Althouse: Kids eat school lunches from all the decades, beginning with 1900.

January 17, 2019

Kids eat school lunches from all the decades, beginning with 1900.

49 comments:

Sydney said...: The 1930's, during the depths of the depression, had a surprisingly good lunch. Much better than the 1900's.; 1/17/19, 12:05 PM
chuck said...: The topic is yummy but the presentation is awful. Two stars.; 1/17/19, 12:09 PM
Darrell said...: The video is more of an indictment of current American parenting. Kids that age should recognize every one of those foods. And they should be familiar with the taste of each. I was at that age. I would have also gotten a slap in the head if I made a fuss about what was on the plate. Shut up and eat it. Only idiots complain before thy taste the food. If Socialism ever takes over, the kids will start saying grace--and mean it--when there is any food on the plate.; 1/17/19, 12:13 PM
tim maguire said...: Why is every kid super cute? Doesn't seem like a scientific sample.; 1/17/19, 12:14 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I went to elementary school from 1971-1980. The school lunch from the 70s was very familiar to me- the square pizza meal was served every Wednesday, and frankly speaking, was the highlight lunch of the week for pretty much everyone I went to school with. I think we had a meatloaf meal of some kind one day a week, a pinto bean meal one day a week, a fried chicken meal, and at some point in the 7th grade, we got a hamburger meal on Fridays. The sides were typically peas, green beans, fries, peach cobbler, and jello cups. Breakfast was scramble eggs, toast, bowls of oatmeal, or individual cereal bowls, and milk/orange/apple juice. Mid-mornings you would get a chocolate milk, and after recess in the afternoons, you could buy an ice cream bar or soda.

When I started high school, it was a cafeteria with expanded options- hamburgers/cheeseburgers, pizza slices, and other items served everyday, but I stopped eating in the cafeteria soon after starting high school and either brought my lunch with me, or didn't eat at all. I would have been in heaven, though, with the 90s lunch shown in the video.; 1/17/19, 12:16 PM
Rob said...: “Food and sex”? Turn yourself in at the nearest police station, Ann.; 1/17/19, 12:20 PM
Al Nobile said...: A pickle? I question the source from which these meals were retrieved.

I was blessed with a mother who prepared my lunch from 1st to 8th grade. Her meatball hero remains the stuff of cafeteria legend. My friend Kevin offered her a dime if she could make his lunch every day. She told him, "Kevin, ten cents won't even buy the bread."; 1/17/19, 12:21 PM
Kevin said...: During the Dem primary debates, all 40+ candidates should be asked what school lunch will look like under their administration.

The moderator could hand them a typical lunch tray and ask them to describe what it holds.

Candidate 1: Vegetables, lots of vegetables.
Candidate 2: Lettuce. And carrots. The most delicious carrots you've ever seen.
Candidate 3: Organically-grown carrots. No pesticides at all.
Candidate 4: Carrots of the richest orange known to ever be grown. Harvested from the farm this morning.
Candidate 5: Beautiful carrots raised on land once taken from the Indians and tended by slave labor but now run by ethically-focused small famers with a carbon-neutral footprint.

Candidate 38 wads what she originally wrote down into a ball, mutters something under her breath, and starts writing again...; 1/17/19, 12:22 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "“Food and sex”? Turn yourself in at the nearest police station, Ann."

Oh, no! Hadn't noticed that.; 1/17/19, 12:24 PM
Hagar said...: In Norway, when I grew up, the idea of the schools serving meals was unknown and would have been thought very strange indeed if proposed.
We brown-bagged our own sandwiches to eat in the noon recess (20 minutes), or went down by the sea stalls and bought a bag of cooked shrimp or smoked herring sometimes if we had that kind of money to spend.
So which was the "socialist" country?; 1/17/19, 12:27 PM
MadisonMan said...: There are many things I don't remember from High School -- and what I ate for lunch is one of them. I do recall drinking chocolate milk -- and remember when the cost went from 5 cents to 6 cents (result: Lots of pennies). Maybe I bought lunch? I don't think I brought it home. Did play a lot of cards at lunch.; 1/17/19, 12:27 PM
Stan Smith said...: I stopped eating lunch in the elementary school cafeteria when one day I saw that the food was delivered in the Skippy Dog Food truck. Brown bagged after that until middle school, when I could leave the campus (small town) and eat at the local drug store fountain counter (egg salad sandwich, potato chips, and a cherry phosphate). Yum!; 1/17/19, 12:34 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: In the 70s, at public school, a cafeteria lunch cost .55 and a carton of milk was .10.

I never brought a bag lunch, so cafeteria tray lunch was it for me. You ran to get first in line, you wolfed down the lunch in 3 mins, then you ran outside to play touch football or prison ball or basketball or whiffle ball or handball -- depending on the season.

Before lunch, the teacher would call up certain students to give them "lunch cards" or "milk cards." I paid no attention to this, until my pal told me these were for the poor kids. I didn't hold it against them.

In high school, though, these "lunch cards" now called, "lunch tickets," were openly sold at a discount by various dudes in the courtyard.; 1/17/19, 12:38 PM
rcocean said...: Wow. Painful. Good idea - bad execution.

BTW,I can still remember those awful Grilled Cheese sandwiches from my school cafeteria.

Occasionally, we'd have something good, like "pigs in a blanket".; 1/17/19, 12:44 PM
Charlie Currie said...: I brown bag it from kindergarten through high school. Got to eat in the cafeteria once a week. Grand school - Thursday - hot dog day. High school - Friday - open faced chili burger and a square of what is known as "Hawthorne High Cafeteria Chocolate Cake" - which was one of the moms who worked in the cafeteria own recipe. My lovely wife has the recipe and makes it for me. I love her.; 1/17/19, 12:51 PM
lgv said...: Oh my, I was unaware of the fast food company era. That would have been great. It's only representative selections, except for the fast food era, when they piled 3 entrees onto each kids plate.

I was hoping to see a "Chuckwagon" sandwich, or Salisbury Steak, two of the '70s staples. Slop, stuff you can make in big batches, work well in cafeterias. We had this Chicken Frickasee, creamy base with chunks of previously frozen chicken, served over rice. I would splurge and get two bowls. It was worth the extra $.50. Beef stews were also good.

We are clearly training the minds of the kids to view filling tasteful food, if less healthy, with disdain.

I wonder if they will start serving vegan liver? How hard is it to take awful tasting stuff (tofu) and convert it into awful tasting stuff (liver).

Spam sandwich anyone?; 1/17/19, 12:56 PM
Sydney said...: The only thing I remember from school lunch circa 1968 to 1972 was pea soup. Blech. I remember it because a teacher doing lunch monitor duty tried to make me eat it.; 1/17/19, 1:03 PM
stevew said...: Cottage cheese sandwich?!? Good lord!

I was in high school through the mid-70's. We had all that food that is best and easily made in big batches. They served a meal they called "Hamburg Sundae" which consisted of a large ice-cream sized scoop, and shape, of mashed potatoes with ground beef and gravy topping. We would get a couple of pieces of bread with butter and then put that mess in the middle. Ate it like sandwich. Loved that stuff.; 1/17/19, 1:03 PM
Hagar said...: I think it would be quite unusual for a kid that young to like any kind of a cucumber. Kids' palates are not like the adults'.
And as for pickles, the pickles I inevitably was served on hamburgers (in spite of being ordered with NO PICKLES!) in roadside fast food joints, which I imagine must be about the same as those served in school cafeterias, Yeeechh!!!; 1/17/19, 1:08 PM
tcrosse said...: My elementary school in the early 1950's was full of kids with Italian names. The cafeteria ladies had Italian names, too, and their food tasted like it. They made a baked spaghetti dish which I have been trying for years to duplicate. But this is probably food nostalgia and nothing in the world will ever taste that good. After I transferred to the school where the Anglo-Saxon kids went, the food was mercifully forgettable.; 1/17/19, 1:14 PM
gilbar said...: in the chicago suburbs (hoffman estates) in the early 1970's (i was in 4th grade), we'd be allowed (encouraged!) to Walk Home for lunch hour (our school had NO lunch room).
You'd Walk to school in the morning, walk home for lunch, eat lunch, walk Back to school, and walk Back Home. Kids that couldn't go home ate in the gym.

If you were lucky (REALLY LUCKY) you'd be friends with my friend Kenny (he lived about 6 blocks away, and i lived about 10); 'cause Then you could eat lunch at his house, and his mom was a WAY better cook than mine.
Downside, his older sister Wendy insisted on watching All My Children instead of Bozo's circus; which sucked. I hated her (later, she turned out to be the Best Looking teenaged girl on the face of the earth; but that was the late '70's).; 1/17/19, 1:15 PM
Darrell said...: I was eating kosher dill pickles at age 4. Delicious with a wrap of ham or baloney. It depends on your parents and their taste in food.; 1/17/19, 1:31 PM
Steve said...: All this seems to be a bit silly. From my experience with young kids they don't actually like to eat food...; 1/17/19, 1:41 PM
rhhardin said...: I hope the 50s includes half pint milk cartons labelled HOMO MILK in stamped purple ink on top.; 1/17/19, 1:41 PM
Curious George said...: My junior high had machines that would have crappy canned like canned ravioli, chili, spaghetti, soup.

High School 71-75 we had a cafeteria. Pizza burgers which were neither pizza or burgers. Terrible meatloaf. All awful except the tater tots, which are hard to fuck up. Most days I'd just head over to Sammy Scobel's Hot Dogs Plus.; 1/17/19, 1:51 PM
Curious George said...: My freshman college dorm food was disgusting. I survived on bread and butter and lots of ice cold chocolate milk mixed 50/50 with white, all from one of those milk machines that keep the milk ice cold. God it was good.

Once a week they had poached eggs and pop tarts for breakfast. I could stomach that.; 1/17/19, 1:54 PM
FWBuff said...: Aha! The little girl with the '60s lunch made an egg sandwich! Now we know where Ann's aversion came from!; 1/17/19, 1:56 PM
Hagar said...: Adults are always trying to make kids eat food the kids hate.; 1/17/19, 1:57 PM
Hagar said...: One way to make inedible food tolerable is to slosh it with ketchup, which is why ketchup should be allowed as a "vegetable."; 1/17/19, 2:00 PM
Unknown said...: My elementary school lunch is now illegal: I brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, every day. (My choice); 1/17/19, 2:25 PM
narayanan said...: Kevin said...
During the Dem primary debates, all 40+ candidates should be asked what school lunch will look like under their administration.

Do it on FOOD TV - make them prepare the lunches.

with their own kids as tasters.; 1/17/19, 2:31 PM
narayanan said...: Winner gets the nomination by acclaim; 1/17/19, 2:31 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: They did not give us fast food for lunch in the 90's.; 1/17/19, 2:32 PM
Harold said...: I was lucky the rural Iowa schools I attended seemed to be exclusively staffed with women who had learned to cook for harvest crews and large families so the food tended to be pretty darn good. Two of my favorites were hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes and school lunch pizza. The real stars though were the deserts, especially the one Friday a month that Mrs. Flehler made cinnamon rolls. Speaking of Fridays, that day was nothing but fish sticks or occasionally fish sandwiches for the 12 years I ate a cafeteria lunch. I wonder if schools still do that?; 1/17/19, 2:34 PM
eddie willers said...: My elementary school lunch is now illegal: I brought peanut butter

I went to school when Catholics were still Catholics and so no meat on Fridays. Fish or peanut butter sandwiches was the choice.

Surprised there weren't dead kids stacked like cordwood in the halls.; 1/17/19, 2:37 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I hope the wrap and the grilled chicken with celery sticks weren't real children's lunches. What were they, 400-500 calories? Children should be eating over 2000 calories a day, and for some children school lunch is their main meal of the day. Are children fat? Why put them on diets?; 1/17/19, 2:40 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Cherry Phosphates? You're showing your age. I only got them after my dentist appointments cause the soda bar was in his office complex. Great memories there Stan. Not the dentist, the phosphates!; 1/17/19, 3:04 PM
chuck said...: > that day was nothing but fish sticks

Whatever happened to fish sticks? I loved them with lemon juice but can't seem to find any decent ones these days. Maybe I'm just getting too old.; 1/17/19, 3:08 PM
jimbino said...: I'm a retiree who'd love to eat most all of those meals ready-made for me. Except for all the sugary desserts, juice and extra bread.

For lunch at my place in Rio de Janeiro, I can get a rice/pasta/stroganoff meal for two with meat and salad delivered to my veranda piping hot for R$10 ($2.70) together with a caipirinha or beer (extra $$) for dessert.; 1/17/19, 3:14 PM
rcocean said...: Best thing about HS is they opened up a "fast food" counter. You could buy hamburgers, hot dogs, or pizza.

They wanted to keep kids "on campus" since too many were going to local fast food places and not getting back in time. Or disturbing the Oldsters who didn't want teenagers jamming up their restaurants at lunch.

Kids don't know how good they have it.; 1/17/19, 3:26 PM
rcocean said...: I think they deliberately fed us bad food to keep down costs.

Sloppy Joe's - who eats that crap. Spaghetti - that tasted like it came out of a can.
Green beans so rubbery they bounced.

Good times.; 1/17/19, 3:30 PM
Wince said...: Bacon burgers and tatter tots!; 1/17/19, 3:41 PM
SteveBrooklineMA said...: School milk in Middleton WI is 50 cents for a half pint, which is $8 per gallon. Someone is coining money on that deal.; 1/17/19, 3:42 PM
Wilbur said...: I was struck more by the children themselves, and how they varied in their levels of knowledge. The older white girl with her hair parted in the middle was very endearing.

They reminded me of the kids on Art Linkletter's House Party.; 1/17/19, 6:45 PM
wildswan said...: PB&J; next day, baloney / cheese; next day PB&J; next day baloney/ cheese; Friday, tuna. You had to finish your food, the lunch room monitor checked bags. So what you didn't like, you smashed up under the table where it stuck long enough to get you out of the room. If they checked under the table, you said someone that ate before you put the stuff there. You couldn't do that to the milk which had got warm in the locker so you had to gulp it down before you realized how it tasted. It was pretty barbaric but the good side: every lunch since then has been been better.; 1/17/19, 9:24 PM
Jaq said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/18/19, 6:54 AM
Jaq said...: I don’t think I ever ate a school cooked lunch in my life. I always walked home for lunch and walked back. But my absolute favorite was Welsh Rarebit when Mom made it. OK, that and BP&J made with the heel of still warm homemade bread.; 1/18/19, 6:54 AM
Jaq said...: Come to find out we were on Food Stamps, which is why we ate so poorly.; 1/18/19, 6:56 AM
Anthony said...: Utter, utter fail for the 1970s: No Mock Chicken Legs.; 1/18/19, 11:43 AM