No Offense to the Lunch Ladies, (SSR)

I don't buy my lunch at school.  From kindergarten to present day I have toted a lunch pail on the bus to bring into the lunch room.  The magnificent lure of the 'just popped out of the greasy oven after being frozen for two years' chicken nuggets has never quite appealed to me, despite an avid and widespread fan base.  Maybe it's because I read an environmentally aware nutrition book when I was a little sapling, so I knew that chicken was made in factory farms and was fed slaughterhouse scraps, (other chicken).  Or maybe it's because if you read the nutrition label on those chicken nuggets, you would find ingredients such as tertiary butylhydroquinone, dimethylpolysiloxane, and chicken flavoring.  Ya know, because the chicken is so processed and sickly that it doesn't even taste like chicken.  I'm getting a little ahead of myself.  Basically, I don't like school lunches because they are unhealthy, taste like you know what, and cost money, which I don't have.  So I pack. 

 

I recently stumbled upon an article concerning school lunches.  I was drawn in by the colorful and tasteful pictures of school meals on trays from different sites around the world.  As I went down the list, every single one drew me in.  They looked like meals that you might find in a nice restaurant.  For example, the tray from Greece had a piece of baked chicken over orzo, stuffed grape leaves, tomato and cucumber salad, fresh oranges, and Greek yogurt with pomegranate seeds.  That beats even my little peanut butter sandwich with applesauce and a granola bar.  I scrolled down, drinking in each meal with interest, until I finally reached the last.  It looked pathetic.  As you may have guessed, it was a picture of the average American school lunch.  This extravagant meal featured fried 'popcorn' chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, a fruit cup, and a chocolate chip cookie. 

 

I was absolutely appalled.  I had always known that the US had sort of given the education system the short end of the stick with meal plans.  I watched Food Inc.  I know what goes on behind closed doors.  The big food corporations that specialize in frozen and more frozen are what give the schools the cheapest option, which everyone knows is the best, right?  So then those companies get rich, the schools are able to fund the art program one more year, kids get fatter, more health care money is spent, and we go in a circle.  I know that.  But seeing how good other kids have it made me angry.  Why should I have to eat what we all know is quality crap, probably ninety percent of which is somehow made with a corn byproduct?  Why should our school have to sell us lukewarm greens beans that look like they never saw the sun?  Why should I have to pay for a white bread, limp PBJ?  I want steak.  I want fresh berries.  I want food that doesn't look like it came from a can.   I want food I know I can trust, that will help me feel good about myself, that isn't stocked up with sugar or cholesterol, or some otherworldly unknown chemical.  I want to not feel the need to pack my lunch, because hey, there's homemade whole grain mac and cheese being served up today, and I want to get in on that.  Is that too much to ask?