Topic: School dinners

[Donald Brasco]

What are your memories of school dinners? The stand-out memory for me is of bright green "fried" onions served up with burgers and hot dogs.  Looking back I realise they were simply chopping up huge quantities of onions and completely over crowding the pan when they "fried" them, resulting in no actual frying going on but instead intensely bitter tasting lightly boiled onions were plonked onto your burger!

The things we suffer as kids, not knowing any better. What are your memories, good or bad, of school dinners.?

[Peripatetic Phil]

My G@d, "burgers and hot dogs" -- the younger generation don't realise how lucky they were.  What do I remember ?  Having undressed salad (lettuce, shredded carrot, beetroot...) literally forced down my throat until I was sick; enormous jugs of "gravy"; spam fritters; rice pudding with (if we were /really/ lucky) a teaspoon of strawberry jam in a vain attempt to convert the absolutely disgusting into the vaguely palatable; dinner monitors; jugs of water for the teachers but none for the pupils; cabbage boiled for four hours, until you could smell it all over the acre and a half that the school occupied; etc., etc., etc.  We would have /killed/ for burgers and hot dogs.

** Phil.

[Secret Santa]

I used to get free school dinner as a reward (read bribe) for being a Prefect when I was taking my A-levels. I used to love 'em. The overcooked chips were my favourite and some sort of sponge drenched in real custard. Lumpy mash and overcooked veg in the best tradition of the British culinary art were made tolerable by lashings of excellent gravy. Oh, and water served in various metallic coloured jugs - fond memories.

[Gav Iscon]

Semolina, god I used to hate it. I was always told it was melted ice cream so eat it up but I just refused. Next came the' Theres starving kids in Africa would love that' 'Well feel free to send them it' said I. which would always result in me missing most of my playtime until they gave up and finally took it away. Mind you when my Aunty was a dinner lady for a short time, things were rosy. I've still never ate semolina pudding.

[Donald Brasco]

My G@d, "burgers and hot dogs" -- the younger generation don't realise how lucky they were.

You'd have to have seen them to realise how far out your assessment is. We are talking the worst kind of mechanically recovered horse gunk remoulded into sad looking patties.  Then of course Jamie Oliver caught on to the limitless potential for self promotion available from becoming the saviour of school meals and the junk food generation came to an end.

It does make you wonder though what damage has been done to the physical development of growing kids by the godawful offerings dressed up as "school dinners".

[George]

What are your memories of school dinners?

I don't have any memories of school dinners because I never ate one - not a single one, over the years I spent at school from about 5 to 18 years of age. I always took packed lunches or went home for lunch. I must have feared they were as bad as several of you now recall.

But, a few years ago, I did try school dinners at a few schools I was visiting, and very nice they were, too. Great, traditional English food, complete with pudding and custard on most occasions. Perhaps I missed out at school, after all.

[Gav Iscon]

I always took packed lunches or went home for lunch. I must have feared they were as bad as several of you now recall.

That explains why you don't like the word sh*t George. The school dinner people got it subliminally brainwashed into our minds every day. 

[Madrasandy]

I'm surprised you can even remember been at school George , wasn't the dinners rationed then

[Garp]

wasn't the dinners rationed then

With grammar like that, Andy, it's no surprise that you haven't shared your school dinner experiences....you've never been, have you 

[Madrasandy]

Never eaten a school dinner garp , or any of your curries fortunately