学校給食試食会 School Lunch Sampling

娘の通う小学校の給食試食会。献立はジューシー、ゴーヤチャンプルー、もずくスープ、沖縄パイン、牛乳、ここまでが生徒と 同じ献立で、603kcal、今回は人参しりしり、サーターアンダーギーも特別に作ってくれるとのこと。調理は学校にある調理場で、民間委託の会社の職員 の皆さんが朝6:30から調理準備を始めるのだそうだ。国産の食材中心で、なるべく安価なもの、遺伝子組み換えでないもの、加工食品を使わず、だしも、鶏 ガラや豚骨、昆布、鰹節、煮干し、干しえび、干し貝柱などを使って毎回作っているそうだ。野菜もシンクを５つ使って丁寧に洗い、手で切っているとか。献立 は米が週に３回、パンが１回、麺が１回程度の割合。献立もかぶらないよう、変化をつけて、行事食や郷土食も取り込んでいるそうだ。

さて、 自分の頃を思い出しながら、列に並んで給食を分けてもらい、席に着き、皆さんでいただきますをして試食です。子供用なのでお箸もちょっと短めで食べにく かったけれど、お味はよかったです。ゴーヤチャンプルーも苦くなく、玉葱の甘さが出ていて、子供でも食べられる感じに仕上がっていました。おまけのサー ターアンダーギーもあって、食後若干胸焼けがしたけれど、これで350円で作ってくれるなんて、本当に頭が下がります。

それにしても、お母様方のにぎやかなこと。司会の先生方が躊躇するぐらいにぎやかで、これは子供には見せられないなと思ってしまいました。だいたい６０人ぐらいのうち、お父さんは４名でした。やっぱりまだまだお母さんが出るケースが多いですね。

Joined a sampling of school lunch at my daughter's elementary school. Today's menu was Okinawan dishes: rice cooked with pork and seaweed, bitter cucumber with tofu and egg, seaweed soup, pineapple, carrot with tuna, milk, and Okinawa style doughnut. The same menu school kids were having today, which was 603kcal, excluding the carrot and tuna and doughnut that were specially prepared for the parents attending the tasting. So the nutrition at school explained how they prepare the school lunch. The school outsource it to a private company as the most of the local public schools do. They start preparation from 6:30am, with mostly domestic and cost effective, non-genetically-modified ingredients, and no packaged food. They make soup stocks from chicken, pork, sea kelp, bonito flakes, dried sardine, dried shrimp, dried scallop, etc. depending on the menu, every day. Vegetables are washed in 5 sinks, all chopped by hands. The staple food is allocated so that kids have rice 3 times a week, bread 1 time, and pasta/noodle 1 time a week. They also schedule the dishes so that it won't repeat frequently, and also come up with festivity and local menu.

So, recalling how it was like when I used to be in an elementary school, waited in line, got my lunch, and waited for everyone to start the meal with "itadaki masu". Desks, chairs, and chopsticks were all designed for children so a bit small/short for me though it tasted pretty good. The bitter cucumber wasn't bitter at all, rather sweet with onion and edible for kids. Doughnuts were too much for me gave me heart burn later, though it was a decent, well prepared, and well thought meal, and costs JPY350! I'm very thankful for the cooking staff and also the people who are involved. My daughter is so lucky to have such a great school lunch although she's a picky eater does not always appreciate the meal like I do...

At any rate, the mothers were boisterous...! It made me back off, and even teachers were a bit dithered as they won't stop talking. This was not a very good model, we can't share it with school kids...;-) 4 fathers out of 60 attendees. Still mostly mothers take up such roles when it comes to PTA.