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Bregje Heinen sky3205

'Bad school dinner' blog is internet hit

9:20 pm - 05/10/2012

Martha Payne, nine, took photos of the £2 meals and rated them for taste and healthiness in a blog set up with the help of her dad Dave.

Now Martha, who began NeverSeconds because she was interested in writing, has sparked a global debate about unhealthy eating in schools after the blog began “trending” on Twitter yesterday.



And she has been compared to TV chef Jamie Oliver, who campaigned for healthy food in British schools.

Martha, whose blog has been viewed at least 40,000 times, said: “I never expected to get so much interest.”

The project started out with a snap of a slice of pizza, a single croquette, a small amount of sweetcorn and a cupcake for dessert. 

Another served at the unidentified school in Scotland was of a cheeseburger, two potato croquettes, tiny slices of cucumber and anice lolly .


On her website, Martha commented: “The good thing about this blog is Dad understands why I am hungry when I get home. Today he made a Banana Loaf, shame I don't like bananas, see I am not perfect!”"




Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4308688/Martha-Paynes-bad-school-dinner-blog-is-internet-hit.html

Leave a Comment
sky3205 10th-May-2012 08:43 pm (UTC)
I'm now very thankful for the meals I had in my school, we always had soup, a big plate with the main course full with salad, and a piece of fruit or a yogurt for desert.

Also we had a lady in the cafeteria making sure we ate everything.

And it's needless to say 2 pounds isn't enough for a nutritional meal but there's where the government should step it with the difference.
alierakieron 10th-May-2012 08:44 pm (UTC)
Actually, if you're cooking for a whole cafeteria and can purchase and cook in bulk two pounds is MORE than enough.
lisaee 10th-May-2012 08:52 pm (UTC)
My school dinners at primary level were a similarly sad affair. By the end of Year 6 my lunch tended to consist of a jam sandwich (as they allowed us to choose between "hot" food (lol) or a lacklustre sandwich) and a glass of squash. As a result I'd be starving hungry two hours later.

Also those ridiculous portion plates always make food look plain sad.
crossfire 10th-May-2012 08:58 pm (UTC)
I hope nobody hassles her for this, because it's pretty amazing.

School lunches have...changed...since I was in school. >.>
mschaos 10th-May-2012 09:18 pm (UTC)
Oh MAN, can I have some of those Japanese lunches?

also, the rice and veg looks damn tasty too
sky3205 10th-May-2012 09:25 pm (UTC)
Really? :/
jaguarjg 10th-May-2012 09:29 pm (UTC)
Jesus! I always had school dinners in primary school and I didn't mind them to be honest but they looked nothing like this! First off there was no choice, you didn't get to say no to veg ever for instance. Every day was a combination of potatoes veg and meat/fish and chips, sausages and beans every Friday which everyone looked forward to as you can imagine after all that mashed potato.

These meals look dreadful and low in nutrition and the dish looks like something from a prison and why the fuck is a low fat yogurt even offered to children that age??
sky3205 10th-May-2012 09:35 pm (UTC)
Almost same thing with me. And maybe one in every month or so we had french fries with sausage, fried eggs and white rice and for dessert chocolate mousse or ice cream. Everyone loved french fries days!
dumpweeds 10th-May-2012 09:41 pm (UTC)
my elementary school usually had pizza and cartons of milk. it's been like, 10 years since I was there, so I don't remember what kind of stuff we were fed. I do remember, that if we had no more money on our lunch card, they'd give us half a peanut butter sandwich.

/csb

these lunches look horrific. just looking at that pizza makes me slightly nauseated.
the_gabih 10th-May-2012 09:54 pm (UTC)
My primary school used to offer up turkey twizzlers, mashed potato shapes, and overcooked (and often hard to identify) vegetables. The only bit I liked was the potato stuff, and even that stopped after I saw a rotten potato sitting on the counter behind one of the servers once. Secondary school was a lot better, but the food they do in my uni's halls of residence is ridiculous- they put garlic bread and chips with everything, and trying to find something properly healthy is nigh on impossible.
sky3205 10th-May-2012 09:56 pm (UTC)
My university food is sooooo good, and we have several menus to choose from!
ohmiya_sg 10th-May-2012 10:00 pm (UTC)
So... Either this is a difference in naming (like breakfast/dinner/supper vs. breakfast/lunch/dinner) or UK schools are in session for a long time. o.O
sky3205 10th-May-2012 10:03 pm (UTC)
Because of dinner? Dinner can also be used to describe the main meal.

edited/ supper isn't used the same way :p

Edited at 2012-05-10 10:04 pm (UTC)
latin_lunatic 10th-May-2012 10:17 pm (UTC)
Are they drinking anything? Or is she like me and skips the milk because she doesn't like it?

Edited at 2012-05-10 10:20 pm (UTC)
sky3205 10th-May-2012 10:27 pm (UTC)
I dunno, I find it weird you guys have milk in school lunches, we always had water. Cultural differences I guess :)
windsong_moon 10th-May-2012 11:51 pm (UTC)
Those... look a lot like the lunches we were given in Minnesota. I'm a semi-picky eater, so I'd only eat the fresh vegetables (if there were any) or bread. I think pizza and french fries were offered every day. I'm sad that things haven't improved since then.
interstellar 11th-May-2012 01:01 am (UTC)
Wow. When I was a kid, I always used to be jealous of other countries who had cafeterias while we had to buy our lunches from the tuck shop or bring 'em from home. Now, uh, not so much. It's not just that the food is crappy, it's how amazingly little there is of it!

Stupid question time - are those meals free or does the parent have to pay a subscription fee? Because if they're paying for that, wow.
paulnolan 11th-May-2012 01:57 am (UTC)
Unless it's changed since I was at school (which is likely given that I'm almost 30) school dinners are free if your parents are on benefits, otherwise they're paid.

Edited at 2012-05-11 01:57 am (UTC)
tabaqui 11th-May-2012 01:02 am (UTC)
I barely remember what we had for lunch in school anymore. I had school lunches in seventh and eighth grade, but by ninth grade pretty much took my own stuff or bought junk from the counter, like a milkshake or cheeseburger. The only day i actually wanted to eat the school lunch was pizza day.

I do remember everything being pretty much over-cooked and dun in color, and very, very greasy.
nycscribbler 11th-May-2012 02:54 am (UTC)
The food looks yuck.

Jealous of the trays.
floranna 11th-May-2012 05:52 am (UTC)
In Finland we get free school food, it's not always the best tasting but it's filling and edible and even healthy.

This? Makes me feel a bit ill.
mornings 11th-May-2012 08:05 am (UTC)
Another Finn here, hi. I lived in the US from 6th grade through middle school, and very nearly cried of relief the first day of Finnish high school when I got proper food again.
mornings 11th-May-2012 08:03 am (UTC)
Oh, am SO grateful to live in Finland. We've got proper (not homemade but damned close enough) food and salad and rye bread and whatnot every day for free from pre-K to the end of high school.

I wish other governments would catch up soon. :( How are students supposed to focus and learn if they're getting practically zero nutrients from school food?
violetrose 11th-May-2012 09:38 am (UTC)
When I was in school, the food looked a lot better than that - and we got reasonable portions, too.

It looks like the quality of school meals is going down - which is depressing.
wathsalive 11th-May-2012 12:00 pm (UTC)
Can someone link me to the blog please?
quackaquacka 11th-May-2012 01:44 pm (UTC)
neverseconds.blogspot.co.uk/
mellieebelliee 12th-May-2012 06:56 am (UTC)
When I was in school, my mom made my lunches. But in order to not be a loser, she let me purchase lunch one day a week. (All the cool kids bought lunch and I looked like the dork for brining mine from home). Looking back on it, I ate some real crap when I bought my lunch and was really lucky that I mostly ate what my mom made.
theplanfailed 13th-May-2012 07:48 pm (UTC)
I'm so glad to have been home schooled. That's really sad. I hope her blog changes the school lunch.
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