Why would fish be better than something like legumes?
In general, school lunch programs tend to be a subsidy to the regional agriculture and animal farming sectors, a guaranteed market for their products. Few places do school food well (actually trying to feed children with nutritious food and to teach them how to eat well), Japan is probably the most famous of those.
I think it’s because the fat or fish oils help with cognitive processes
Fish are regularly contaminated with PCBs and other pollutants, with bioaccumulation and biomagnification providing significant doses; this includes heavy metals.
Example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_in_fish
So it’s a tradeoff: Fish consumption, methylmercury and child neurodevelopment - PMC
Or you could skip the downsides and get those nuts and seeds and other plants with omega-3 fatty acids… or just algae based supplements (algae are the origin of the nutrient for those fish).
You are right, but nuts and seeds are also more expensive.
Nuts and seeds have way too many Omega 6 fatty acids, wich counteract Omega 3 and can cause heart problems
A vegan keto diet is hardly possible because of that
Omega 3 (ALA, a predecessor of EPA and DHA which you also need) comes from few plants in high concentrations: flax (linseed), hemp, chia
Additionally, microalgae oil for direct EPA and DHA can help, as the transformation of ALA in the body only fulfills the basic needs
A vegan diet needs a bunch of essential supplements, which you can take in a single pill like these a day as they are small. Others like iron, protein, B-Vitamins come with a diet rich in legumes and full grains.
Children don’t need any caffeine.
Edit: Buncha 12 year olds with a Mountain Dew habit cashing in lunch money to buy downvotes in here.
Nobody needs caffeine. It doesnt give you any energy, just squeezes more out of your body when you want it.
Instead, school should stay WAY later, 9:00 is a good time. I had many “bus kids” in my class, who stood up at 5:30 to get to school. Fucked up
This is the way. My caffeine habit started in middle school because I was needing to be up stupid early for the bus, missing breakfast, and passing out halfway through first period.
Yes, energy drinks shouldn’t be sold to children. An age limit that prevents selling to people below 16 seems like a good idea to me.
I’m not suggesting we start carding everyone who buys a soda, but schools are a controlled environment. Just don’t sell caffeinated beverages at the schools.
Just ask for ID like alcohol
Some countries do that already and I wouldn‘t recommend Cola to children under 12 either.
Yeah. I wouldn’t serve any caffeinated drinks to a horde of children. I suppose the limit on caffeine must mostly be in regards to colas.
Even coffee?
Or tea?
Botttled iced tea is mostly sugar, with just enough caffeine to make it addictive. It doesn’t belong in schools.
You know there is classic hot tea?
Freshly brewed black tea in hot weather is absolutely brilliant. I’ve got into tea trinking during a holiday in Sicily.
Elementary school age kids don’t drink hot tea usually. Maybe in England, but that seems like providing kettles for all the kids might be a bit of a burn hazard.
Nowhere in this article is indicated that these changes are only for elementary schools.
And you go to school until you’re 17/18 years old. It’s perfectly reasonable for them to have a tea or a coffee
Then they can take themselves to a cafe and buy a tea or coffee. This is about what all the schools are permitted to serve the students. Yes, some are 17 or 18, and some are 5 or 6 years old. Sugar and caffeine are the two most addictive substances widely available to children, and few things manufactured are as profitable as caffeinated sugar water. Put it in a bottle with fancy colors and a cool logo, have some social media influencers plug the drink, and then find a captive audience that’s sleep deprived, facing extreme pressure to perform, and too young and impulsive to make long-term healthy decisions. That’s called a business model.
People can also drink water, you know, like there’s in the toilet?
That’s what we had at school, I don’t remember any complaints.
Did they also increase budgets to pay for this?
It’s great and we should copy it, but you also need to put the money behind these things so the food is edible at the end
This is Spain, we grow some amazing food here - if anything this is going to be cheaper than stuffing them full of preservatives and pizza.
For reference my work canteen is 4,50€ for lunch, but there’s usually too much good food in a serving so I always take some of it home, and it’s good stuff :-)
Great! Maybe Spanish food will stop being all potatoes and pork finally.
Nothing but love for Spain, together with Greece my favorite country in the world, but Spanish food sucks lol. I know very subjective and all, but I just don’t get how you can be surrounded by France and Morocco and then still not use any spices and stuff :D
Have you ever been to Spain? I can’t remember the last time I had pork and potatoes
Yes! North and south, east and west, love Spain. But seriously, even if you order something veggie like croquettes they’ll just put bacon on top of that lol. Or like you have dinner and they just casually bring you a tapa that has tuna in it without even asking if you’re eating fish. Like, the concept of not eating certain stuff seems alien to many places there.
I have no idea what people cook at home but your typical Spanish restaurant e.g. in Madrid or the south is tortilla de patatas, patatas bravas, croquettes (ideally with ham), lots of ham in general, some other potato stuff. Some seafood. I’m vegetarian and I just suffer there :D
Croquettes are not “something veggie”. You can make them as breaded bechamel, but often they’re filled with pork ham or chicken bits. You may find more fancy varieties with seafood or mushrooms, but overall I wouldn’t consider them “something veggie”.
Is Spain primarily meat-eating? Yes. If that’s your concern, be upfront about it but don’t generalise saying that Spain cuisine sucks.
Well a meat-centric cuisine sucks. As a german, I LOVE immigrants from india, arab countries, southern asia and where else they have real vegan meals that are TASTY
A vegan without tofu or curry? Never.
Nothing against primarily-vegetarian or vegan cuisines. I’m only against saying “this cuisine suck” when you really mean “I don’t like it”.
The point was “pigs and potatos without spices” so yeah, sounds like it sucked too
Idk with food it’s like, everyone has their own opinion, some people say pizza sucks and I’ll never understand that, but here we are.
Just out of curiosity: what do you imagine to be more “upfront” than saying "I am vegetarian“? Why would this be a secret or something that would devalue my opinion? I know how meat tastes and I like a good steak or fried/bbq chicken, I just decided not to eat that anymore.
So your main issue is they’re confusing vegetarian with pescetarian for no reason?
I’m vegetarian too, that happens basically everywhere (at least France, Belgium, Denmark, Poland). Some places they confuse it with veganism, but that’s obviously less of an issue.Replace France with Germany and you have a list of places where I consider the food terrible as well :D
My main issue is just that it’s greasy food with barely any spices & very potato heavy, I just don’t like Spanish food and I don’t understand why some people are loving it so much. I’m not judging, it’s just not what I like. Apart from that as I said, Spain is together with Greece my favorite countries in the world.
