School Lunches Around the World: 9 Countries Compared

What do children around the world eat for lunch at school? These nine trays give a quick visual answer: a French plate with steak, cheese and fruit, Korean kimchi and tofu over rice, Ukrainian borscht with sausages, and an American tray built around popcorn chicken. The differences reflect national cuisines, but also how much each country invests in school meals and what it expects them to teach.

The photos were made by the US salad chain Sweetgreen in 2015 to start a conversation about healthy eating in schools. They are styled recreations of typical menus, photographed on identical trays, not snapshots from real cafeterias, so it is best to read them as illustrations of each country's food culture rather than exact reports. Below, each tray comes with notes on what is on it and how school lunch actually works in that country, followed by the main differences between systems, a few common myths and practical ideas for parents.

Where these lunch photos come from

In the United States, the National School Lunch Program was created by the National School Lunch Act of 1946 and today serves free or reduced-price meals to roughly 30 million children on a typical school day, in public and non-profit private schools and residential childcare institutions. Debates about how healthy and appealing those meals are have run for decades, especially after nutrition standards were tightened by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

Sweetgreen, which ran a nutrition education programme for children, used this photo series to show how other countries approach the same meal. The series spread widely online, often without the caveat that the trays were staged. Keeping that in mind, they are still a useful window into very different ideas of what a school lunch should be.

School lunches in Europe

France

The tray shows steak, carrots, green beans, a wedge of cheese, sliced apple and kiwi. French school canteens, called cantines, traditionally serve a structured meal with a starter, main dish, cheese or dairy, and fruit or dessert, and many children sit down to eat it at a table rather than grabbing it on the go. Menus are set by local authorities under national nutrition rules, and teaching children to taste a variety of foods is treated as part of their education.

Italy

Here there is penne in tomato sauce, fish on a bed of rocket, a caprese-style salad, grapes and bread. Italian school meals are organised by municipalities and often emphasise Mediterranean staples, seasonal vegetables and, in many cities, local or organic ingredients. Pasta is usually a first course, with protein and vegetables following, just as at a family table.

Finland

The Finnish tray holds a vegetable soup, beetroot salad, roast carrots, a bread roll and a slice of oven pancake (pannukakku) topped with berries. Finland was one of the first countries to give free school meals to every pupil, a policy it introduced in the 1940s and still follows from pre-school through upper secondary school. The lunch is seen as part of the school day itself, with guidelines that a typical plate should be about half vegetables.

Ukraine

Borscht, the deep red beet soup, sits next to mashed potatoes with sausages, shredded cabbage salad and a thin folded pancake. Ukrainian schools have been reforming their menus in recent years, with new rules that cut down on sugar, salt and processed products and add more vegetables and fish. Hot soup at lunch remains a familiar part of the day for many children.

Greece

This tray features chicken on orzo, stuffed vine leaves (dolmades), a cucumber and tomato salad, oranges and Greek yogurt with pomegranate seeds. It is a lovely picture of Mediterranean eating, but it is the least typical of the set: Greek schools traditionally do not serve a cooked lunch, and children have often eaten a snack from home or the school canteen before going home for a late family meal. A state school meals programme introduced in the 2010s now serves free lunches in a growing number of schools.

Spain

Gazpacho, the chilled tomato soup, comes with prawns on brown rice, sliced peppers, bread and half an orange. In Spain lunch is the main meal of the day, and pupils who stay at school use the comedor escolar, the school dining room, often for a two- or three-course meal. Many families still collect children to eat at home, so the canteen is optional in many schools.

School lunches in the Americas and Asia

Brazil

The Brazilian tray brings together rice with black beans, pork with vegetables, baked plantains, greens and a bread roll. Rice and beans are the backbone of everyday Brazilian eating, and the national school feeding programme, PNAE, is one of the largest in the world. Since 2009 Brazilian law has required that at least 30 percent of the federal money for school food is spent buying from family farms.

South Korea

Here there is a light soup, tofu over rice, broccoli, sliced peppers and kimchi, the fermented cabbage that appears at almost every Korean meal. South Korean schools serve a hot lunch prepared by on-site nutrition teachers and cooks, and free school meals have been expanded across the country since around 2011 after a heated political debate. Balanced portions of rice, soup and several side dishes make a meal look very much like a home lunch.

United States

The American tray has popcorn chicken with ketchup, mashed potatoes, peas, a fruit cup and a large chocolate chip cookie. It was chosen to represent a familiar, kid-friendly menu, and the contrast with other trays is part of the message. Real US lunches vary hugely by district: federal rules now require fruits, vegetables and whole grains every day, and many schools serve salad bars and scratch cooking, while others still rely on processed items.

How school lunch systems differ

The trays hint at bigger differences in how countries run school meals:

• Who pays: Finland, Sweden and Estonia offer free lunches to all pupils; in the US, England and many other countries meals are free only for children who qualify, though some states and cities have moved to universal free meals.
• Time to eat: in France and Spain lunch breaks are long and meals are eaten seated, while many US students have 20 minutes or less, which affects what food is practical.
• Who cooks: some systems cook from scratch on site, others reheat meals from central kitchens or contractors.
• The purpose: some countries treat lunch as part of education about food and social life, others mainly as nutrition support for families.

Myths about school lunches abroad

Myth: every child in these countries eats exactly this. These are staged examples. Menus change daily and vary between regions and schools.

Myth: American school food is all junk. US standards were strengthened significantly after 2010, and many schools serve fresh produce and whole grains, even if fried favourites still appear.

Myth: all European children get free hot lunches. Policies differ widely; in some countries families pay, and in others such as Greece a hot school lunch is a fairly recent addition.

Ideas parents can borrow

You do not need a national programme to use the best ideas on these trays. Aim for a plate that is roughly half vegetables and fruit, include a protein and a whole grain, and offer new foods repeatedly without pressure, since children often need several tastes before accepting something. Soups, rice dishes and simple salads travel well in a lunchbox. Most of all, eating together and talking about food, as French and Finnish schools try to do, can shape children's habits as much as the menu itself.

Sources: photos by Sweetgreen (2015); USDA Food and Nutrition Service: National School Lunch Program; Wikipedia: School meal; Wikipedia: National School Lunch Act.