There Should Be New Ways For School Cafeteria Food

[sevfiv]

Let's make sure it remains "foreign" and doesn't supplant (or bash) our American heritage.

i am quite sure that most Americans have foreign heritage somewhere down the line

[Toggle3]

i am quite sure that most Americans have foreign heritage somewhere down the line.

We all used to be Neanderthals too.

Some of us changed. We had a revolution and became Americans.

[Vertigo58]

Viva Italia!

[ricco67]

We all used to be Neanderthals too.

apparently some of us are quite evolved. let us know how t at gieco gig works out for ya.

[VicMan]

There was a school lunch special in the Yo! section of the Chronicle last week -

It stated that students in France often get three-course meals and food such as paella in school. I haven't asked any French people how typical public school paella tastes, though.

[musicman]

There was a school lunch special in the Yo! section of the Chronicle last week -

It stated that students in France often get three-course meals and food such as paella in school. I haven't asked any French people how typical public school paella tastes, though.

In the Paris paper, there was a similar article regarding school lunches in Houston. It stated that the students here get to eat hamburgers and pizza. My neighbors children go to HISD and they say that the lunches are great.

[editor]

There was a school lunch special in the Yo! section of the Chronicle last week -

It stated that students in France often get three-course meals and food such as paella in school. I haven't asked any French people how typical public school paella tastes, though.

You could have that in HISD, too, if you want to be taxed at the same rate as the French.

Sales tax: 19.6% (25.6% for gas)

Income tax: Starting at 16%. 48% for people earning over US$66,000 (leaving you with $34,000 of your hard-earned money).

Business tax: Starting at 12%

Real estate tax: 33.3%

Also, note that the real estate tax isn't only payable by the person who owns the property, but by the person who lives there, too. So if you're renting, you STILL have to pay real estate tax.

[VicMan]

Isn't this why a lot of the rich of many European countries go to Monaco?

Anyway, Americans typically do not eat three-course lunches, so we do not need the same taxation rate for school lunches

Musicman: I would say that HISD has edible school lunches much of the time - Though I prefer McDonald's hamburgers to HISD burgers and New York Pizza to HISD pizza, I understand taxation limits, so I am fine with what HISD food service has for the general population (at $1.50 per person).

Some schools have 3rd party food providers (i.e. Chik-Fil-A, Papa John's Pizza, etc.) to allow for people who want more expensive food; I was talking about adding other 3rd party groups to provide more types of food at large, comprehensive high schools.

You could have that in HISD, too, if you want to be taxed at the same rate as the French.

Sales tax: 19.6% (25.6% for gas)

Income tax: Starting at 16%. 48% for people earning over US$66,000 (leaving you with $34,000 of your hard-earned money).

Business tax: Starting at 12%

Real estate tax: 33.3%

Also, note that the real estate tax isn't only payable by the person who owns the property, but by the person who lives there, too. So if you're renting, you STILL have to pay real estate tax.

[musicman]

Some schools have 3rd party food providers (i.e. Chik-Fil-A, Papa John's Pizza, etc.) to allow for people who want more expensive food; I was talking about adding other 3rd party groups to provide more types of food at large, comprehensive high schools.

with the other REAL problems HISD is facing, whether children can order from cafe express (or whereever) is a nonissue.

[flyingman]

I'm having a hard time seeing how having a couple different choices on the menu is going to negatively change the ultra-complexity that is American Culture, or affect students' ability to embrace or alter the American culture they're living. Aside from the lunch, I don't see anything else in the school system in danger of being un-American and being trampled on by foreign ways. Assimilate/indoctrinate children into American culture? What does that mean and how would they go about doing that? Putting them in the school and living in the United States does that on its own doesn't it? Tends has that effect I think...

Can you describe what American culture is? Which aspects are the ones you want and that can be embraced in public schools? The way things are done and the way systems work simply is our way right? It would be obviously different to any student dropping in from another country.

American tax payers are quite a diverse group...

[Reefmonkey]

I am not so old as to not remember Klein ISD food in the 80s and 90s, and so I empathize with Vicman's wishes. While I applaud his idea of using the school cafeteria to promote international understanding, I don't think it will work in practice. School cafeterias have a hard time making familiar food edible. Giving them something exotic is a great way to ensure that kids will grow to hate Salvadorian or Vietnamese food. It is a noble gesture, but the cafeteria is not the place for it. I am a little disturbed to learn that schools are outsourcing to fast food joints like Taco Bell, even if it is only a couple of times a month. The first thing that school cafeterias need to focus on is making the food healthier, lower in saturated fats. Then work on taste. Salvadorian and Vietnamese students have plenty of opportunity to eat their own food (and get a better version of it) outside of school, and other kids have plenty of opportunities to try it outside of school as well. Again, let's focus on making school lunches healthier, cost-effective, and tastier, not creating a model UN in the cafeteria.

Side note - I don't want to get in the middle of the argument "assimilation", as I don't believe that making immigrant students eat chicken nuggets instead of pupusas is going to make them any more "assimilated", and trying to use the cafeteria to do so is a scary thought, but since ricco67 challenged toggle3 to name foods that are American in origin, I gathered that ricco doesn't believe there are any, so I thought I'd C&P my thoughts on original American food that I had posted on another forum:

I kind of disagree with you on American food, though. I believe there is plenty of true American food. Hamburgers for instance. Yeah, German, name, like you point out, but it isn't really based on any German food. The german hamburger is whole pork on a roll, so the american hamburger was just named after something similar, not actually derived from it.

And it is okay for a country's cuisine to borrow from others, and still be that country's authentic cuisine. Could there be anything more southern Italian than pasta with red sauce? Except pasta originated in China, and tomatoes came from Peru.

America has lots of different styles of authentic American cuisine:

Soul food - fried chicken, collard greens, corn bread, grits, etc.

Barbecue, in all its different regional styles - St. Louis, Kentucky, Carolina, heck, Texas alone has four different styles.

Chicken-fried steak. Again, depending on where in Texas you are, you will get different styles, some derived from German schnitzels, some not.

Chili (chile con carne)

Tex-Mex. A lot of people don't realize that Tex-Mex, the food of the people on both sides of the Rio Grande, is an ages old cuisine very distinct from true Mexican. It shares somethings in common with Mexican food, and that's okay. Are pommes frites French or Belgian? Is baclava greek or turkish?

I could go on, and there are midwestern and Yankee styles that I don't even know about. It is also okay to have regional styles, but no one defining food. Look at China? Szechuan is very different from Hunan.

Sorry about the rant, but it's something I happen to have a passion for - American food. I think it is sad that a lot of Americans have an inferiority complex about American culture, especially when talking to foreigners. We sometimes feel that we have no "real" culture compared to them, especially when it comes to food, when we have a very diverse culture, and very diverse food. I think it is the same kind of attitude that causes many Americans (like Gwynyth Paltrow http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...6&ito=1490) to suck up to Europeans by trying to distance themselves from their fellow Americans. I'm not saying you were doing that, I'm just sayin "take heart!" America definitely has many authentic, diverse, and tasty culinary traditions, and next time a foreigner asks you about American food, you can think of what I said and not be nonplussed, and proudly tell him what we've got.

[flyingman]

Again, let's focus on making school lunches healthier, cost-effective, and tastier, not creating a model UN in the cafeteria.

Side note - I don't want to get in the middle of the argument "assimilation", as I don't believe that making immigrant students eat chicken nuggets instead of pupusas is going to make them any more "assimilated"

That pretty much sums it up. I'm done. :closedeyes:

[ricco67]

reefmonkey,

i know there are native dishes such as some as you named, but i also asked toggle for the food to fit other criteria for cost and nutritional value.

i agree that schools need to not only make food edible, but healthy. putting in exotic foods for kids that don't appreciate multi-cultural cuisine is asking a bit much for kids that are not only able to consume one's weight in an adult's pocket book in a week and thinks beef ravioli is the benchmark that other foods should strive for.

<br />That pretty much sums it up. I'm done. <img src="style_emoticons/default/closedeyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":closedeyes:" border="0" alt="closedeyes.gif" /> <br /><br />

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amen

[Reefmonkey]

Ricco67, don't get me wrong, I totally agree with you that Toggle's beliefs that kids should be served "American" foods with English names all the time so as to "assimilate" them is pretty whacky. If kids will eat baigan bharta and it can be served to them as cheaply or more cheaply than what they are serving now, I am all for it. Anything, no matter if it is American or indonesian, that is cheap, healthy, and well-received is fine by me.

On the other hand, maybe Toggle has the right idea that kids should be served "traditional American" dishes. Corn, beans and squash provided all the essential vitamins, minerals, and amino acids for Native Americans for millenia before Columbus. Do you think that's what Toggle has in mind?