School Lunch - 学校給食 - Friday

I love lunch days when bread is served. The bakery that supplies the baked goods for Haebaru Town's Lunch Center makes really good bread. Today will probably my favourite lunch for the entire month of January.

いただきます！！！！！！

Itadakimasu - said before every meal in Japan. Literally meaning "I humbly receive".

FRIDAY'S MENU

「牛乳，タルタルソース、ゆでやさい、さかなフライ、バーガーパン、パンプキンスープ」

[ Milk, Tartar Sauce, Boiled Vegetables, Breaded Deep Fried Fish Filet, A Hamburger Bun, Pumpkin Soup ]

Rating: * * * * * 5 Star

Comments: Yumm! I loaded the bun with the veggies, tartar sauce, and fish filet. It was a super sandwich for sure! Haebaru Town is famous for it's pumpkin harvest every year. The soup was the perfect creamy consistency and filled with chicken, onion and parsley.

That's it for this weeks kyushoku blog postings. I hope you enjoyed seeing a small glimpse of the variety of foods served in the Japanese School Lunch Program.

ごちそさまでした

Gochisosama deshita - said after every meal in Japan. Literally Meaning- "Thank you for good meal - it was".

School Lunch - 学校給食 - Thursday

THURSDAY'S MENU

「牛乳、きんぴらごぼう、やさいいりかまぼこ、みそしる、ごはん』

[ Milk, Braised Burdock Root, Vegetable Fish-Paste Cake (Kamaboko), Miso Soup with Seaweed and Mushrooms, White Rice ]

Rating: * * * * 4 Stars

Comments: I love burdock root. It has a wonderful earthy flavour. The miso soup was great and very healthy! I don't care for Kamaboko (Fish-Paste Cake) at all. Somehow I always find Kamaboko in one of my dishes at lunch. Apparently it is very amusing to watch Julie carefully pick out/separate the Kamaboko from lunch that day. Hilarious.

Since I hate Kamaboko, before I ate lunch I made a few modifications. I gave my Kamaboko to another teacher, and added some Shiso Furikake to my white rice. I keep a small Jar or Shiso Furikake in my desk for days that I feel the need to pep up my white rice. Putting Soy Sauce on top of white rice is not an acceptable thing to do...ever. Shiso is an amazing herb that I learned about while living in Japan. It is dried and then mixed with salt and who knows what to make it Furikake. Furikake is a dry condiment sprinkled over top of rice to give some extra zip. You can find all different flavours of Furikake.

[ Shiso Furikake for my Rice ]

[ My modified lunch tray ]

School Lunch - 学校給食 - Wednesday

Everyday, a truck from the School Lunch Center delivers the food to a special room in the school. They bring enough food to feed 762 people. The Center makes food for all of the Elementary Schools and Junior High Schools in Haebaru. Feeding a total of 4265 people everyday!

[ Students Carting Food Back to Their Classrooms ]

[ Food Storage Facility ]

[ Food Storage Facility in School ]

[ Dishing out the food for the Staff Room ]

Everyday, the school lunch menu contains about 850 calories. I usually eat about half of what is portioned out for me because I have started putting on the "School Lunch Pounds".

WEDNESDAY'S MENU

「牛乳、アーモンド、バナナ、メンチカツ、にこみうどん」

[ Milk, Almonds, A Banana, Mincemeat Cutlet, Nikomi Udon Noodles (in a miso sauce) ]

Rating: * * * 3 stars

Comments: I am not a Banana kinda girl. I do not like plain Banana. Although, I do like Banana Bread, Pie, Cake etc. The Udon Noodles were ok....but they had a slight sweet flavour to them that I was not a huge fan of.

[ Lot's of Banana's and Milk Not Consumed ]

School Lunch - 学校給食 - Tuesday

During lunch, the students eat in their classrooms with their home room teachers. I usually eat in the Teachers Office with other Teachers that do not have homeroom classes. This includes the Principal, Vice Principal, and Office Staff. Sometimes I eat with the students if they invite me to join their class.

Tuesday is my delegated day to help set-up lunch in the Teachers Office. We start setting up lunch at around 1pm and eat at 1:15pm.

[ Lunch Tray Assembly Line - Teachers Office ]

TUESDAY'S MENU

「牛乳、べにいもきんとん、むぎごはん、おやこどん」

[ Milk, Mashed Okinawan Purple Sweet Potato, White Rice cooked with Barley, Oyakodon (Donburi-Rice Bowl Dish with Chicken, Egg, Green Onion, Simmered in Sauce and then poured over rice) ]

Rating: * * * 3 Stars

Comments: This was ok. I don't really care for the Fish Cake (Kamaboko) in the Oyakodon and the Mashed Sweet Potato was a bit too sweet and heavy.

After lunch is over, the students clean up after lunch and clean the school. I always help the office ladies clean up after lunch.

[ Cleaning Up ]

School Lunch - 学校給食 - Monday

Recently, Japanese School Lunch has become one of my favourite times of the day. The menu is full of variety and is often rather delicious. The menu can also be quite fascinatingly different from anything I would ever eat in Canada. I was reading a fellow ALT's blog and they did a special blog segment on his schools School Lunch/Menu. I thought it was a great way to showcase the ingeniousness that is Japanese School Lunches. For the next week I will take and post a photo everyday of the lunch being served, a description of what it is, and some details regarding how the lunch is served etc.

Here is a little snippet from Google about School Lunch in Japan!

"In Japan students eat kyūshoku, or school lunch. Parents pay 250 to 300 yen per student for the cost of the ingredients, with labour costs being funded by local authorities. The tradition started in the early 20th century. After the war – which brought near-famine conditions to Japan – the provision of school lunches was re-introduced in urban areas, initially with skimmed milk powder and later flour donated by an American charity. School lunch was extended to all elementary schools in Japan in 1952 and, with the enaction of the School Lunch Law, to junior high schools in 1954.

Usually, all meals provided on a given day are identical for all pupils of a Japanese school. The menu is planned by dieticians and changes daily. The average menu has gone through a large deal of change since the basic meals of the 1950s, as Japan grew economically."

MONDAY

「オレンジ１／４、牛乳,　さばゆずみそに、ごはん、けんちんじる」

[ 1/4 Orange Slice, Milk, Mackerel Filet in a Yuzu Citrus and Miso Sauce, White Rice, Kenchinjiru (a clear soup with lots of tofu and vegetables) ]

Rating: * * * * 4 Stars

Comments: This lunch was yummy and healthy. The fish was so good I had 2 pieces.