4 ms·

10 year expat here. Part which I don't get is how come "warm lunches" for schools typical/natural/expected in the rest of the developed world never caught up he

10 year expat here. Part which I don't get is how come "warm lunches" for schools typical/natural/expected in the rest of the developed world never caught up here. Equality uber-alles?

mort96 8y ago
As I wrote in my comment, warm lunch _is_ catching on, at least in my part of the country. As for why it's not as common as in some other countries (yet), there's no "equality über alles". I'd guess the reason is that Norway was until relatively recently a poor country with little good farmland, so most of our food culture comes from there.
roel_v 8y ago
Where are you from? There are many places where warm lunches in school are not normal. (I'm specifically thinking about Belgium and the Netherlands here, but I don't think they're common anywhere in Europe outside of the UK). It's mostly a cost thing, I think.
- funtastique 8y ago
  Wait, I'll google this... Ah, here it goes: warm lunches: Finland, Spain, Denmark(?), Estonia, Lithuania, France, Italy, Sweden, UK, potentially others, not a complete list. [1] p.s. Fun fact: Norwegian school lunches were supplied from Sweden during World War II, partly privately financed. Later, all public school lunches were discontinued, so most Norwegian students bring a packed lunch from home.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_meal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_meal
  - mcv 8y ago
    I heard that warm lunches used to be common in Netherland in agricultural areas. They'd work in the field all morning, then have a hot meal, then work all afternoon, and have some bread in the evening. With everybody working/going to school outside the home, the family dinner moved to the evening and people took sandwiches with them for lunch.
  - detaro 8y ago
    Germany too.
    - icebraining 8y ago
      And Portugal.
  - roel_v 8y ago
    I don't think that list is really as black and white as that article makes it seem. I had conversations about this exact topic with friends from Spain and France (the things you talk about once you have children), and none of them had warm lunches at school. Of course I'm almost 40 years old, my friend are in that age bracket, so maybe it's different now, or maybe it depends on rural/urban or how well funded the schools are in other ways - but from what I understand, without it being a statistically sound survey, having full meals at primary and/or secondary school is not universal.
    - watwut 8y ago
      I have personally seen warm lunches in France in 3 out of three schools I visited. Locals treated it as something completely normal, complained about quality which seemed to me much higher then what I was used to.
    - icebraining 8y ago
      I'm pretty sure that's outdated for Spain. According to various news reports (in Spanish), schools serve warm lunches, with most receiving pre-cooked food and heating it locally, while about 1/3 have full kitchens on premises.
- Guillaume86 8y ago
  I always had the option of warm lunch in school in Belgium (Hainaut, not really a rich part), maybe it's a regional thing.
  - erikbye 8y ago
    I had warm lunch in high school (Norway, 1997). Granted, it was a private school.
- lurcio 8y ago
  Here in Albania (Europe) it's still a lifestyle thing - school is done by 1pm and lunch is taken at leisure with pleasure. It's a real joy.
xanipher 8y ago
Where are warm lunches for schools typical/expected? Have never seen them "properly".
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- alistairSH 8y ago
  In the US, it's the norm. When I was in elementary (primary in the UK) school, it was split about half between packed sandwiches (with a box of OJ and a small bag of chips or similar snack) and queuing up at the school's lunch counter for a hot meal (usually cheap, not great quality, and heavily subsidized for those students that qualified). I'm not sure when it started, but my guess would be the 1930s, in an effort to ensure every child had at least one full meal a day. And at least in my current region, the school now offers breakfast before school begins (though this is almost exclusively used by students who qualify for free lunches - I don't know any middle-class families that rely on the school breakfast).
  - ghaff 8y ago
    I don't know the entire history but as a federal program it started in 1946. [1] It's long been sort of a political hot button. As you say, the impetus was (and is) that children from poor or otherwise disadvantaged home environments got at least one full meal at lunchtime. [1] https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/national-school-lunch-program-nslp https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/national-school-lunch-program-...
  - HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago
    From what I know, the food quality and cost varies widely. Here (rural Minnesota, US) the elementary school lunch is about $2.50 (HS is about $3.75) for the kids who don't qualify for financial aid or free meals. Breakfast is also available at a similar cost. I've never eaten it, but my kids generally enjoy the food and my wife, who's volunteered at the school often and eaten lunch there, says it's OK. They also offer an optional PM snack in elementary school at additional cost. Snack milk is free for everyone. OTOH, I've heard of other school districts around the country where the food is total crap and only the poorest children who can't afford to have breakfast at home/bring a lunch will eat it.
atombender 8y ago
The established tradition of bringing a homemade meal packed in a bag means that nobody has really been clamouring for cafeteria service -- everyone has simply accepted that schools don't provide food, and so people don't look to schools to provide a service that they don't view as being part of the school system. Better income equality also means that everyone can afford to provide their own lunches. Note that some Norwegian schools, especially bigger ones in the larger cities, now provide hot lunches, but the practice is fairly new and still uncommon. (Source: Am Norwegian.)

10 year expat here. Part which I don't get is how come "warm lunches" for schools typical/natural/expected in the rest of the developed world never caught up here. Equality uber-alles?

mort96 8y ago

As I wrote in my comment, warm lunch _is_ catching on, at least in my part of the country. As for why it's not as common as in some other countries (yet), there's no "equality über alles". I'd guess the reason is that Norway was until relatively recently a poor country with little good farmland, so most of our food culture comes from there.

roel_v 8y ago

Where are you from? There are many places where warm lunches in school are not normal. (I'm specifically thinking about Belgium and the Netherlands here, but I don't think they're common anywhere in Europe outside of the UK). It's mostly a cost thing, I think.

funtastique 8y ago
Wait, I'll google this... Ah, here it goes: warm lunches: Finland, Spain, Denmark(?), Estonia, Lithuania, France, Italy, Sweden, UK, potentially others, not a complete list. [1] p.s. Fun fact: Norwegian school lunches were supplied from Sweden during World War II, partly privately financed. Later, all public school lunches were discontinued, so most Norwegian students bring a packed lunch from home.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_meal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_meal
- mcv 8y ago
  I heard that warm lunches used to be common in Netherland in agricultural areas. They'd work in the field all morning, then have a hot meal, then work all afternoon, and have some bread in the evening. With everybody working/going to school outside the home, the family dinner moved to the evening and people took sandwiches with them for lunch.
- detaro 8y ago
  Germany too.
  - icebraining 8y ago
    And Portugal.
- roel_v 8y ago
  I don't think that list is really as black and white as that article makes it seem. I had conversations about this exact topic with friends from Spain and France (the things you talk about once you have children), and none of them had warm lunches at school. Of course I'm almost 40 years old, my friend are in that age bracket, so maybe it's different now, or maybe it depends on rural/urban or how well funded the schools are in other ways - but from what I understand, without it being a statistically sound survey, having full meals at primary and/or secondary school is not universal.
  - watwut 8y ago
    I have personally seen warm lunches in France in 3 out of three schools I visited. Locals treated it as something completely normal, complained about quality which seemed to me much higher then what I was used to.
  - icebraining 8y ago
    I'm pretty sure that's outdated for Spain. According to various news reports (in Spanish), schools serve warm lunches, with most receiving pre-cooked food and heating it locally, while about 1/3 have full kitchens on premises.
Guillaume86 8y ago
I always had the option of warm lunch in school in Belgium (Hainaut, not really a rich part), maybe it's a regional thing.
- erikbye 8y ago
  I had warm lunch in high school (Norway, 1997). Granted, it was a private school.
lurcio 8y ago
Here in Albania (Europe) it's still a lifestyle thing - school is done by 1pm and lunch is taken at leisure with pleasure. It's a real joy.

xanipher 8y ago

Where are warm lunches for schools typical/expected? Have never seen them "properly".

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
alistairSH 8y ago
In the US, it's the norm. When I was in elementary (primary in the UK) school, it was split about half between packed sandwiches (with a box of OJ and a small bag of chips or similar snack) and queuing up at the school's lunch counter for a hot meal (usually cheap, not great quality, and heavily subsidized for those students that qualified). I'm not sure when it started, but my guess would be the 1930s, in an effort to ensure every child had at least one full meal a day. And at least in my current region, the school now offers breakfast before school begins (though this is almost exclusively used by students who qualify for free lunches - I don't know any middle-class families that rely on the school breakfast).
- ghaff 8y ago
  I don't know the entire history but as a federal program it started in 1946. [1] It's long been sort of a political hot button. As you say, the impetus was (and is) that children from poor or otherwise disadvantaged home environments got at least one full meal at lunchtime. [1] https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/national-school-lunch-program-nslp https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/national-school-lunch-program-...
- HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago
  From what I know, the food quality and cost varies widely. Here (rural Minnesota, US) the elementary school lunch is about $2.50 (HS is about $3.75) for the kids who don't qualify for financial aid or free meals. Breakfast is also available at a similar cost. I've never eaten it, but my kids generally enjoy the food and my wife, who's volunteered at the school often and eaten lunch there, says it's OK. They also offer an optional PM snack in elementary school at additional cost. Snack milk is free for everyone. OTOH, I've heard of other school districts around the country where the food is total crap and only the poorest children who can't afford to have breakfast at home/bring a lunch will eat it.

atombender 8y ago

The established tradition of bringing a homemade meal packed in a bag means that nobody has really been clamouring for cafeteria service -- everyone has simply accepted that schools don't provide food, and so people don't look to schools to provide a service that they don't view as being part of the school system. Better income equality also means that everyone can afford to provide their own lunches. Note that some Norwegian schools, especially bigger ones in the larger cities, now provide hot lunches, but the practice is fairly new and still uncommon. (Source: Am Norwegian.)