It was fifth grade and my third year at private school. I found a seat, my feet swinging freely several inches above the linoleum, and the expansive gym-turned-lunchroom slowly filled with the chatter of grade school lunch hour: who was suspected to like whom, who had the coolest new school shoes, whose turn it was to run out and claim the four square at recess and, of course, the endless recapping of what aired most recently on TGIF. As my fellow students took their seats, the din grew more complex with a crescendo of metal spoons clacking on plastic trays, the soft thumping as each small body found its place on the long Formica benches and the splitting crispness of zippers engaging on brightly-colored lunch boxes.
After watching my classmates unearth Lunchables, cheese-on-cheese crackers, Gushers fruit snacks and other goodies, I peered, cautiously hopeful, into my humble brown paper bag. I was deeply disappointed. No trans fat in sight, I was instead greeted by a whole-wheat sandwich wrapped in tin foil, fresh fruit, a rice cake and a small baggie of carrot sticks. Accepting my fate, I ate as much as I could while wistfully stealing glances at the superior fare of my infinitely more fortunate peers.
As a kid I was mystified by my mom’s dedication packing those healthy lunches that garnered knowing, apologetic looks from many of my classmates. These days, I can’t thank her enough for for the care and attention it took to put quality meals together for me and my sister. And though I might have once been a culinary pariah (with whom no kid in their right mind was willing to trade lunches with), my mother’s commitment to serving real food has stuck with me to this day.
That being said, I still love fruit snacks now and then. Welcome to my blog!
On a related note, there has been a lot of talk over the last year about healthier school lunches! Check out an article I wrote one year ago for The Lakeland Times.
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