this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2026

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107

Why do American kids rely on the school cafeteria than bringing their own food? (feddit.online)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by animemann80@feddit.online to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

84 comments fedilink hide all child comments

For perspective: I come from a country where "cafeteria" food at school is good and affordable (most is less than the equivalent of 5-10 USD max and it's not slop, it's actual food), but it's not an obligation for everyone since it's up to the student if they want to buy something or bring their own lunch.

The "cafeteria" in my school isn't a typical American one, rather it's closer to a canteen where they sell food you can purchase from cup noodles, fried stuff, sandwiches, baked goods, etc. also appliances like a kettle or microwave are available in the dining hall for students to heat up left overs if they wanted.

The thing I tend to notice from American schools (according to US movies, there's bias whether it's true or false) is that they tend to depict kids always heading for the cafeteria for recess or lunch picking up whats available instead of bringing their own food from home (left overs from dinner), why is that the case?

(page 2) 37 comments

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[–] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I think there’s some relationship to consuming overproduction of American farms decades ago, isn’t there?

[–] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 months ago

The USDA uses school lunches as a dumping ground for.the crap.they buy to subsidize farmers

[–] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Depends on the kid: I never did and mine didn't either. Mostly just because the school lunches were bad.

[–] normalentrance@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

If you bring your food there isn't really a way to reheat it. So you either eat cold lunch box food like peanut butter sandwiches or buy hot food prepared by the school.

There also aren't refrigerators to put your leftovers in.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

school lunch, meals used to be cost some money, and you are ineligible if your parents made to much. in HS we were giving some money for food, which was better than cafeteria anyways.

[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 0 points 2 months ago

I send my kids in with a home lunch because I don't trust the school food. I can do that easily because I'm home all day, I imagine overworked parents don't have the time or the money, they rely on the school to feed their kids.

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