What School Lunch Looks Like Around The World | Around The World | Food Insider 

This is the most unrealistic display of school lunch I’ve ever seen.

This is what politicians think they're serving in public schools.

As a Korean, I was convinced after reading the comments from US. If Korean schools served lunch like in the U.S., the principal would be sued for child abuse.

I'm Japanese and I never saw such a meal...especially sashimi! But it's true that school lunch meal is served by the students, even by the first graders.

That USA lunch is the biggest cap of all. Literally we get fed 2 dollar food meals.

"What *private* school lunches look like around the world."

Do a comparison between school lunch from the 50s , 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s , the zeros and today. There was such a profound shift in what was available in decades past versus what the kids are shoveled today.

I'm Brazilian and the school food here is usually very healthy, the school menu varies a lot, but they usually serve rice, beans, salad and some protein, it can be chicken or meat, sometimes soup, juice with biscuits, rarely a snack different type of hamburger or hot dog, but most of the time it's a healthy meal.

Making us Americans look generous here. It's heated up frozen pizza, lays potato chips and a Gatorade, lmao.

Alternative title: What kids wished their school food looked like around the world.

I worked in a Japanese Elementary School between 2021 and 2022 and the teachers actually ate the same lunch as the kids. All the food was really tasty! Also, during the lunch period, one of the older students would go on the intercom and explain what the lunch was for that day, what ingredients were used to make it, where the ingredients came from (usually local farms), and why these foods are healthy for you. I really enjoyed eating the Japanese School Lunch!

In the u.s we get a slice of processed pizza, for 2.00 $, water for 1.00, and we get a brown apple plus a piece of lettuce

As a US citizen I can assure you that we never got no “creamy tomato soup” or a “brownie for dessert before heading back to class”

is this how the upper class live

I come from Mumbai, India, Growing up in a convent school, we never really got served any food. Everyone had to bring their own tiffins. Unfortunately, there were sometimes when a small minority of kids didn't bring any or had straight up a single piece of sliced bread in their tiffins. This is exactly why I believe there should be meals served in school, funded/provided by the government.

Since my country, Czechia, was left out: our children get three courses - soup, a main dish (where they can pick from two or three options the week prior) and a dessert (which is often yoghurt or fruit), they also have unlimited access to tea or fruit juice and milk. The rules about the balance and healthiness of the food is pretty strict by law. Many people still remember not so tasty school lunches where only one meal (soup, main dish and dessert still) was avaiable and you were forced to eat it (yes, they wouldn't allow you to leave the dinning hall before finishing at least most of your food), but our school lunches made LEAPS in the past two decades or so.

alternative title: what school lunches should look around the world

I'm insulted that y'all think American school lunches look *THAT* good.

To be honest, Finland,Australia, England and Hawaii’s meals look so good!

I’m from 🇺🇸 and I graduated high school in 2021, and in my two last years in high school (11th and 12th grades), our lunch foods were changed, and we were provided with more nutritious breakfast and lunch meals. And we also had vending machines.

This feels like they just wrote up food stereotypes for every country...

*Food Insider:* "So this is what kids eat for lunch" *Us, calling absolute bullshit:* ....

This food every where else: 🥗😍🥙🍱The food in Germany and Austria: 🍔🍟🌭🍕(They serve soup with pancakes inside, Schnitzel (fried meat with a bread-crust), Fries, Burgers with a Schnitzel pattie ) 😭

I am filipina-peruvian. I lived in korea for 2 years. Lunch in korea is served in school and they dont stick to one food as it showed. P.S. I really liked when they served chicken or curry and naan

As a retired teacher from the Uk, I can assure that the state schools do NOT provide a meal that is anything like what you showed. What you showed was edible...

Bruh... I can take a piss in the dark and still be more accurate than this video.

Wait! School lunch in Thailand is pretty different from a dish shown here. Som tam (spicy papaya salad) is not served as lunch for Thai schoolchildren, especially in kindergartens and primary/elementary schools, because of its spicy taste and hygenic concern. Thai school lunch usually consists of steamed rice with clear soup or stir-fried vegetables and meat. Sometimes, noodles (either noodle soup or fried noodles) will be served instead. Lunch snacks are either fresh fruits or Thai desserts (often ones with coconut milk).

Tomato soup with grilled cheese sounds like a luxury, better than microwaved food

Food Insider: American School lunch looks delicious. Me an American: Well thats a lie.

If this was the case, all students would have a 100 percent attendance ngl.

everyone saying school lunches are trash and all am i really the only person that finds school food not that horrible and sometimes delicious?

日本でこんな給食見たことない

I have never seen a US school lunch look like that. I would say 90% of the time it’s a cold rectangle of pizza most of the kids peel the cheese off of

Taught at Korean primary schools for 8 years. Had the school lunch every day. Healthiest diet I've ever had.

As a American you cannot get a brownie unless you pay a dollar oh and we never get tomato soup We also never get raisins.

As a British person I can confirm we have potato's but sadly only for vegetarians if you were 8-11 years old but if you were not vegetarian you would get fries and burgers or rice and curry and fish and brownies 😋. It's more detailed then american school lunches, when you go into secondary school you get to choose what food you want but sadly it won't be free but only the first school lunches were 😔...

America serves frozen meals that are just heated up in the microwave. So much for healthy food 😍

As a high school student in the US There is no tomato soup or a brownie for dessert, all we had is microwaved hamburgers with hard cold fries

As a Brit, I can confirm we had that lunch....In our dreams. 3 Jaffa cakes?! Are you kidding me?? We were lucky if we got a fully cooked baked potato!

Our cafeteria in the US gives expired milk, frozen, rock solid broccoli, a horrendous stale piece of bread with yogurt on top they call pizza, and month old pasta even though 99.9% of the dish is cheese. For “dessert,” they gave us juice containers they found in the back of the fridge frozen shut “before heading back to class.” Not to mention that whenever we try to have fun and talk, the lunch monitors turn of the lights to the point where we are engulfed in darkness, claiming that we are being to loud even though we are barely talking at all. They like to call out kids and embarrass them in front of the entire cafeteria. And when I have to go to the bathroom, we have to raise our hand and get approval from the lunch monitor, even if we want to stand up. But when I raise my hand to go to the restroom, the lunch monitor looks me in the eye, and turns away and talks to her friends. When she finally comes over and I tell that I have to go to the bathroom, she just scoffs, tells me that I am being dramatic and that “you don’t have to go you can hold it.” Meanwhile, I am just holding it in and tempted to just walk out. If you have made it this far into my comment, then let me give some advice. Lesson of the day kids, never buy school lunch. (Oh, and they sell water in tiny bottles half the size of a regular small one for double the price. That’s right, we have to pay for lunch. And if you don’t have money, then oh well, you starve.

“A gooey grilled cheese” my hamburger was literally frozen at school

As a person that has been in American school for 7 years, our lunches are just a little over prison food quality. Edit: actually, it is probably worse.

I've got three kids in British schools and they never do fish with jackets. Yes, they tend to do 'fishy fridays', but they don't do this. And no, they don't get chocolate biscuits. This week, lunches are: Cheese and tomato pizza and shortbread, Pork sausages with creamed potato and gravy and fruit yoghurt for dessert, Roast pork with roast potatoes and gravy with Fresh fruit salad with creme fraiche, Wholemeal pasta beef bolognese and mandarin jelly, and Cod star fishcake with oven chips with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Menus are rotated on a three week schedule.

In my school, we always got cardboard pizza along with sweet corn and diced peaches in a container and those were so great. It was what all the students came for. I think we had tomato soup and grilled cheese, but I don't remember getting a brownie before going back to class.

As a Brazilian I would say most of schools don't have meals like that, but, when I saw the comments, I realize that every country don't have meals like that hahaha

As a Pakistani, i can assure you that i was equally surprised by "Pakistani School Lunch" part as anyone else. It was ridiculously false

Some one from Trinidad and Tobago, schools have something called ''Lunch List" as some children prefer to bring food from home. If you are on said list, you may receive a lunch like what they showed, but with no oxtail. Also they serve hotdogs, soup, and other traditional dishes packed in a medium sized white box. Soups are brought in brown, tall bio-degradable bowls. Much love!

As a pakistani I can confirm that aloo gosht is NOT a school lunch. We have this lunch only at home. For school we just have chips or biscuits

35 years as a teacher in USA and during my lunch duty I NEVER saw such a detailed meal! Way off!

As a brazilian i can tell yall I never had what they showed for lunch Some of the schools here dont even have teachers or proper restrooms

The information sourced for this video came from a conversation between representatives of each of the listed nations where they were all lying to one up each other.

*Every single time when I visit my parents my mother makes roast beef with Franconia 🥩 potatoes 🥔 for dinner if it was like 1910's if there was a special occasions she would add sauce & vegetables.* 🌽

Bruh these are the kinda foods schools serve during inspection lol.

“Lunches we would like to have around the world”

American school lunches were nutritionally lacking, but damn were they good! The best days were pizza or burgers (we called them crater burgers.) The peanut butter brownies and pizza soup were to die for. However, being in the band, we went to competitions all over the area. We went to one high school in New Jersey where something miraculous happened. Mothers of students were not at all happy with what was being fed their children, so they made a deal with the district to take over the cafeteria. From that point forward, moms were cooking lunch. Eight-thirty at night, dressed in half my band outfit, and after carrying a heavy drum, I actually sat down to a home-cooked meal. Lasagna with a meatball on the side, garlic bread, a salad with balsamic, and a brownie. $8! I'll never forget that. It was fantastic!

As an English secondary student I have never seen those biscuits in my life, we also don’t have jacket potatoes with our “cod fingers”, isn’t we have potato wedges or roasted small potatoes and other vegetables. But when we have jacket potatoes we have different filling such and tuna, baked beans and/or cheese. We also get a drink on the side such as water, juice, or a fizzy, off brand drink (like a rip off Fanta). Well that’s for my school anyway :)

I assure you, we don’t get “creamy tomato soup” or “brownies”. We get soggy pizza, expired milk, and maybe some burnt chicken nuggets if we’re lucky. Edit- Rip my notifications ayy

Correct Title: "What we think school lunch looks like around the world"

I’m from the U.K and went to primary school in the eighties, all I remember was a horrible stew they used to serve which turned out to have exposed us all to mad cow disease. So the jacket potato and beans shown is definitely an improvement!

School meal in Portugal: -a bowl of soup (caldo verde, chicken soup, etc); -a main course (it varies. Most common national dish is bacalhau à brás, by what i recall from school days); -orange juice or water; -dessert (either fresh fruit, or some pudding/gelatine). EDIT: when was in the equivalent to elementary school (1° ciclo, 1st to 4th grade) i ate meals from the school. Though when entered the 2° ciclo (5th and 6th grade. Can it be considered middle school?) I started to bring meals from home. Mostly to cut costs.

American school lunch in reality: flavorless mac and cheese with near expired chocolate milk with half-frozen mystery meat burger

I remember my American lunch being soggy "pizza"or chicken nuggets that bounced higher than a basket ball...

Well, my Mom was in the cafeteria system for years, starting as a substitute lunch lady and after many years she worked her way up to the manager of the high school cafeteria and finally she was hired as the cafeteria director over all schools in our town. This is how it works: the government gives "commodity" foods for free to schools, which are like things like package mac and cheese, hamburgers, hotdogs, things like that. The school has a certain budget amount that they can spend as well, and they can't go over. Mom had to perfectly balance the meals and meet government nutrition guidelines, which would constantly change. I was in the kitchen there with all the ladies throughout my entire school life, and let me tell you something. They work very hard to make breakfast, lunch, and cleaning up after all the kids. They would make the cakes my hand, rolls, soups, salads, and basically everything else all by hand. If you don't like the school lunches, blame the government. Most kids waste half of their lunch and then walk over to the snack bar to buy Cheetos. That's why American kids are obese - not because of the school lunches, but because of how they eat elsewhere. I never ate away from school for lunch, because I knew how hard my Mom worked to make that for all the kids. Respect your lunch ladies, they helped me pay for a computer in college and are some of the sweetest ladies.

Depends on the financial situation of each family tbh

School meals in the UK: 3 micro-waved fish fingers and then starve to death.

Japan’s school lunches does not looked like that. That’s a poke plate. That’s what they serve in cafe’s.

As an Indian I can definitely tell we never took that kind of lunch to school...

In Australia you don’t just get Tim Tams for dessert 😂 F*ck it everyone plays at lunch instead of eating, the kids who do bring Tim Tams get swarmed and they only get to eat one of their own Tim Tams, even if they bring a whole tray

I'm French and I've NEVER seen those sweets in my entire life

america: here’s a piece of cardboard with a side of old baby carrots

In my school that is in the US they give us many options. The options change everyday, so I'm gonna use one for example. There could be Cheeseburgers, Spaghetti, PB&J, Ham and Cheese Sub, and Cereal. You will choose whatever you like, make your way to the checkout line, and then you will see a lot of options. (Right side) Freshly chopped peaches, blueberries, fresh broccoli, apples, and bananas. (Left side) Freshly chopped pears, apples, bananas, a mix of peach and pears, strawberry sauce, and celery. Choose your fruit or vegetable, and proceed to go towards the checkout. (Don't take too long or people are allowed to cut you!!) You enter your lunch number, which is no money. (School covers it!!) Then you go over to the silverware table. There are sauces there, too. Mostly just ketchup, ranch, mayonnaise, mustard, and fat free ranch. (I know it's weird having 2 ranches but it's whatever.) You choose either a spoon/fork (whatever you need), a straw, and a napkin. If they don't have the silverware selection container, you'll see a plastic box filled with packages that contain a spork, napkin, and a straw. So take whatever's there and go to your assigned seats in the cafeteria. But the crazy part is.. THIS IS A PUBLIC SCHOOL!

An example of Turkish school lunch: Turkish bean stew, rice/bulghur pilaf, mevsim salad or choban salad or yoghurt/cacık, some Turkish dessert or pudding or a random fruit. It may include Turkish soups too.

I really like that idea that in Japan they get the kids to help make the lunch, thus teaching them various recipe's that they can use when they leave home. Plus it creates more community among the children themselves.

Alternate title: what Americans think the rest of the worlds lunches are like

As an American myself and I can confirm they do not serve brownies or tomato so this video is probably not accurate about the other country’s

School lunches: multiverse edition

umm that American lunch looks wayyyy better than what we got at my school!!

As a US citizen i can confirm to you that we NEVER got a brownie for dessert before going back to class. My school would give us a sugar cookie ONE day a year. I think they're talking about private school lunches.

As a Brit I have never ever been given chocolate biscuits or even a school lunch that look at good, thanks Jamie Oliver for ruining school lunches

As an American who goes to a private school, this is semi-accurate. We normally get less food than was shown here, but at least in my school, we get a “main course” (chicken sandwich, corn dog, tacos, pizza, etc.), a vegetable or fruit, and a side (mac’n’cheese, chips, roll, etc.) There will also normally be either a cookie or a brownie, but ice cream is for sale as well. At my school, we also have a salad, soup, and wrap of the day on most days. But you also have to remember that we have to pay for these lunches, at least $5 per lunch and that adds up fast. At public school, the lunch is free so it makes sense for some of them to be considered worse than at private schools.

As a Nigerian loving in Nigeria, I can assure you this is not what school lunches look like here.... I've never had broccoli in my life😂😂😂

“is there anything we missed” yeah like 170 other countries

Meanwhile in Bangladesh: You guys are getting lunch in school?! 🫥

a more realistic US school lunch is like: cold ass cheese pizzas once like every year green beans pee looking mashed potatoes and whatever the hell was in those carrots 😭

Here in the U.S. Florida we have boiled cheeseburgers with stale fries, a rotten apple and a carton of milk. Or chicken sandwiches that don’t even have real chicken in it.

You forgot the part where my grilled cheese comes in a bag, tastes like plastic, tomato soup is a luxury, milk is warm, and the brownies were $5

As someone who lives in America. We DO NOT HAVE THE BLESSING TO EAT GRILLED CHEESE AND SOUP. WE DONT EVEN HAVE PLATES!! The average is mystery meat, rotten milk and an apple on a flimsy styrofoam tray 😭

Dear. British kids are NOT served biscuits, cakes or desserts when Jamie showed up and took it all away from us.

I feel like it really just depends on the school, cause all of these look like more lunches for more elite school districts

a more accurate meal for the us would have been a stale burger, fruit cup , mac and cheese that doesn’t move when you turn it upside down, and a frozen milk that your obligated to get for some reason.

This isn’t public school lunch This is a home meal or private school (maybe) In the UK, you have to get by with a Panini or Sandwich and a Radnor Fizz

ngl canadian lunch is even better than US. Canada still has variety

Students in Japan don’t help cook, however they do help serve and clean up

Here in India, certain schools run by the Central Government in poor & rural areas serve free afternoon lunch consisting of rice, lentils & vegetables to the students under the Mid Day Meal scheme to attract the attendance of poor students whose families have to stuggle hard to barely make for their 2 meals a day.

i've been i France my whole life, but that french part was a big surprise

What I got at my old school: •a cup of soft gross oranges •a small carton of chocolate milk •a slice of stale pizza •very few options of dressing *OR we didn't eat at all*

I went to school in Hawaii (Kalani High) and our school lunches were DEFINITELY not made from “fresh local ingredients”. They would literally feed us 1 stale slice of pizza or the weakest hamburger known to mankind with a carton of milk on a paper plate. But what can we expect for $1 lunch, in Belgium school lunch is served on actual dishes and cost at least 7 Euros.

As someone who goes to a private jewish school, food is either very good, or not. For example, we have different meals that change every day, so some days there can be poke bowls (milk), and other day nuggets and fries (meat). But there are 5 or more options to choose to eat as the main food, there also are salads, vegetables, soup, fruits, and some small dessert. But keep in mind the menu changes every day, so you just gotta run hoping there are nuggets and fries or tacos as the main food, instead of other things. The only thing that is very good is that since the food has to be kosher most of the things are fresh and not some random mystery meat or canned/processed food

We have Loma at my school, it was organic and healthy, we had roasted rootbeats, salmon lasagna with spinach and stuff. Really delicious and healthy. The students also learn how to make the food, we are in the kitchen helping, we had loma week, so every week one of the classes had kitchen week, where we first planned the food after the recommendations so every group should plan one meal, where it should fit the official recommendations, then we visited farms and picked up our ingredients. After this we would help make the food in the kitchen, we learned to make healthy and tasty foods. Highly recommend, still I use these recipes at home when cooking.

others: complaining how their lunches doesn't look like this me: you guys get free lunches?