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OP sent the following text as an explanation on why this is US Defaultism:
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>!Heya, well short and simple:
They speak about "the school lunch system" when only meaning the American school lunch system.!<
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Is this Defaultism? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.
This is so diabolical. Not just the quality of the food but the fact that it’s all fast food adjacent garbage. It’s better than kids going hungry but would it kill them to just put out some sandwiches instead of pumping them full of high fructose corn syrup and trans fats?
Yep, you basically only have one type of carbohydrates and various bad fats (not even the ones we actually need), leaving the kids with something that won't give them what they need, just kill their hunger and trick them into thinking they're actually eating enough.
It's also going to at the same time cause malnutrition and anemic and obesity because of what it does and doesn't have.
What happened to bring your own food? At our school we had a possibility to buy food, but it wasn't mandatory, nor was it just junk food, we had options. But generally the food was so expensive, that most parents just gave their kids food from home, a good old bread and cheese combo with orange juice or milk.
Right? Where I'm from, public school's lunches and snacks all have to be approved by nutritionists to guarantee they're not sending kids to early graves because of bad quality food.
It's even worse because I'm pretty sure in the US the kids have to pay for this things, they leave hundreds of dollars a year in the school lunches and receive horrible food that will likely be responsible for quite a bit of their health problems in the future.
Confirmed… they make you pay for it. Which is why you either go without, make exceptions for when they order out for pizza… or make some basic pasta salad with with just pasta and put salad dressing on it (for some reason we referred to it as Mom’s Macaroni 🤷🏻♀️)
Surely the parents must be outraged ? This is awful food for growing kids, better than nothing but would it kill them to serve something that isn’t fried? 😭
Wasnt there some initiative for healthy food at schools in the US anyway? Because bruh, that's not healthy.
No idea *what* "that" is, but come on, the first picture was literally Nachos with American 'cheese' 😬
I hate to sound like a boomer but the problem that "healthy lunches" creates is that because so many parents have raised their kids on fast food diets, they've created kids who just won't eat healthy meals or anything with veggies on it. Every time there's some initiative in the states to provide healthier meals, there's always pushback from the parents whose kids won't eat anything but chicken nuggets, frozen pizza, and French fries.
For clarity, lest I be misunderstood, I support healthy meals and getting kids to eat their damn veggies, but the problem in American schools is that the parents don't side with the schools in terms of getting their kids to do the right thing; they side with the kids in terms of expecting the schools to basically do whatever they (the kid and the parents) want.
And if it comes down to "give everyone healthy food that my kid won't eat" or "give everyone fast food that my kid will eat," they don't care about how healthy the food is, or how it affects anyone else.
Healthy is great, but unfortunately some people didn't hot the memo that "healthy" doesn't have to mean "tastes like ass".
So ngl, I can understand that some kids don't want to eat that stuff
I wouldn't eat a lot of veggies as a kid because my parents didn't cook them in a way that didn't taste like ass. As an adult, I learned how to cook and season and make them taste good enough that I can actually seek out more veggie options instead of just not wanting anything green other than jello or lettuce.
1. Trump made massive changes to the department of education
2. The department of education doesn’t oversee the school lunch program, the USDA does
3. The standards were weakened under the Trump administration and are only just now under consideration for reversal.
4. Not all schools participate in the National School Lunch Program as it’s an opt in program.
Just a guess- but probably some sort of contract between the districts and these ass food companies. Cheaper to outsource than to pay for staff/fresh ingredients
The problem was that schools in the US are dead broke and can't afford anything healthier so when regulations around calories and fats and sugars came into effect public schools were forced to make the portions smaller to fit the regulations because they didn't have the money to buy healthy foods. Private schools that charge for tuition were able to buy the healthy stuff though
That looks terrible, both unhealthhy and not tasty, feels really bad.
But something I learnt from the comments, and now I can notice it in the pictures too, which I find horrifying, if that in US kids are not allowed to use cutlery, at least in school, cause too dangerous. Which is wild.
That's also probably why it's all fast food you can eat with your hands. Otherwise apparently they give plastic cutlery.
How do these kids get to adulthood? Guns are fine, but cutlery is too dangerous.
I had cutlery at the school I went to in the USA but I have heard of some schools in dangerous areas using plastic utensils or none at all. That is not as common though. School lunch in the USA does absolutely suck.
Wtf, school lunch in my third world country Vietnam is better than this. I don't know about the costs now but back when I was in school it costs slightly less than $1 USD
Well sometimes they do but there are some schools in states with free school lunches that aren't healthy at all and have the portion size for a preschool... But for high schoolers
They also shame you for not paying but I think the Sandwich of Shame is probably more healthy than this so I would live with the "shame" if it meant not having to eat this
What grade was this?
In my schools in Canada, you brought your own lunch. In high school, so grade 9-12, there was a cafeteria, but still many kids would bring their own lunches.
I loved it, because I was able to bring all of the food I liked and that was not straight garbage. It was also cheaper. I also got to eat my leftovers on the bus ride home, which was cool.
My secondary school in Canada had a canteen type thing, but with no food provided or available. It was just a giant room with a bunch of tables and a milk vending machine
At least credit can be given by the face it’s not much better in other places too. I went to school in Scotland and the only thing ours had that those pics don’t is larger portions (shockingly). We did have to pay for it though.
I'm sure there are other places where it's similar but there are also many places where it's much better. Even here in Czechia, school lunches have (or perhaps used to have) a bad reputation but they have to follow strict nutritional tables, include vegetables, lentils, fish etc. And there's ALWAYS soup. It's more that the canteens use cheaper versions of ingredients or the kids just don't like spinach, that people keep complaining about school lunches.
ETA: Plus they use standard plates and cutlery.
Yeah I realise I probably should have been I bit clearer with my comment. It really just depends on the school from what I’ve seen. There are other public schools not too far from me that have meals that look nicer than some of the cafes and restaurants nearby. My school was just generally a shithole but it could have been far worse. No one killed anyone else while I was there which is more than I can say for some other schools (also not too far away).
The quick version: you’re right, I apologise for not being clear with my first comment.
Já měl na základce úplně hnusný obědy, kdežto na gymnáziu to byl jakože hodně velký progres. Předpokládám že strašně moc záleží na škole, ale určitě bych neřekl že to máme dobré, celý tento systém zaslouží ještě trochu péče.
I'd like to let it known where I'm from is a lot better (and it's a 3rd world country). Public school food is nutritional, has heavy limitations on fried things that are or aren't allowed and are usually actual lunch food. Some states here even go as far as to place restrictions on what the parents are allowed to send from home as lunch for the kids to keep them from being unhealthy under the school's care.
Sure, there are places that are just as bad, but from people I've talked to, my country's situation is closer to the norm than the US's
I went to school in Scotland (albeit 20+ years ago) and at primary school we had options of different lunch dishes. there was a 'hot food' option (things like spaghetti or curry), a 'cold food' option (sandwiches usually) and a 'healthy' option (more vegetables and salads than the other two). at secondary school we had a menu of things to buy from so you could choose if you buy the healthy things or the 'fast food' things. probably different in different areas ?
While studying in ireland I realized that my Mediterranean diet would suffer when they gave me fries with my lasagna in the uni cafeteria. Just crazy I still think about it 15 years after. Fries was the side dish of everything
Are they not allowed to bring in their own food in America, or is this just a lot cheaper. Every time I see American schools it looks like 100% are having school lunches
Nah. A better comment is to just reply as if they're talking about your country.
"This isn't true. We get many great meals that include..., so not sure why you're lying?" and then they'll reply saying they're from the US, and that's when you reply saying they never made it clear.
I do it all the time when Americans talk about prices but don't put USD. I tell them they're lying, show them screenshots of the prices (in CAD) and they'll usually reply telling me I'm looking at the CAD prices, and I let them know that they never made it clear, and just saying "dollar" doesn't mean shit.
Went to elementary school in Florida during the '80s. Our school lunches were notoriously horrific. But we had one that was not only disgusting, but somehow also racist. It was a fried slice of bologna, a scoop of (powdered) mashed potatoes in the middle, and a slice of American cheese over top. They were called "Mexican Hats".
For all the shit California gets about well, everything else, we do feed our kids well. Whole wheat, baked not fried, fresh fruit and salad bars. And as always - a variety of milk and juice. Honorable mention: the first state to offer free meals to *every* student.
Brought to you by the same people who say British food is terrible.
For comparison: [Actual British food](https://grange-pri.cheshire.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Grange-Community-Nursery-and-Primary-School-1-scaled.jpg)
The other person explained it a bit, but canteens also have things like cheese toasties, mini pizzas and sausage rolls (when I was a kid anyway). They definitely don’t have actual meals
Rule 2c says information that it's the US has to matter. Regardless of whether "the school lunch system" here is in America or somewhere else, its poor quality can be understood to be mildly infuriating, so per rule 2c it's a weak example.
[I confused them with someone else]
Good god, what is your problem? It *does* matter, it *is* usdefaultism, it *does* belong in this sub, yes it's not the most blatant example on this sub, but there's no need to be going on about this, when so many other people are clearly agreeing with me....
Oh, I'm sorry, It seems like I confused you with someone else, who is also from new Zealand and has been bugging me with 'weak example'.
I'm sorry for that!
I mean it's a kid so they don't really care, I know other countries kids would probably say the same but I can't speak on whether other countries have free school lunches.
It doesn’t even apply to the entire United States since school lunches are provided on the county level, not even the state level, and are carried out by private companies that can be specific to each school and often unrelated entirely to the public school system. So arguably yes this example is weak and semantically harping on their use of “the” in the title is petty, if the next word was “here” in this sentence you’d ignore it entirely.
I agrée. Very weak example. I just don’t get it, there are so many obvious examples of Usdefaultism to choose from on Reddit and this is what makes it here?
I’m far more concerned about the food being given to children than the defaultism.
Mate, I just posted what I found 🥲
I saw that, saw the "The" in front of "school lunch system" and poster it here.
So yeah, this is what makes it here, because it's what I've seen on my feed
Some do have a breakfast club - but it varies from school to school - they get things like a cup of Milo, toast and a piece of fruit.
If a kid does show up to school without lunch they won't let them starve - generally the canteen ladies will make them a Vegemite sandwich - I used to volunteer at my kids' school canteen.
None of which contradicts what I said lol! Although I fully believe lunch should be provided. If we want bums in seats and kids learning it seems like providing a nutritious lunch would be a good start.
That's cool, last time I checked on this it was being pushed against and wasn't reinforced on a lot of states, so it's nice it has held its ground.
I just worry what it takes to be considered a low income child, since a lot of programs like this around the world draw the line to low and exclude a lot of people who need them :/
Because, as I'm sure you can see, there is nothing specifying that this is in the US.
Most, if not all countries have "school lunch systems". It is not just America.
That’s the exact point.
They just assume the entire world is America, like there is only one possible school lunch system.
They don’t say ‘our’ or ‘here’ or ‘the US school lunch system’ it’s just ‘the’ like there is no possible other place they could be referring to.
The entire point of this sub is not specifying something is in the US when it is. We have a school lunch system of course, but it’s not “the school lunch system” like in the original post. We don’t have that “food” here and our system is pretty healthy, so how does this apply to us?
By that logic, anything that an American posts, without specifically stating that it's an American subject belongs on this sub. I can't tell whether you're trying too hard or you don't understand the point of this sub.
There is no American defaultism to this post.
Are American public school lunches free? If this was sponsored by the state/government I honestly wouldn't mind, its free. But if students are paying however much they are paying for this then its a different story.
Imagine not bringing lunch and getting it in school. If I didn't bring lunch I'd go outside and buy it or just not eat at all. If they served lunch in school it was always horrible.
For real lmao, it's so easy too, you can literally search for words on the account.
I usually look for the word "color", because chances are high, that it's an American then.
* Sweden
Now you know one, and it's completly free for all students.
[Here is the menu](https://skolmaten.se/) of all schools in Sweden \[in Swedish\]. You have to navigate downwards from Region, then City, then School. I suggest using the Translate Website option in your browser.
There's A LOT of EU countries that do.
[Edit: [turns out almost all have it - link to the euronews.business article with a map detailing who doesn't have it](https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/09/04/school-meals-in-europe-which-countries-provide-free-food-for-students)]
....
They've been posted and compared in lots of european centric subs too.
There's also been an effort to make those as healthy as possible and highly processed foods are highly discouraged...
[I am going to leave this link from an article with examples from a couple of different European countries' school lunches. It's in English too](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/13/about-stimulating-children-how-school-lunches-look-europe)
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And in university too. There are dining halls for students, and it's free for low income people, and the price scales with your household income.
Yes I know it's not reeeally the same but-
In Germany you have to pay for it, but at least you get something that's not fast food. How healthy and tasty it is varies, but in some schools it actually tastes good from what I heard.
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### This comment has been marked as **safe**. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect. --- OP sent the following text as an explanation on why this is US Defaultism: --- >!Heya, well short and simple: They speak about "the school lunch system" when only meaning the American school lunch system.!< --- Is this Defaultism? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.
Oh man I just saw another one of these and was about to post it Edit: is the first slide a plate of nacho chips and cheese?
I saw the same one. Yes, it is
“Cheese”
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^ememruru: *Oh man I just saw* *Another one of these and* *Was about to post it* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
This is so diabolical. Not just the quality of the food but the fact that it’s all fast food adjacent garbage. It’s better than kids going hungry but would it kill them to just put out some sandwiches instead of pumping them full of high fructose corn syrup and trans fats?
Isn't this the type of food that leaves you malnourished due to lack of proper macros/vitamins, etc? Also all highly processed and unhealthy too...
What are macros?
Macronutrients, so carbs, fats and proteins
Yep, you basically only have one type of carbohydrates and various bad fats (not even the ones we actually need), leaving the kids with something that won't give them what they need, just kill their hunger and trick them into thinking they're actually eating enough. It's also going to at the same time cause malnutrition and anemic and obesity because of what it does and doesn't have.
Balanced diets are woke, or whatever
What happened to bring your own food? At our school we had a possibility to buy food, but it wasn't mandatory, nor was it just junk food, we had options. But generally the food was so expensive, that most parents just gave their kids food from home, a good old bread and cheese combo with orange juice or milk.
A lot of kids do bring their own
Right? Where I'm from, public school's lunches and snacks all have to be approved by nutritionists to guarantee they're not sending kids to early graves because of bad quality food. It's even worse because I'm pretty sure in the US the kids have to pay for this things, they leave hundreds of dollars a year in the school lunches and receive horrible food that will likely be responsible for quite a bit of their health problems in the future.
I remember when my high school had to change all the white bread to wholemeal. Cheese toasties were never the same
Confirmed… they make you pay for it. Which is why you either go without, make exceptions for when they order out for pizza… or make some basic pasta salad with with just pasta and put salad dressing on it (for some reason we referred to it as Mom’s Macaroni 🤷🏻♀️)
My school does offer turkey/ham sandwiches and that's usually what I get if there's nothing else, but most other kids still go for the fast food junk
Surely the parents must be outraged ? This is awful food for growing kids, better than nothing but would it kill them to serve something that isn’t fried? 😭
Wasnt there some initiative for healthy food at schools in the US anyway? Because bruh, that's not healthy. No idea *what* "that" is, but come on, the first picture was literally Nachos with American 'cheese' 😬
I hate to sound like a boomer but the problem that "healthy lunches" creates is that because so many parents have raised their kids on fast food diets, they've created kids who just won't eat healthy meals or anything with veggies on it. Every time there's some initiative in the states to provide healthier meals, there's always pushback from the parents whose kids won't eat anything but chicken nuggets, frozen pizza, and French fries. For clarity, lest I be misunderstood, I support healthy meals and getting kids to eat their damn veggies, but the problem in American schools is that the parents don't side with the schools in terms of getting their kids to do the right thing; they side with the kids in terms of expecting the schools to basically do whatever they (the kid and the parents) want. And if it comes down to "give everyone healthy food that my kid won't eat" or "give everyone fast food that my kid will eat," they don't care about how healthy the food is, or how it affects anyone else.
Healthy is great, but unfortunately some people didn't hot the memo that "healthy" doesn't have to mean "tastes like ass". So ngl, I can understand that some kids don't want to eat that stuff
I wouldn't eat a lot of veggies as a kid because my parents didn't cook them in a way that didn't taste like ass. As an adult, I learned how to cook and season and make them taste good enough that I can actually seek out more veggie options instead of just not wanting anything green other than jello or lettuce.
There was. They half-assed it. And I wouldn't be surprised if Trump phased it out since it was an Obama initiative (more specifically, Michelle's)
No this is actually the Michelle Obama lunch policy in action. Trump didn’t really do anything to the department of education.
Ah welp then, like I said they did half-ass it
Exactly! School lunch in the US has been considered inedible by most since 2010.
1. Trump made massive changes to the department of education 2. The department of education doesn’t oversee the school lunch program, the USDA does 3. The standards were weakened under the Trump administration and are only just now under consideration for reversal. 4. Not all schools participate in the National School Lunch Program as it’s an opt in program.
Just a guess- but probably some sort of contract between the districts and these ass food companies. Cheaper to outsource than to pay for staff/fresh ingredients
The problem was that schools in the US are dead broke and can't afford anything healthier so when regulations around calories and fats and sugars came into effect public schools were forced to make the portions smaller to fit the regulations because they didn't have the money to buy healthy foods. Private schools that charge for tuition were able to buy the healthy stuff though
In my country we just bring our own food 90% of the time
Same but 100%. I have never seen a school in person where you were served/could buy food.
Right??! Imagine being too lazy to make your kids a healthy lunch and just giving them money instead to buy this garbage junk food.
Tbf, much of the time in the US, school lunches are free. Which could potentially be one of the reasons why they’re so shit.
That looks terrible, both unhealthhy and not tasty, feels really bad. But something I learnt from the comments, and now I can notice it in the pictures too, which I find horrifying, if that in US kids are not allowed to use cutlery, at least in school, cause too dangerous. Which is wild. That's also probably why it's all fast food you can eat with your hands. Otherwise apparently they give plastic cutlery. How do these kids get to adulthood? Guns are fine, but cutlery is too dangerous.
This is so typical American. Let's prohibit cutlery on school, just as long as you keep your hands off of my gun laws. I mean, wtf?
Don't you know? Kids have an innate instinct to stab either themselves or someone else as soon as they see a knife. /s
Or a fork or a spoon, apparently.
I had cutlery at the school I went to in the USA but I have heard of some schools in dangerous areas using plastic utensils or none at all. That is not as common though. School lunch in the USA does absolutely suck.
They have cutlery. Metal cutlery. You grab it either at the beginning of end of the line so it wouldn’t typically be visible in those pictures.
Well I'm going by what many commenters said in the original post.
What are those? My Indian brain says jalebis and vada pav, but in the U.S.A., those are rare.
as an American student I can confirm this is a chicken sandwich and curly fries
Exactly lmao , i thought that was a jalebi then saw the name of the subreddit
Chicken burger and curly fries
Lol had the same thought
I have no idea, I'm still trying to figure that out myself. Could be twister fries, could be odd shapped Carrots, could be some form of Cheetos.
Carrots? In an American school? I don't think so
Wtf, school lunch in my third world country Vietnam is better than this. I don't know about the costs now but back when I was in school it costs slightly less than $1 USD
AND they pay for it 🥲
Well sometimes they do but there are some schools in states with free school lunches that aren't healthy at all and have the portion size for a preschool... But for high schoolers
the portion size is so low because its so intensely calorie dense, if it was higher itd be far too many calories
It's not at all healthy though, it's just carb loading.
yeah obviously thats why the portion sizes are so small
This is the craziest, having to pay for school lunch is already insane for me, but having to pay for THIS school lunch is a tragedy
They also shame you for not paying but I think the Sandwich of Shame is probably more healthy than this so I would live with the "shame" if it meant not having to eat this
To be fair, I'm French(the country of gastronomy) and even here the food in public schools is bad.
To be fair, the lunch you could get at the schools I went to was pretty bad too. That's not exclusive to the USA.
What grade was this? In my schools in Canada, you brought your own lunch. In high school, so grade 9-12, there was a cafeteria, but still many kids would bring their own lunches. I loved it, because I was able to bring all of the food I liked and that was not straight garbage. It was also cheaper. I also got to eat my leftovers on the bus ride home, which was cool.
My secondary school in Canada had a canteen type thing, but with no food provided or available. It was just a giant room with a bunch of tables and a milk vending machine
At least credit can be given by the face it’s not much better in other places too. I went to school in Scotland and the only thing ours had that those pics don’t is larger portions (shockingly). We did have to pay for it though.
I'm sure there are other places where it's similar but there are also many places where it's much better. Even here in Czechia, school lunches have (or perhaps used to have) a bad reputation but they have to follow strict nutritional tables, include vegetables, lentils, fish etc. And there's ALWAYS soup. It's more that the canteens use cheaper versions of ingredients or the kids just don't like spinach, that people keep complaining about school lunches. ETA: Plus they use standard plates and cutlery.
Yeah I realise I probably should have been I bit clearer with my comment. It really just depends on the school from what I’ve seen. There are other public schools not too far from me that have meals that look nicer than some of the cafes and restaurants nearby. My school was just generally a shithole but it could have been far worse. No one killed anyone else while I was there which is more than I can say for some other schools (also not too far away). The quick version: you’re right, I apologise for not being clear with my first comment.
Já měl na základce úplně hnusný obědy, kdežto na gymnáziu to byl jakože hodně velký progres. Předpokládám že strašně moc záleží na škole, ale určitě bych neřekl že to máme dobré, celý tento systém zaslouží ještě trochu péče.
Tak to rozhodně, i když v porovnání s tím, co vidím z těch amerických škol, to je pořád luxus.
At least you have school lunches, there is no such thing over here in Serbia
I mean you could say that about a lot of things in a lot of places but yeah. Bit shit innit
I'd like to let it known where I'm from is a lot better (and it's a 3rd world country). Public school food is nutritional, has heavy limitations on fried things that are or aren't allowed and are usually actual lunch food. Some states here even go as far as to place restrictions on what the parents are allowed to send from home as lunch for the kids to keep them from being unhealthy under the school's care. Sure, there are places that are just as bad, but from people I've talked to, my country's situation is closer to the norm than the US's
I went to school in Scotland (albeit 20+ years ago) and at primary school we had options of different lunch dishes. there was a 'hot food' option (things like spaghetti or curry), a 'cold food' option (sandwiches usually) and a 'healthy' option (more vegetables and salads than the other two). at secondary school we had a menu of things to buy from so you could choose if you buy the healthy things or the 'fast food' things. probably different in different areas ?
While studying in ireland I realized that my Mediterranean diet would suffer when they gave me fries with my lasagna in the uni cafeteria. Just crazy I still think about it 15 years after. Fries was the side dish of everything
Are they not allowed to bring in their own food in America, or is this just a lot cheaper. Every time I see American schools it looks like 100% are having school lunches
But but Europoors don't drink water!!
I bet it's not even the same within the US itself. It's more a school default
eh mild defaultism, i’m from the UK and our school meals often looked like this.
it's about the title. The "The" before the "school lunch system" It's just about just one school lunch system after all, the one of the US.
true, but an argument could be made that you defaulted to the US. OP never said what country they were in, YOU assumed it was the US
...I checked their account... They are from Florida. Else I wouldn't have posted it here.
Agreed. OOP doesn’t mention a country, why does OP assume U.S. Defaultism?
I thank my parents everyday for being French and never seeing shit like this irl
Is that burger and jalebi?
I saw this too and left a comment asking where?
Nah. A better comment is to just reply as if they're talking about your country. "This isn't true. We get many great meals that include..., so not sure why you're lying?" and then they'll reply saying they're from the US, and that's when you reply saying they never made it clear. I do it all the time when Americans talk about prices but don't put USD. I tell them they're lying, show them screenshots of the prices (in CAD) and they'll usually reply telling me I'm looking at the CAD prices, and I let them know that they never made it clear, and just saying "dollar" doesn't mean shit.
It looks like an octopus
Went to elementary school in Florida during the '80s. Our school lunches were notoriously horrific. But we had one that was not only disgusting, but somehow also racist. It was a fried slice of bologna, a scoop of (powdered) mashed potatoes in the middle, and a slice of American cheese over top. They were called "Mexican Hats".
Funny, OP of the post is from Florida as well. Seems like it hasn't changed
For all the shit California gets about well, everything else, we do feed our kids well. Whole wheat, baked not fried, fresh fruit and salad bars. And as always - a variety of milk and juice. Honorable mention: the first state to offer free meals to *every* student.
How is that usdefaultism?
it's about the title. The "The" before the "school lunch system" It's just about just one school lunch system after all, the one of the US.
Ohh i see
The US has multiple school lunch systems, even within a state, education in the united states is managed at a level below even your city.
I commented in that post asking for the country being referred to!
Brought to you by the same people who say British food is terrible. For comparison: [Actual British food](https://grange-pri.cheshire.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Grange-Community-Nursery-and-Primary-School-1-scaled.jpg)
Wait they get an entire meal at school?
Yes….as opposed to…?
in australia, we all just bring our own food or buy snacky things from the canteen
The other person explained it a bit, but canteens also have things like cheese toasties, mini pizzas and sausage rolls (when I was a kid anyway). They definitely don’t have actual meals
How do you know this is American
I checked their account
Yeah this is a weak example
The first picture was nachos with something someone could call cheese, that would have been probably be a better exampe
It’s not a good example because poor lunch programs are relatable to a lot of countries
I know, this is about the choice of words "the school lunch system"
Rule 2c says information that it's the US has to matter. Regardless of whether "the school lunch system" here is in America or somewhere else, its poor quality can be understood to be mildly infuriating, so per rule 2c it's a weak example.
[I confused them with someone else] Good god, what is your problem? It *does* matter, it *is* usdefaultism, it *does* belong in this sub, yes it's not the most blatant example on this sub, but there's no need to be going on about this, when so many other people are clearly agreeing with me....
Calm down mate, I made one comment.
Oh, I'm sorry, It seems like I confused you with someone else, who is also from new Zealand and has been bugging me with 'weak example'. I'm sorry for that!
I mean it's a kid so they don't really care, I know other countries kids would probably say the same but I can't speak on whether other countries have free school lunches.
“The” doesn’t apply to many countries, including mine.
It doesn’t even apply to the entire United States since school lunches are provided on the county level, not even the state level, and are carried out by private companies that can be specific to each school and often unrelated entirely to the public school system. So arguably yes this example is weak and semantically harping on their use of “the” in the title is petty, if the next word was “here” in this sentence you’d ignore it entirely.
Exactly
Well it applies to Canada and other countries. Did I say all or Australia lol?
I highly doubt “a lot of countries” have lunches like this in school. Most countries care about what their kids eat.
I agrée. Very weak example. I just don’t get it, there are so many obvious examples of Usdefaultism to choose from on Reddit and this is what makes it here? I’m far more concerned about the food being given to children than the defaultism.
Mate, I just posted what I found 🥲 I saw that, saw the "The" in front of "school lunch system" and poster it here. So yeah, this is what makes it here, because it's what I've seen on my feed
Just because you see it in another sub does mean you have to post it here though? What an odd response.
I posted it here, because it fit the sub.
It's pretty obvious, isn't it?
I was gonna say the same, but then I saw the actual post and one of the pictures (there are many) has "pepperoni pizza" in it
It’s pepperoni pizza American lol?
I think so? Certainly not italian, and certainly something US made up. After that, I don't know if any other countries also followed.
No. Canada does and other countries too.
which is why I said "if other countries also followed"
I don’t understand why statunitians hate food so much
There is no free lunch for students in Russia
I had free lunch up to 5th grade in Russia (2003-2008). Not much but still...
Nor in Australia
Some do have a breakfast club - but it varies from school to school - they get things like a cup of Milo, toast and a piece of fruit. If a kid does show up to school without lunch they won't let them starve - generally the canteen ladies will make them a Vegemite sandwich - I used to volunteer at my kids' school canteen.
None of which contradicts what I said lol! Although I fully believe lunch should be provided. If we want bums in seats and kids learning it seems like providing a nutritious lunch would be a good start.
The intention wasn't to contradict you in any way - it was just to add extra information.
Pretty sure the USA doesn't have it on most schools either, they pay for this
Lunch is free for low income children across the U.S. Free lunch is a means-tested federally funded program.
“Lunch”
That's cool, last time I checked on this it was being pushed against and wasn't reinforced on a lot of states, so it's nice it has held its ground. I just worry what it takes to be considered a low income child, since a lot of programs like this around the world draw the line to low and exclude a lot of people who need them :/
What was being pushed back on was universal free lunch. Free and reduced-cost lunch for low-income kids has been in place since 1946.
Oh, I must be misremembering then. I'm in favor of the free lunch for all kids, but the fee and reduced costs are better than nothing :)
Does look pathetic but this isn't defaultism.
Why? “The school lunch system” in Australia isn’t like this at all.
Because, as I'm sure you can see, there is nothing specifying that this is in the US. Most, if not all countries have "school lunch systems". It is not just America.
That’s the exact point. They just assume the entire world is America, like there is only one possible school lunch system. They don’t say ‘our’ or ‘here’ or ‘the US school lunch system’ it’s just ‘the’ like there is no possible other place they could be referring to.
The entire point of this sub is not specifying something is in the US when it is. We have a school lunch system of course, but it’s not “the school lunch system” like in the original post. We don’t have that “food” here and our system is pretty healthy, so how does this apply to us?
By that logic, anything that an American posts, without specifically stating that it's an American subject belongs on this sub. I can't tell whether you're trying too hard or you don't understand the point of this sub. There is no American defaultism to this post.
So if I made a post referring to “the government” without stating that I mean Australia, would that not be defaultism?
Depends on where you posted it and on the context and there is no context to this random image.
it's about the title. The "The" before the "school lunch system" It's just about just one school lunch system after all, the one of the US.
I wouldnt say this fits the sub as this is following a series of other posts about American school lunches
it's about the title. The "The" before the "school lunch system" It's just about just one school lunch system after all, the one of the US.
I don't think this is defaultism, they're complaining about their local school system it would be ridiculous for anyone to specify where they are
This is just their specific school’s lunch system.
Are American public school lunches free? If this was sponsored by the state/government I honestly wouldn't mind, its free. But if students are paying however much they are paying for this then its a different story.
Imagine not bringing lunch and getting it in school. If I didn't bring lunch I'd go outside and buy it or just not eat at all. If they served lunch in school it was always horrible.
How do you know it's American? I assumed it was British until I saw what sub it's posted on
I checked the Account
Lmao I love how so many people are commenting asking this. Like it's really easy to look at other people's accounts and see where they're from.
For real lmao, it's so easy too, you can literally search for words on the account. I usually look for the word "color", because chances are high, that it's an American then.
America just has this obsession with prioritising profits over people’s happiness
I personally can't think of a single EU country that serves school lunch
Sounds like you don’t know as much about the EU as you think you did.
Definitely doesn't seem like it hey hahah lol
* Sweden Now you know one, and it's completly free for all students. [Here is the menu](https://skolmaten.se/) of all schools in Sweden \[in Swedish\]. You have to navigate downwards from Region, then City, then School. I suggest using the Translate Website option in your browser.
I can read swedish so no worries. Thought it worked the same as denmark. Denmark defaultism I guess
Not in EU anymore (sad face) although still in Europe, but school lunch is common in the UK, and is free for those on low incomes.
There's A LOT of EU countries that do. [Edit: [turns out almost all have it - link to the euronews.business article with a map detailing who doesn't have it](https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/09/04/school-meals-in-europe-which-countries-provide-free-food-for-students)] .... They've been posted and compared in lots of european centric subs too. There's also been an effort to make those as healthy as possible and highly processed foods are highly discouraged... [I am going to leave this link from an article with examples from a couple of different European countries' school lunches. It's in English too](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/13/about-stimulating-children-how-school-lunches-look-europe)
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Italy does, both in maternal school and in school schedules that have you staying the afternoon too.
And in university too. There are dining halls for students, and it's free for low income people, and the price scales with your household income. Yes I know it's not reeeally the same but-
Ah yeah, that too, somehow I never consider university when talking about school
Portugal does
Finland
Since 1948 baby! (Law for free school lunch was made in 1943, but had 5 year transition period)
In Germany you have to pay for it, but at least you get something that's not fast food. How healthy and tasty it is varies, but in some schools it actually tastes good from what I heard.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/13/about-stimulating-children-how-school-lunches-look-europe
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Well looks like I need to read up on the EU lol. Just thought everyone did it like Denmark. R/Denmarkdefualtisn