Vegetarian school lunches?

In some places, maybe. I remember back in the dark ages when we had two choices for a school lunch each day...the usual school lunch, which was always a hot meal consisting of a meat entree, a veggie or two, milk, and Jello-o or a cookie, or a brownie. The second choice was always vegetable soup, made there in the school kitchen, plus half of a peanut butter and honey sandwich. That was usually my choice for school lunch. All these years I've remembered that soup at John Tyler Elementary school!

Contrasting that with the "food" my son was served at school. I'll never forget the last day of school in fifth grade, hubby and I had lunch with him. He ate a couple of fried mozzarella sticks. Well, he ate the breading that was on the cheese. Nothing else. I used to pack his lunches until I discovered that he was regularly throwing them away and trading his fruit for junk. I figured I had control over his lunch, snacks at home, and dinner so I didn't sweat the lunch thing too much. But would have preferred that he ate something healthy of course.

Just read in the article More School Lunches Going Vegetarian that some schools "across the nation" are going to try vegetarian meals in schools. I have to say that, personally, pasta with a lentil sauce doesn't sound too appealing. I cook with lentils and enjoy them. But they are not pretty after being cooked. I can't imagine what a lentil sauce would look like, but I'm sure fourth grade boys everywhere would have no shortage of words to describe the sight, taste, aroma, and texture of lentil sauce.

If the kids eat it, I'm all for it tho. In the dark ages when I was in school, teachers sat with their classes and made sure that we ate. We didn't necessarily have to clean our plates, but we had to eat a sufficient amount. And we didn't touch dessert until we had eaten a sufficient amount. I once asked why my son's school served the junkiest of foods and they said that that was what sold, and it was "all that the kids would eat." They would have to throw away the healthy stuff and, besides, the healthy stuff "cost too much." Alrighty then. We didn't have that problem in the dark ages...we ate what was there or went without. We could carry a lunch box, or have two choices in the cafeteria. But what do I know? I'm a hopeless throwback. :)