: Taco chalupa

Source: http://listinglolz.blogspot.com/2009/07/nebraskan-entrees.html Thanks K.M.!

Notes: I'm going to have to call this a fail. It looks nothing like a chalupa or a taco. This of course is just the entree. If you are unfamilar with chalupas, here is a wikipedia article.

USA School Lunch - Chicken Ranch Salad

Country: USA (Nebraska)

Contents: Salad with chicken and cheese, ranch dressing, bread stick.

Source: http://listinglolz.blogspot.com/2009/07/nebraskan-entrees.html Thanks K.M.!

Notes: This is just the entree. I'm sure it tastes ok. I've heard that Ice Berg Lettuce is totally void of nutrients.

USA School Lunch - Spaghetti and Green Beans

Country: USA

Contents: Spaghetti with meatballs, chocolate milk, roll, green beans, fruit cocktail.

Source: ?

Notes: Looks pretty healthy and delicious. Oh how I miss school lunch rolls, so soft and tasty. In high school in the al a carte line they had the best cheese rolls, the size of your head. Get yourself one of those, and a side of marinara sauce, and you are in business. Though admittedly, I would occasionally buy a side of nacho cheese sauce instead, and dip the bread in there. Mmm.

USA School Lunch - Chicken Fingers

Country: USA (Nebraska)

Contents: Chicken fingers, roll

Source: http://listinglolz.blogspot.com/2009/07/nebraskan-entrees.html Thanks K.M.!

Notes: Of course this is just the entree. Probably comes with veggies and milk, maybe a dessert. Those are far too long, thing and frightening.

USA School Lunch - Sloppy Joes and Chowder

Country: USA

Contents: Sloppy joe, apple, baked beans, crackers, chowder and milk.

Source: ?

Notes: I've seen worse. This is pretty balanced, and probably tastes better than a lot of lunches. Though, chowder and sloppy joes seems like an odd pair.

USA School Lunch - Rib-b-que and Baked Beans

Country: USA

Contents: Rib-b-que ("all beef patty" with bbq sauce), whole wheat bun, peach fruit cup, beans and milk.

Source: http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/

Notes: Oh garf that looks awful. All the food groups are covered, but blech it looks processed to the extreme.

USA School Breakfast - Egg Pizza and Raisin Bran

Country: USA

Contents: Egg and cheese pizza, milk, Rasin Bran cereal and fruit punch.

Source: http://americanlunchroom.com

Notes: Blech, that "pizza" looks totaly awful. I never had breakfast at school, but it seems like it is growing more common.

School Lunches in Spain

When we moved to Barcelona from California, I quickly had to change my lunch sandwich packing habit to preparing three course meals.

This summer, I spent 6 weeks in the nursery classroom of both my children, before my daughter entered 1st grade in the fall. Hot lunch was made on site, fresh and tasty. Packed lunches were brought with little bottles of olive oil to drizzle their salad or soup first course. I have checked school lunch menus at many schools to compare. Seems that the school lunch menus could easily be the menu of a typical Catalan restaurant! I wrote a blog about it here:

http://www.orangepolkadot.com/my_weblog/2009/07/childrens-school-lunches.html

USA School Lunch - Pizza and Pretzels

Country:USA

Contents: Cheese pizza, pineapple fruit cup, baby carrots, pretzels and milk.

Source: http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/

Notes: This is from Fed Up With School Lunch. Mrs. Q is a teacher forced to eat this stuff every day. What surprises me is how everything, EVERYTHING comes in these awful little containers.

India School Lunch - Pullihara and Chapati

Country: India

Contents: Pullihara (or possibly bund gobi aur matar) and chapati (or possibly poppadums, or naan)

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vrindavan_SMS-518.jpg
Notes: They seem pretty happy, so it must be pretty tasty. Any thoughts on what they might be eating?

Thanks for help in identifying their lunch!

African Lunch Ladies

Country: Unknown (Africa)

Contents: Lunch Ladies

USA School Lunch - Turkey Sandwich and Peaches

Country: USA

Contents: Turkey sandwich on wheat bread, peaches, juice, granola bar, and Cheetos.

Notes: I'd say at least half of students bring lunch from home in the USA. This is probably pretty typical, wouldn't you say? Mmm, Cheetos.

Japan School Lunch - Soup and Meat

Country: Japan

Contents: Udon noodles in a soy broth topped with slices of fried tofu. Tempura sweet potato, and squid or a white fish tempura. Spinach, bean sprout, and tuna salad.

Notes: Serious question. What would be the proper way to drink the soup broth without a spoon?

Thanks for helping to identify the food!

USA School Lunch - Fish Nuggets and an Apple

Country: USA

Contents: Fish nuggets, tartar sauce, apple, green beans and carrots.

Notes: Do fish have nuggets? This is ok for little kids with small appetites I guess, but I need me some manly food larger portions. Steak please.

USA School Lunch - Hamburger and Fries

Country: USA

Contents: Hamburger, fries, ketchup, lettuce and tomato for the hamburger, and cookies.

Notes: Horrible and nasty. This cost the school what, maybe $1.50? You can afford some much better food for $1.50.

USA Lunch Ladies

Country: USA

Notes: They look pretty nice.

Singapore School Lunch - Fried Fish and Miso Soup

Country: Singapore

Contents: Fried fish in egg sauce, vegetable, crab meat and prawn tempura, miso soup, rice with black sesame, salad.

Submitted by: Ken

Notes: Looks pretty tasty. Same sort of thing you might buy at a restaurant here in the USA. Is there anything that isn't tasty when deep fried? I think not.

USA School Lunch - Cheese Quesadilla and Peaches

Country: USA (Nebraska)

Contents: Cheese quesadilla, salad with croutons and French dressing, peaches, sour cream, chocolate milk and what is probably a popsicle.

Notes: I don't know that this would fill me up. But I think it is from an elementary, so it should be plenty of food. Cheese quesadillas were a favorite of mine growing up, because they were easy to make, and cheese is, well, delicious. We also used to take tortillas, spread butter on them, sprinkle them with cinnamon and sugar, and microwave them. They were pretty delicious.

Sweden School Lunch - Quorn Sauce and Rice

Country: Sweden

Contents: Taco spiced quorn sauce (vegetarian alternative to meat sauce) with rice. Corn, pickled red pepper, kidney beans with feta cheese and red onion, and water.

Submitted by: Leona

Notes: Looks pretty good. Not the first food that comes to mind when I think of Sweden. Where is the pickled herring?