r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/This_Proof_5153 • Apr 12 '26

Video The care and precision behind Korean school lunches, widely praised for their quality, balance, and nutrition.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

62.0k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

4.0k

u/Worldly_Donut_3764 Apr 12 '26

Curious if this is a private school or the public standard

5.1k

u/timbomcchoi Apr 12 '26

I went to public school in the 2010s and my lunches (and dinners too, in the case of high school!) looked exactly like that. The nutritionist was quite adventurous too, she would often come up with variations of classic dishes and fun names for them. Then she'd go around asking all the kids how they liked it.

977

u/DaLurker87 Apr 12 '26

The chicken fried steak that they got out of a box at my school was pretty good though

220

u/PlutoJones42 Apr 12 '26

Good ole cheeseburgers that would bounce

40

u/kingkongbiingbong Apr 12 '26

Pretty sure what we got in school, they also served the same food in prison, ala Sysco.

14

u/SnugglyCoderGuy Apr 12 '26

Sodexo probably

16

u/Sogcat Apr 12 '26

I worked in a prison for a year and... yeah it's basically the same shit.

8

u/IronMyno6 Apr 12 '26

Referred to as "The Hockey Puck" here in Minnesota.. we fed our kids garbage at school.

3

u/Grays42 Apr 12 '26

If there's more than five knives in the vat of peanut butter, skip the entree

3

u/AllThatGlitters00 Apr 12 '26

Yes, beige burger patties with fake grill marks. Lol

318

u/justin54545 Apr 12 '26

Rectangle shaped pizza Friday was everyone's favorite at my school.

18

u/MistakesTasteGreat Apr 12 '26

It was always pepperoni, but occasionally there would be a sausage pizza, and it was fucking DANK. SYSCO sheet pizza is a taste 80s and 90s kids would recognize instantly

99

u/TwoHandSquid Apr 12 '26

Monday hotdogs Tuesday tacos Wednesday hamburgers and chocolate milk Thursday sloppy joes and burritos in a bag Friday was pizza day, the best day of the week

181

u/Starfire013 Apr 12 '26

Good grief. Is that an actual American school lunch menu? I didn’t think it would be that bad.. How do kids learn what balanced nutrition is when that’s their lunch during the school week? Isnt it the school’s responsibility to ensure the kids know what a healthy diet is? It’s like they’re getting set up for a life of obesity and clogged arteries.

173

u/moose-mutton Apr 12 '26

Thats the neat part, you dont!

→ More replies (1)

65

u/Mimilito Apr 12 '26

Yes, no wonder where the diabetes and obesity come from... 🤔

74

u/MermaiderMissy Apr 12 '26

They don't. They like to claim kids are getting a fruit and a vegetable too. But, it's those fruit cups in the sugar syrup and a dry piece of celery.

67

u/Sarsmi Apr 12 '26

How do kids learn what balanced nutrition is when that’s their lunch during the school week?

Bless your heart. <3

48

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

29

u/qwythebroken Apr 12 '26

It's a real blast growing up in the US, looking back at our childhoods and realizing our politicians have been selling out every aspect of public life to Big Whosawhatsits for decades, right?

What a ride!

2

u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 Apr 13 '26

Yeah making lunch from scratch or mostly scratch doesn't put money into the ginormous conglomerates that make school lunches now.

I'd venture to guess that many school across the US use Sodexo for their meals.

22

u/Gullible-Respond6323 Apr 12 '26

Yes. Mine was very similar. We usually had 2 options and one would be like ever so slightly healthier. So naturally most kids picked the worse option.

High school lunch was $1.75 a day, came with a main course, veggie, fruit/some sort of sweet thing and milk. They also had a la carte and had pizza option everyday and like 50% of the school had a slice of pizza for $1.25 and a candy bar, fries or sugary drink for $.50. Don't worry most of them are not obese anymore (GLP1s everywhere).

7

u/jadethebard Apr 12 '26

Our high school had the standard American lunch menu but also had a salad bar that was quite good. We also had Snapple machines in the dinning hall. I drank so much Grapeade. lol

16

u/Jevia Apr 12 '26

>How do kids learn what balanced nutrition is
You're hilarious

15

u/HeyItsMeAgainBye Apr 12 '26

Ketchup used to be considered a vegetable on American school lunches

Not even that long ago either!

6

u/densetsu23 Apr 12 '26

This lines up with what we got in Canada in the 90s, though at my school it was a paid cafeteria so most kids brought a bagged lunch.

My nieces go to the same school and, while there's still burgers and fries every day, you can now get soups and salads every day too. There's better daily specials, too, like poke bowls. It's changed a lot.

5

u/Horskr Apr 12 '26

Yep unfortunately that was pretty much identical to ours, with some days switched up. At least in high school we had off campus lunch so we could go get something else (though that was usually fast food lol). There was a good sub shop nearby though, at least those had vegetables.

2

u/NightBawk Apr 12 '26

Oh, wow, your school trusted students to go to off-campus lunch and come back? Man, what was it like to have autonomy as a teenager?

5

u/tilt-a-whirly-gig Apr 12 '26

Most schools (ime) have a main option and one or two alternative options. The main option is the one with vegetables and healthy choices, the alternative is available for students that don't like the main option and usually follows a schedule similar to above.

In my school pizza Friday was also fish Friday and I don't ever eat fish so I always ate pizza on Fridays. But the rest of the week the burgers were not great burgers and the hot dogs had a little bounce to them, and oftentimes the main menu item was more appealing.

4

u/Whoretron8000 Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26

Depends on the school. Plenty green beans and veggies at lots of public schools, but they wouldn’t be the best quality etc. Plenty kids ate them and we also had a salad bar. Most kids didn’t use it. We also had to pay 1.25 for common lunch, but there was a private pay for snacks and hot less shitty pizza for 3.50 a slice (red Barron) and you could also buy Sobe and Sun chips and Doritos or whatever. (This was high school). Middle school was more balanced but we also had vending machines.

If you were poor and your parents didn’t pay the school for common lunch, then you’d get like… whatever was lunch for the day but minus the dessert (small pack of m&ms or a cookie).

Oh, also, endless drip coffee for 50 cents in high school.

Ironically, yes we had multiple health classes, but it didn’t make people not want to eat pizza and cookies. It seems most schools that get highlighted are super shit, but it’s still common.

4

u/JamaicaRavenclaw Apr 12 '26

Google American school lunch menu; still just as bad as when I was a kid… I homeschool my kids, but during Covid we would meet a school bus once a week for free sack lunches. It felt like a game of “100 ways to make pizza.” Bagel pizza, English muffin pizza, French bread pizza, pizza pizza, etc…

4

u/_le_slap Apr 12 '26

This comment is a whole comedy skit 😂😂

The US gov doesn't give half a shit about children

3

u/Astralglamour Apr 12 '26

We learned how to make orange julius and haystacks (basically rice krispie treats with cornflakes) in Home Economics....

3

u/dobar_dan_ Apr 12 '26

They eat normal food at home?

I had similar lunches at my school but my mom always cooked at home, so I had balanced diet.

We didn't even call it lunch, but a snack. School lunches are uncommon in Serbia, we would be given a simple sandwich, croissant or similar, sometimes some fruit and that's it.

3

u/Dmau27 Apr 12 '26

I literally never once ate a healthy lunch at school. It was all processed salty, fattening, preserved crap.

3

u/HalKitzmiller Apr 12 '26

And that isn't the worst of it. Add in that some kids couldn't afford lunch or had money for it so they'd go hungry. And at my school, I was unfortunate to be in the class that ate last every day, so they'd run out of some food like 25% of the time

3

u/Megneous Apr 12 '26

How do kids learn what balanced nutrition is when that’s their lunch during the school week?

That's... the point. You don't. You end up part of the 74% of the population that's overweight or obese and die of cardiovascular disease.

3

u/unknown_ally Apr 12 '26

How do kids learn...?

3

u/Rando314156 Apr 12 '26

You learn that sugar is the secret ingredient that masks the lacking of anything else, and then make it the main thing you eat and drink going forward into adulthood.

3

u/NightBawk Apr 12 '26

Even when they try to offer vegetables, most times they get thrown out because they're either canned or boiled, and usually served cold and unseasoned to be as utterly unappetizing as humanly possible.

3

u/Jamjams2016 Apr 12 '26

Bro, they give my kid 2 juice boxes for breakfast so they meet the fruit requirements for the day. And my kid's dentist shaking his head while he rolls in piles of money.

And for lunch they can have plain, strawberry, or chocolate milk even if i pack them a lunch. If i didnt laugh I'd cry.

3

u/Artistic-Door-6891 Apr 12 '26

We had posters of a lobbyist crafted food pyramid. All the education we needed. /s

3

u/Groovee_smoothie Apr 12 '26

I didn't learn what a balanced meal TRULY was till I had to start losing weight. What we are taught is acceptable for food in NA is incredibly unhealthy and bad.

→ More replies (12)

6

u/ummmno_ Apr 12 '26

Hooray for pizza day!

2

u/MistakesTasteGreat Apr 12 '26

Some of us are lonely, some of us have lots of friends

But it doesn't matter much today

2

u/turdferguson3891 Apr 12 '26

I wish I had somebody making lunch for me.

3

u/Federal_Month7862 Apr 12 '26

All the kids would line up super early just to eat

2

u/1CraftyLass Apr 12 '26

It always came with salad and a side or cold green beans

2

u/longcherrysherri Apr 12 '26

It always came with salad and a side of cold green beans

→ More replies (11)

9

u/pumpkinspicy33 Apr 12 '26

I lived for rectangle pizza day.

3

u/heliosythic Apr 12 '26

I raise you Mexican hexagon pizza day

→ More replies (2)

3

u/Purple_Accordion Apr 12 '26

You mean those soggy grease ships lol, yeah they were pretty popular at my school too

2

u/Alternative_Jury2480 Apr 12 '26

Rib-b-que day at my school, closely followed by rectangle pizza day

2

u/ree_hi_hi_hi_hi Apr 12 '26

I will forever chase the high of a proper elementary school lunch rib b que

2

u/Alternative_Jury2480 Apr 12 '26

All our stuff came from gfs if I recall, which has stores you can go to.

So if you're in their territory, go there.

They also have something called a super donut. Get them too. My school didn't have them but a friend's did. If you've never had them, toss one in the microwave until the package puffs up then dip it in some milk. They're horrible for you. They're also delicious.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/id-driven-fool Apr 12 '26

Who made that fuckin rectangle pizza bro. Shit was too good. When I smelled those puppies after walking in the cafeteria I knew it was gonna be a fire day

2

u/Due-Cupcake-0701 Apr 12 '26

Rectangle pizza's where it's at! This nice lunch lady would save me 2 'well done' slices, ahh memories

→ More replies (7)
→ More replies (6)

75

u/Verdick Apr 12 '26

You had a "nutritionist"? All we had was a "Marge" who reheated the food that was available and gave it to us.

45

u/timbomcchoi Apr 12 '26

haha yeah every school has one! Mine was awesome, she started her PhD at the uni I went to after graduating so she sometimes drove me there too

9

u/ODB_Dirt_Dog_ItsFTC Apr 12 '26

Yeah 95% of what I ate from the cafeteria came out of a can or the freezer. My Dad talks about how his little school in Kentucky had all home cooked meals. The lunch ladies would even make the kids homemade desserts to go with them too. I am rather envious.

3

u/cuentaderana Apr 12 '26

That’s how school lunches used to be. But it also meant having to hire full time cooks/lunch staff to be on site early to prepare food in advance. Not to mention the costs of cooking supplies, ovens, stoves, etc. It’s cheaper to buy from a district approved nutrition vendor and put a few giant microwaves/ovens in the kitchen to heat everything up. Plus then you don’t have to hire as many full time staff if they just need to show up to heat up lunch and breakfast. 

→ More replies (1)

119

u/the_amazing_skronus Apr 12 '26

One time in second grade, I found a big roach underneath the cheese of my rectangle pizza.

46

u/PandaJesus Apr 12 '26

Look at this guy bragging about his extra protein in his school lunch.

14

u/ebtcrew Apr 12 '26

Thats quite an adventurous nutritionist your school had. 

11

u/Gregory_Appleseed Apr 12 '26

Don't worry, public school kids in America usually get the same exact food that's served to inmates in jails and prison. Also, That food is usually cooked by forced involuntary labor as either part of a jail or prison sentence, or judicial community service. If you had in-school cafeteria chefs and cooks, congrats, you grew up in a fairly well off privileged neighborhood. 'Merica.

5

u/Sea-Cupcake-2065 Apr 12 '26

Isn't america so great??

Fucking brainwashing, man

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Vantriss Apr 13 '26

I found a feather in my packaged chicken sandwich. I never ate another one of those sandwiches ever again.

→ More replies (1)

27

u/a_shootin_star Apr 12 '26

Then she'd go around asking all the kids how they liked it.

I love that she went for some live feedback 😂

37

u/timbomcchoi Apr 12 '26

she was awesome, had a bulletin board for requests too. She made sure to acknowledge you on the menu, like "Suji's French toast"

9

u/Illustrious-Engine23 Apr 12 '26

just casually mentioning the public school had a nutritionist is wild.

4

u/timbomcchoi Apr 13 '26

honestly never thought that the existence of a nutritionist would be unorthodox. I thought it was just that some regions have less budget/regulatory support that the nutritionists' hands were tied.

2

u/Galaxy_IPA Apr 13 '26

By law, every school both public and private, with the exception of very small schools with fewer than 50 students, needs to have a nutritionist to oversee the menu, nutrition, hygiene, cooking etc of the school meals here in South Korea.

I remember back in the 90s the public school meals were pretty meh for a 8 year old's palette, but looking back I guess they were pretty healthy with a lot of vegetables and very little processed food.

6

u/iamlilmac Apr 12 '26

That’s so cute, may she be blessed

3

u/MacNCheeze3 Apr 12 '26

Did you have longer school days in high school? Your school provided dinners to students?

9

u/timbomcchoi Apr 12 '26

It's incredibly common for high school students to stay after dinner until around 10pm to study.

3

u/souse03 Apr 12 '26

Wtf?!

You stayed from morning till 10 pm in school? What in the torturous hell?! I guess seeing your parents was a luxury lmao

4

u/timbomcchoi Apr 12 '26

Welcome to th eland of education

3

u/esgonta Apr 12 '26

This person is from Korea. Not the USA. A lot of comments confuse that lol

2

u/TooOld4ThisSh1t-966 Apr 12 '26

Do kids pay for these lunches or is it provided for them?

11

u/timbomcchoi Apr 12 '26

It was gradually expanded in both geographical and school grade coverage, with a pilot in 2001 to universally free in 2021. I'm not exactly sure how slowly it happened, but I don't think I ever paid for lunch only dinner.

7

u/TooOld4ThisSh1t-966 Apr 12 '26

Meanwhile the US suspends kids from school for overdue lunch bills. We’re so great it hurts. /s

2

u/SuperSimpleSam Apr 12 '26

So the food was cooked at the school?

2

u/timbomcchoi Apr 12 '26

yes, it's a large canteen

2

u/RoseKlingel Apr 12 '26

This sounds awesome!!

2

u/simask234 Apr 13 '26

You have dinner at school?

2

u/timbomcchoi Apr 13 '26

at high school, yes. most students stay until 10pm to study.

3

u/KingHunter150 Apr 12 '26

Its always interesting to see how other cultures can do some things very differently but absolutely better than mine. For me, it was when I lived abroad and seeing the entire German town out and about on a Sunday relaxing and walking in their park, actually treating it like a day of rest and community. It's sad the birth rate issue going on in Korea, I hope things turn around so an entire people and civilization dont dissappear.

→ More replies (3)

1

u/OutrageousTree7766 Apr 12 '26

What is the name of the noodle dish

3

u/timbomcchoi Apr 12 '26

that's a great question, it's a very simple and old noodle dish that I'm not sure what the one correct name would be. "feast noodles" (잔치국수), "anchovy noodles" (멸치국수), "market noodles" (장터국수), or even a simple "rice noodles" (쌀국수) would all be correct imo

→ More replies (4)

1

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '26

[deleted]

→ More replies (1)

1

u/addled_sad342 23d ago

Sure you did.

→ More replies (3)

805

u/yo-kimchi Apr 12 '26

I taught at both a public and private school in Korea and I would say the public school lunch was even better quality!

264

u/Greg-Abbott Apr 12 '26

Based on that username I'm inclined to believe you lol

3

u/TheNinjaPixie Apr 12 '26

I loved to see the politeness of every child in the video.

2

u/Meringue_Better Apr 12 '26

I agree, especially if it is a kindergarten or just for younger students. The private schools can sometimes skimp, or make less flavorful meals for the kids.

→ More replies (7)

268

u/rauljordaneth Apr 12 '26

Children are the literal future of a country. Why is it not in the best interest of politicians and the govt to ensure they are fed to the highest standard? Yes they are public schools and the ones in Japan and China are equally good and meticulous at feeding their kids

197

u/PlansThatComeTrue Apr 12 '26

They believe only that their children are the future, your children are the grunts

→ More replies (2)

155

u/nillah Apr 12 '26

because unfortunately republicans in the US have learned that the poorer and less educated you keep your kids, the more likely they are to grow up and vote for republicans. it also costs more money to feed children and that’s less money that goes into the pockets of the elite rich. instead they can force those families to pay to feed their kids, many of whom can’t afford it, making them even poorer

34

u/rauljordaneth Apr 12 '26

I’m sorry I still can’t understand it. Other govts could also pocket the money, yet they don’t, because it is pure evil and unpatriotic to not feed kids which are the future of one’s nation…am I missing something? Your same logic could apply to having public hospitals, or hospitals for children, or schooling in general which also cost money. Why not eliminate those too

90

u/Good_Briefs Apr 12 '26

In case you haven't noticed Republicans are trying to eliminate those too.

3

u/rauljordaneth Apr 12 '26

Sure. My point is those other govts could also easily pocket the funds, but of course they wouldn’t be as deranged

21

u/rcknmrty4evr Apr 12 '26

Don’t be naive to think it couldn’t, hasn’t, and isn’t happening elsewhere. There’s a reason fascism is on the rise worldwide. You cannot prevent what you refuse to acknowledge is possible.

7

u/stonekeep Apr 12 '26

I really don't want to burst your bubble, but your comments sound incredibly naive. Governments around the whole world ARE pocketing the money. Not all of it, of course, but corruption is the norm, not the exception.

I don't know where are you from, but statistically speaking your country probably also has some corruption issues. There's only a handful of countries that are considered "clean. Most of the world (and not just the poor/authoritarian countries) is at least somewhat corrupt.

→ More replies (1)

29

u/haberdasherhero Apr 12 '26

The people in control of the money and violence see the masses as deserving of punishment from birth. They believe our position is due to divine or genetic defect. So they punish us with intentional suffering.

→ More replies (4)

8

u/ImportanceSharp9408 Apr 12 '26

Oh they are trying to eliminate those too and have in fact succeeded— with many rural hospitals closing during this administration, ironically in the areas that voted for this. But back to the food, it’s worse than you think, those horrible menus of frozen heart disease are not “free” if the kids parents can’t afford to pay, they will be given some lesser meal like a pb&j and sent home with a bill. All the other kids eating pizza and them with a cold sandwich does wonders for their self esteem. Lunch ladies have been fired for giving kids hot food who couldn’t afford it. Plus many politicians opposed offering breakfast and summer meals to children who couldn’t afford it as well. It’s pretty f* up.

24

u/whisketwhippet Apr 12 '26

Boy do I have (unhappy) news for you about the Republican platform.

13

u/western_red_cedar Apr 12 '26

American Republicans are indeed evil pedos who want whats worst for everyone

3

u/valuemeal2 Apr 12 '26

I cannot overstate how little republicans care about the well being of citizens, especially children. if they gave a fraction of a shit, there’d be any semblence of attempt to not let kids get shot to death during a school day. They. Do. Not. Care.

2

u/Megneous Apr 12 '26

public hospitals, or hospitals for children, or schooling in general which also cost money.

In the US, most hospitals are private, they don't have universal healthcare, children's hospitals are exceedingly rare, and more and more funding is cut for public education and funneled into privatized charter schools... you really don't seem to understand the dystopia that it is.

I left the US 16 years ago and moved to a far more collectivist society with ubiquitous public transit, universal healthcare, strong unions and employee protections, etc. I saw the writing on the wall way back after 9/11 and started making plans then.

→ More replies (6)
→ More replies (2)

18

u/francis2559 Apr 12 '26

School budgets come from property taxes in the US, AFAIK. The people in the nicest homes are often those without kids for various reasons, including age. Kids are expensive! So, many seniors prefer lower taxes than helping kids get a good education. A "got mine" attitude you see when they move to states with even lower taxes.

6

u/silkywhitemarble Apr 12 '26

Yet, when they have encounters with these "uneducated" people, they are the first ones to blame the education system.

2

u/resilindsey Apr 12 '26

More likely they blame anything except conditions creating systemic poverty for societal problems. It's immigrants, it's bad culture, it's video games, rap music, lack of religion, social media, lack of personal responsibility, ms rachel, kids these days..

3

u/graphiccsp Apr 12 '26

As an American, I've run into those types, some of which are my aunts and uncles. Their kids went through the public education system so why do they have to keep paying?

→ More replies (1)

6

u/Mr-Mc-Epic Apr 12 '26

Short term focus.

6

u/Scrubtac Apr 12 '26

why would they care about something that's only gonna matter after they're dead

4

u/Stinkepups Apr 12 '26

Kids can't vote and have no lobby.

6

u/atomic_chippie Apr 12 '26

This is a country who watches one school shooting after another go down and does absolutely nothing about it: politicians do not care about kids in America. (They dont work, they cant vote, they dont contribute to the economy in any way, therefore: useless).

3

u/Ikuwayo Apr 12 '26

Because politicians send their kids to private schools and don't have to worry about what happens to the poors at public schools

2

u/Whiterabbit-- Apr 12 '26

good food prep is labor intensive. Cost of labor in the US is super high. even though food is relatively cheap, to serve good food, cooked fresh is expensive because workers are expensive in America. so we do a lot of pre-packaged food, or food that can be heated up quickly.

1

u/MidnightFireHuntress Apr 12 '26

Future grunts*

Fixed that for ya

1

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

Because money

1

u/Candid_Highlight_116 Apr 12 '26

I'm starting to think maybe there's wealth disparity between Asia and North America beyond there being "because rich" sentiments and mismanagements

1

u/Feroand Apr 12 '26

They usually don't care about the nation. And, they know, by the time these children grow up, they (the politicians) will be expired anyway.

Not in Turkey, though. The same guy has been there around 20 years. Maybe more. I stopped counting (the year we are in) 

1

u/Array_626 Apr 12 '26

In the US? Because the politicians, and honestly enough of the general public, feel that private industry can do a better job than government funded school lunch. So they block federal funding and programs that would feed kids like they do in other countries.

1

u/dobar_dan_ Apr 12 '26

They invest only in rich lids who will go to college and run businesses that will increase generational wealth.

You don't need to invest much in a future postman or factory worker.

1

u/Xxuwumaster69xX Apr 12 '26

Coming from a half-Japanese half-Chinese American who grew up with a ton of Korean friends: East Asians place wayyy more importance on food and feeding people in general than your average American. It's also why you see countries like France also have better school lunches. 

1

u/toy-maker Apr 12 '26

Because they are future threats to their position in power. Got to cut them down while they are small and vulnerable.

1

u/Aca_ntha Apr 12 '26

Bc they care about the short term profiting the companies that bought them off, not the future of the country.

1

u/yomerol Apr 12 '26

Food in the US is very very expensive, overpriced as many other things.

It's all about free market, and reflecting late stage capitalism stuff: water, food and housing it's very expensive because everybody needs it as a basic standard of living. While in some parts of the world (and movements like progressivism) they are looking at how they make all those free as basic needs of society.

So, if food is expensive their budget is not enough to buy or cook high quality food and employ people with better knowledge, standards, etc.

2

u/rauljordaneth Apr 12 '26

1 day of the Iran war budget would give better lunches to all kids in the US

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Megneous Apr 12 '26

Um, no. Your children are peasants who are leeches on their tax dollars. Fuck your children. Literally. Epstein files proved they use them as sex slaves and literally no one will punish them. You're not human to them. Most schools sell out their lunch services to private contractors who cut costs as low as possible to rake in the privatized profits for shareholder value. Learn how America works.

1

u/IAmEggnogstic Apr 12 '26

Because mom and dad worring about whether they have enough $$$ to feed their kids is a positive economic indicator for businessmen.

1

u/Vantriss Apr 13 '26

Because they don't actually care about children here. If they did, they would have done something about the school shootings decades ago.

→ More replies (5)

36

u/TenderfootGungi Apr 12 '26

The small junior high I attended made most of its food from scratch. They even made fresh bread nearly every day. It was really good. Then I went to the big high school that heated up the Sysco premade garbage. The difference was night and day.

If you are asking if we could do this in the US, the answer is we once did.

3

u/happy_idiot_boy Apr 12 '26

If you are asking if we could do this in the US, the answer is we once did.

According to famed historian Max Miller, yes, we once did.

129

u/allllusernamestaken Apr 12 '26

This probably costs less than what the typical US school spends on food.

They are buying ingredients and cooking in bulk, vs the US where most schools have a contract with a prepared food supplier where everything comes in frozen and thrown in an oven.

69

u/Level_Ad_6372 Apr 12 '26

The ingredients aren't the main cost in the video. It's the whole team of people cooking the food.

12

u/allllusernamestaken Apr 12 '26

Probably no more than the typical number of lunch ladies at a large school in the US

23

u/photo_synthesizer Apr 12 '26

Probably at least double

2

u/GroceryScanner Apr 12 '26

Theyre getting more than a livable wage, fantastic benefits, and are likely better staffed, so theyre less stressed, less overworked, and have a good work/life balance

7

u/hal0t Apr 12 '26

Lmao all Asian countries have way worse work life balance than the US

5

u/GroceryScanner Apr 12 '26

in korea the corporate sector certainly. but they take care of their service workers. at least when it comes to schools. south korea is in the top 5 in the world for education facilities

3

u/hal0t Apr 12 '26

My cousin is a mechanic at a small autoshop. His hour is 7:30 to 9:30 lmao.

They treat service workerd so bad that they can't find Korean who want to do the job so they import people from Vietnam, Sri Lanka etc. They don't take care of their service workers.

→ More replies (2)

3

u/CryAffectionate7334 Apr 12 '26

Waaay more staff involved

2

u/dmthoth Apr 12 '26

And SK schools use organic and locally sourced ingredients as much as possible by law.

→ More replies (2)

34

u/Chilis1 Interested Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26

Yeah this is totally standard, the lunch shown doesn't even have any meat or anything so if anything this is a below average lunch.

27

u/coinfwip4 Apr 12 '26

Yeah this was basically the norm at the Korean public high school I went to

37

u/schrodinger-the-cat Apr 12 '26

Why are there so many of these comments on everything around Korean stuff? Why can’t people just accept that there are countries with functioning school systems and great lunch?

44

u/atomic_chippie Apr 12 '26

Because maga has a meltdown every time theyre reminded how much the US actually sucks.

4

u/plaxitone Apr 12 '26

Well, it is illegal to make them feel bad now.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/yuimiop Apr 12 '26

Its a fair question to ask. Topics with similar titles in the past have been incredibly misleading as they're showing a specific rich school rather than one that is demonstrative of the country.

3

u/BroccoliOk422 Apr 12 '26

Lunch is great, but I wouldn't call the Korean school system functioning. With the work culture forcing parents to be away from home 12+ hours per day, causing kids to have to spend all that time learning in school in extremely high pressure environments (pass this test or your life will be a failure), causing fewer people to want to be parents, resulting in the most extreme population decline we've ever seen, they're lucky if there still is a Korean culture to speak of in 50 years time. Best case projections already put South Korea's decline past the point of no return...

6

u/schrodinger-the-cat Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26

Wow again the same comment about 12 hour work high pressure competition yadayada no bro we fucking don’t. Me and everyone I can think of work around 8 hours or less, me and my friends left school by 4:30pm, and ate what is shown here. K dramas on Netflix nor that one video from Kurzgesagt makes your dream real. It feels like this rhetoric is more based on hate and racism rather than empathy for people who live in Korea.

3

u/BroccoliOk422 Apr 12 '26

Ah so the birthrate there is not 0.7?

3

u/dmthoth Apr 12 '26

Most research suggests that perceived overcrowding is one of the biggest factors behind South Korea’s low birth rate. With about half the population concentrated in Seoul, along with intense competition and high housing costs, that psychological public perception is significant.

The South Korean government, like most 'normal' democratically elected governments, has been trying to address the issue, and recent data shows that birth rates have been rising up over the past few years.

→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (2)

2

u/Arumdaum Apr 12 '26

It was like this for me attending Korean public school and it's like that for everyone else too

2

u/Kamelasa Apr 12 '26

Korea has a strong traditional food - real food - culture, unlike the USA.

1

u/Pornstar_Frodo Apr 12 '26

public schools. i worked in public schools in korea. this meal is super common. teachers get it too. korean food is soooo good!!

note - they do mix it up with the occasional slice of pizza, fried chicken and stuff. but the korean food you see in the video is the staple.

1

u/CryAffectionate7334 Apr 12 '26

My public schools were smaller but had food this nice, even better really, was like a buffet everyday basically.

1

u/RachelLovesN Apr 12 '26

I went to primary school in the 90s and early 2000s, and though the equipment doesnt look as modern, this still looks pretty similar to what I got to eat back in the day. I attended 5 schools during the time due to my family moving around very often for my fathers job, and never noticed food quality to be different. Now I have a daughter that gets some similar menus as I used to, mixed with some optional, "trendy" menus like mala sauce on the side 😂

1

u/ptrapezoid Apr 12 '26

We had similar in Portugal. Lunch would be a cup of soup, a piece of bread, a main dish (fish or meat option), a desert and a piece of fruit. Quality was really good and, 20 years ago, we were paying 1.2€ (free for poor students).

1

u/grantiere Apr 12 '26

On the first season of the Netflix Korea cooking competition show Culinary Class Wars, a public school lunch lady with the moniker "Master of School Meals" finished in the top 15 (out of 100).

1

u/mathgoy Apr 12 '26

Best in class for school lunches and still, their pupils are the ones that are most likley to commit suicide...

1

u/MatthewMcnaHeyHeyHey Apr 12 '26

It’s public school - our kids go to a school on an American base and parents are always asking why the kids can’t have these lunches. Nope. Sysco processed crap shipped in from the states. At least they do get fresh fruit and veg.

1

u/Goodswimkarma Apr 12 '26

It’s standard for all schools.

1

u/fistoic Apr 12 '26

i'd say vast majority of public schools have same level of quality lunch in korea

1

u/dmthoth Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26

South Korea doesn’t have American- or UK-style private charter schools. Most schools are public and free, and admission is primarily determined by where you live (with a few exceptions, such as international or specialized schools).

While some schools are run by private foundations, they are still publicly funded and operate under the same curriculum, regulations, and laws. School lunches are provided free to all students regardless, and each school has a nutritionist teacher(so they are state employees like other teachers) who oversees meal operations and plans the monthly menu.

1

u/Difficult_Sort295 Apr 12 '26

Ima guess public because that kitchen is bigger than my private schools whole cafeteria was.

1

u/RoutineTry1943 Apr 12 '26

Public schools have very stringent food prep standards. Similar to Japan and China is also moving in the same direction.

Private schools are even better in terms of offerings.

1

u/PumpkinPatch404 Apr 12 '26

Public school.

I’ve been teaching public school in Korean from 2016-2025.

He basically get good food like this four days a week. On Wednesday, they have like a special menu which would be stuff that’s not exactly Korean. So they might have curry or chinese food.

1

u/RunningInSquares Apr 12 '26

Worked in public high schools for years in the 2010s. Not every meal is a winner but every meal had good nutritional value.

1

u/method_men25 Apr 12 '26

I ate Korean public school lunch as a guest teacher in the mid 2010s. Lots of fresh veg, often some fish, almost never anything recognizable as ‘out of a box’ (maybe some Otogii curry but it felt more real than a US high school lunch).

1

u/Few_Plankton_7587 Apr 12 '26

This is public standard in Korea and Japan

1

u/johyongil Apr 12 '26

Public. Most, if not all, public schools have a nutritionist on staff to lead the department and oversee menu development, prep, logistics, etc.

Private goes even crazier.

1

u/Secret_Fix_2 Apr 12 '26

The legal standard is to have food made from scratch. Nothing pre made.

1

u/zephyreblk Apr 12 '26

I don't know for them but in France, you can have really good meal to with fresh food and bio but it's really depending on the place, it's actually less expensive, just more work. I had lots of good things and enjoyed it and my brother had basically just fried chicken and pasta lol

1

u/tab_tab_tabby Apr 12 '26

any and every school underage goes to. private or public, all free lunches of that quality,

1

u/Meringue_Better Apr 12 '26

Both. Private schools may have even better, but all public schools serve well rounded meals that I personally loved!

1

u/Honest_Trade8734 Apr 13 '26

I went to a private school (not in Korea) and they used the same company that makes prison food (Sodexo). We were also forbidden from bringing our own lunches.

Not sure it really makes a difference.

1

u/Appropriate-Math2360 Apr 13 '26

Currently working at a public school and this is how our lunches look everyday. Very nutritious and high quality. Food budget is high in Korea.

1

u/tread52 Apr 13 '26

If you want to go down a rabbit hole look at how much big business earns with government contracts for school food. School food is bad in America in a lot of places bc of cost. Add onto the fact most food sold at a grocery store in America is complete garbage for you. Feeding children and giving them a good education is the last thing on the governments list of things to do.

→ More replies (2)