Kyushoku, or 給食, is what I believe a popular-ish topic among the working in Japan world. It’s basically school provided lunch. As I am not a student, I am not entirely sure if the families pay for the kids’ food, but in any case, everyone at school eats this supposedly nutritionally balanced meal at lunch. Kyushoku, although in reality is the kids’ lunch, is still part of their education, teaching them about food education and balanced meals. On the sheets I get there’s usually a tidbit about healthy habits, seasonal food, and sometimes a recipe. Whether the meal is actally healthy or not is entirely up to you to judge.
Now, everyone’s kyushoku is going to obviously be different nationwide, but how the system is for me is that Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, are rice day, Tuesdays are noodle day, and Thursdays and bread day. Even though I work at two elementary schools, the menu is the same for both, so I guess I’m not entirely missing out of food from either.
Speaking of the menu, we get a menu for the entire month at the beginning of the month, so that’s kind of fun to read (if you can read Japanese) to look forward to food. It’s also split up into dish names, and ingredients further sorted into food color groups. Red is the protein, yellow is the carbs and fats, and green is the veggies.
A standard meal will have a carb (for me, depending on the day of the week), a carton of milk, a soup, and two sides, with one of them usually being the “main”. The edntire meal will range from 600-700 calories. Sometimes, the non-main is a treat, like a muffin or pudding. Now you might think, wow, you live in Hokkaido, surely you get the good milk! The milk I do know for sure is locally prodduced from the town over, and it’s…fine? Good milk? It tastes nice for sure, but it just kind of tastes like milk. I’m also pretty sure it’s full fat (the fat content is pretty high, but I just kind of deal with it since I eat relatively healthy on a normal basis anyway). I was raised on non-fat milk, so sure, it tastes like nice milk. Now, the locally produced ice cream is a different story, that’s good…
Personally, I decided to try out kyushoku just to see how it was, have some variety everyday, and also save some time in the mornings, since I was making a sandwich everyday back when I was deskwarming at town hall. You can always opt out, but I do see most, if not, all the staff at my school eat the school lunch. I pay 260 yen per lunch (I think it varies per situation), which is a pretty decent deal for the meal, and pay for the month near the end of that month. I’m actually a relatively picky eater, but since the food is not bad and I’m paying for it, I actually have been eating everything, which I’m pretty proud of myself for.
Maybe it’s because the food comes on childish plates, or because some of the portions are sometimes 1 piece, but as someone who does like to eat, at first it didn’t look like a lot. However, as I’m getting used to it, I realize I do get pretty full after the whole meal, so looks can indeed be deceiving. Man I wish school lunches at my elementary school looked like this.
Is it actually healthy? That’s a bit questionable. First, the kids get milk everyday, which ideally is fine since it’s full of protein, but maybe a full-fat option makes that a bit so-so, but like I said, I’m dealing with it. Then, this may also depend on the school/region, but as my co-JET pointed out, there’s a decent frequency of fried food. Looking at the menu calendar there’s a fried item 2-3 times a week most weeks. In moderation I think it’s generally fine, and fried food tastes good so I’m not going to complain too much, but that also raises some questions, in terms of a nutritional claim, you know? Another thing that people have pointed out is that Japanese people tend to use salt or salty products in a lot of the cooking here, like soy sauce and miso. Another thing to keep in mind.
As a side note, apparently some local ALTs just don’t eat a dinner, and the kyushoku is their last meal of the day or something. I absolutely can’t do that. Sure it’s filling, but lunch is usually around 12. Not sure if it’s me, but I do get hungry easily, and by around 4 will be hungry again and eat a pre-dinner snack (I’ve gotten used to eating dinner around 6).
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