Students often claim that the best part of their school day is lunch, in this article, I will explore different school lunches in different countries around the world. Let’s start with France. In France, children often indulge in a 4 course meal, which includes a starter, main, a course that consists of bread and cheese, and a dessert course that consists of a sweet tart or pie slice. Honestly, to me, a 4-course meal for school lunch is something that could never happen in a U.S. public school because our 20-minute lunch period we have is definitely too short for a 4-course meal; although I would be happy if it were.
Next, let’s go to Italy, France’s next-door neighbor. In Italy, they have a 2-course meal with a pasta dish, a protein source, and a side of fruits and/or vegetables. To me, a pasta dish with protein seems like a good school lunch; it’s nutritious, delicious, and it seems this could actually happen in U.S. schools.
Moving on, let’s travel all the way to Brazil for a South American school lunch. In Brazil, schools serve rice, black beans, meat, and fruit. Fun fact! Brazilian schools are legally required to have 30% of their food to be from local family farms.
Are you hungry yet? Well, unfortunately for you we keep traveling and end up in Asia to see what students in South Korea are eating for their school lunch. Food that’s served in South Korean schools includes rice, soup (like tofu or fish soup), fruit and other side dishes, and kimchi.
The last country we will explore the school lunch of is Finland. Schools here serve a hot meal like soup, salad bread, and berries as a dessert. Fun fact: Finnish schools serve lunch free to every student! To me, a soup, salad, bread, and a simple dessert is something that is kind of similar to school here, minus the free school lunch part–we have chicken noodle soup, and we have bread in the form of a pretzel, and we have berries and different fruits like grapes. It’s a shame we don’t have free school lunch, though.
And that rounds up our journey through the world as we explored what students eat for lunch in other countries around the world. Hope you had a good “lunch”.