
50 Photos Of School Lunches Around The World Show What Countries Prioritize In Nutrition (New Pics)
School lunch is an important part of the students' day. It provides a much-needed break from the classroom and an opportunity to refuel. However, the quality and variety of the menu can vary greatly depending on which part of the globe we look at.
Some schools, for example, have been trying to improve the nutritional value of their lunches by adding more fruits and veggies, reducing the amount of processed foods, and offering options for eaters with dietary restrictions. These efforts can help to ensure that students are getting what they need to stay active and focused.
On the other hand, some schools still serve meals that are high in fat, sugar, and sodium, which can contribute to obesity and other health problems.
So to see who is on the right track and who is lagging, we at Bored Panda decided to expand on our previous publication on school lunches from around the world and put together a new collection of pictures that vividly illustrate the situation, courtesy of the subreddit r/pics. Enjoy!
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Free School Lunch In Stockholm, Sweden
One of the hottest pictures on this list comes from Stockholm, Sweden. The Redditor who posted it, Cool_Kalkon, told Bored Panda that their school usually serves different types of stews, complementing it with chicken or beef, but there are vegetarian options, too.
"The quality [of our lunch] is really good considering the budget they have," Cool_Kalkon explained to us. "The food is always healthy and mostly cooked from raw ingredients in school. They even got a vegetarian alternative every day, and a salad bar."
An Example Of A Swedish (Free) School Lunch. Fried Salmon, Fried Potatoes In Herbs, Honey Roasted Vegetables With Chèvre
Damn that a lot compared the last few I've seen. Why can't American treat kids better it such b******t
Chilbo High School Lunch (Free - South Korea)
Cool_Kalkon said they don't know how the lunches could be improved because they're satisfied with the food. But if they were to come up with something, they would probably "cut down on the number of stews and have a bit more variety in the menu."
However, the Redditor pointed out that their picture doesn't represent the whole country of Sweden. "There are schools with much worse food, and also schools with much better," they said. "But, all in all, I think it's fantastic that we are able to get a healthy meal on our plate every day without having to pay."
My Korean School Lunch! Pork Cutlet, Blood Sausage Soup, And Assorted Banchan
Pics From Some Schools In Korea Known For Having Best School Lunches
$3 School Lunch: North Georgia
Turning to the other side of the globe, we have another Redditor, Sjbfujcfjm, representing the city of Takatsuki in Osaka Prefecture, Japan.
Their picture reveals what the country's younger kids (2-6 years old) are having. A staff member at White Rose Kindergarten, Sjbfujcfjm told Bored Panda that, "Daily lunches usually consist of a portion of meat (fish being a popular option), a vegetable, rice, soup and something sweet like an apple or orange slice or fruit jelly."
My Korean School Lunch!! Free For All Students
School Lunch In California (Free)
I like how NYC and California have very different takes on children nutrition
School Lunch In South Korea
"The quality is quite good," the Redditor added. "All of the teachers have the option to eat the school lunch, and we do each day. We have a chef and his crew of 4-5 come in daily to prepare the meals. A few times a month they prepare a special lunch featuring foods from a specific region of Japan."
However, they would like to see more meals featuring food from other countries. "We sometimes have dishes or sides from China or Korea. But I'd like to see a wider variety," Sjbfujcfjm said.
School Lunch Oregon ~free
Looks Like School Lunches Are Making The Rounds Here Again: United States, Public Middle School
Typical School Lunch In South Korea
New York City School Lunch
I think this is the best school lunch from the US I've seen in this list so far
To contextualize these pictures, we can take a look at the 2021 study by the Global Child Nutrition Foundation that looked into the "food basket" — a fundamental element of any school meal program — of 139 countries.
Grains/cereals were the most common food category (served in 87% of programs), followed by oil (78%) and legumes (75%). Fruits and vegetables (63-65%) were less common, and animal-source foods were served least often—though there was a high degree of variation across income groups. Poultry, for example, was served in 69% of programs in high-income settings but just 5% of programs in low-income settings.
School Lunch From My Country. Where Am I? What Do Kids Eat Where You Are?
School Lunch In Thailand, 25 Baht. About .75 USD
School Lunch At A Kindergarten In Japan (Bonus Bentos)
School Lunch For Elementary Kids In Korea
The gap was even larger for fruits, which were served in 97% and 22.5% of programs in high- and low-income settings, respectively—a difference of 74.5 percentage points.
In high-income settings, children received an average of 8.3 different food categories, while this value dropped to 7.1, 6.5, and 5.2 in upper middle-income, lower middle-income, and low-income settings, respectively. Across regions, this value was greatest in South Asia/East Asia/Pacific and least in Sub-Saharan Africa.
My Korean School Lunch (That Students Get For Free)! Beef Noodle Soup And Various Banchan!
School Lunch In Japan. The Christmas Edition
International school food puts US food to shame by such a large amount its not even funny
I See Your School Lunch And I Raise You A Dinner On A Us Navy Ship
School Lunch In Denmark
Across all regions and income groups, market purchases were the most common method through which school meal programs procured food.
These purchases primarily occurred in domestic markets, though 38% of programs purchased at least some food from foreign countries. In-kind contributions from foreign and domestic settings were much less common at 23% and 21%, respectively, and were primarily reported by programs operating in low-income and lower-middle income countries.
Free School Lunch UK
It's been 40 yrs since I had a school lunch but I'm tickled to see the sponge cake and custard hasn't changed 😀
Chinese Elementary/Primary School Lunches
School Lunch In Okayama Prefecture, Japan
Australian School Lunch
Because of this, after inflation popped in 2022 to a level unseen in decades, many of the schools are now forced to spend way more to feed their students.
In the US, for example, the price of a meal at elementary and secondary schools spiked by a whopping 305%.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine created an energy supply shock, contributing to higher transport costs to deliver food from farm to table. That combined with other factors such as higher labor costs underpin fast-rising prices throughout the food complex.
My Korean School Lunch! Handmade Duck Steaks, Beef And Radish Soup, And Assorted Banchan
What is Banchan? (I'm stupid, must be the school lunch my school serves)
So This Is What An Average School Lunch Looks Like For High Schoolers In Germany
What A Week Of (Free) School Lunches Look Like In Thailand [oc]
It is certainly artfully displayed and photographed.
I See Your Finnish School Lunch And Raise You My South Korean School Lunch
The industry is really interdependent too. For instance, global shocks in major markets for vegetable oil — a key ingredient in margarine — drove margarine prices up by 43.8% in 2022.
Prices for commodities such as soybean, palm, sunflower, and rapeseed (also known as canola) oil tend to move together — meaning a supply disruption for one tends to affect the whole group.
Hopefully, everything gets better in the near future.
Typical School Lunch In South Korea
Looks like South Korea really does have the best school lunches on this list. Good work South Korea!
School Lunch In America Since We’re Posting School Lunches
Have Seen A Few Of These Today, Here Is My American School Lunch
There is a significant lack of colour. Vegetables and fruit provide colour. This is a deep fried mess with some even messier mash and some corn for good measure.
Vermont School Lunch
Elementary School Lunch Japan
School Lunch: Pork Roll Egg N Cheese, Potataos, Lima Beans, Mozzarella Salad, Zeppoles. All For $3
Lunch + Breakfast At My School. (Seasia-- Seriously, Wtf Is Going Wrong With American School Lunch)
Now, If You Had This For School Lunch, It Was A Peak Lunch Day
Elementary School Lunch In South Korea
Our School Lunch Today
This Is A Local School Lunch That A School In The Us Served
NYC Middle School Lunch
A Single Cauliflower In A Single Use Plastic Wrap From A School Lunch
I See Your Korean Private School Lunches And Give You Maryland Public School Lunch
YES! thats the kinda stuff i have to eat every day (maryland too)
American High School Lunch (Oc)
Saw Someone Post Their School Lunch So I Thought I’d Share Mine… Nc United States
Are We Still Doing School Lunches?
School Lunches Today. Middle School & High School-Frisco, Texas
School Lunch, Free In California (Not Pictured, A Red Apple)
What is that?? Ick! Oh, wait. I see ketchup, so at least a "vegetable" was included. 🙄
My School Lunch [oc]
Yikes, looks like sludge. So sorry you can’t get better :((
School Lunch At My Middle School (It Was Bad)
Note: this post originally had 97 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
South Korea and Japan really know how to give kids good food.
that's why they have a lower obesity rate as well
Yet they overdo on the high carb, low nutrition white rice
The U.S ones are nightmarish tbh, I feel for the kids. Do the parents have an actual say on the menus ? And is it more common for kids to bring their own lunch there ?
Kids can bring their own lunch in the US. I have a middle schooler who eats school "hot" lunch everyday ($2.75usd) and a elementary student who brings lunch from home everyday. A big problem both kids complain about is a short time to eat lunch. My youngest only gets 20 minutes.
20 min ?? wow... how come ? I used to have 1h30.
1h30????? where i live, we get 25 minutes, but that includes the time it takes to get all of the way across the school and some people need to go to their lockers so it can take over 5 minutes, meaning we really have 15-20 minutes.
Oh wow how can you hang around with your friends in 15 minutes ?... yeah, It's actually required by law for kids in kindergarden and elementary to have at least 1h30, some schools have 2 hours (which i find too long). It's usually 1 hour in High School
What law where? If in the US, there is no such federal law that says that. What are the school hours then? Because there are laws re how much education time kids are required to be in school. If schools were required to provide that long for lunch, then they would have much longer hours.
I don’t think it was necessarily referring to the US. There doesn’t seem to be the same laws there - I mean, there’s a granite hard law about breaks here (Sweden) too. Solid as a bar of metal, never to be broken; “no less than 30 minutes break time completely free of work with no longer than four hours of continuous work in between” is the deal for adults (and employers better not ever forget it or the unions will come down on them like a ton of angry bricks), but I think it could be a bit different for school children, potentially. I’ve never even heard of a lunch break that’s under 45 minutes long (and that was seen as insanely short). That doesn’t mean it never happens, of course, but 30 minutes is required by law without room for interpretations. 20 minutes of lunch break actually would be illegal here. Could be the same in other places.
AND HOUR AND A HALF. OF LUNCH. NO WAY. That sounds like heaven
AN HOUR AND THIRTY MINUTES?! I used to only get 15 min.