Reader Jo Anne Yamamoto said she came across an article in the paper recently about school lunches. She attended McKinley High School in the 1960s and said the lunches were delicious most of the time.
“I loved the baked spaghetti, sloppy joes, teriyaki meatballs and shortbread cookies. In junior and high school, the freshly baked desserts were awesome!”
Yamamoto’s least favorite, she says was egg foo young. It means “hibiscus egg” in Cantonese and is similar to an omelet with vegetables.
“Ours was made with government-surplus powdered eggs. They must have had surplus barley, too, because they mixed it with our rice and our stews.”
She asked whether other readers remember their favorite school lunches.
Turkey corn scallop
A reader calling herself “Deidre S.” said, “I remember a lunch dish I really liked called ‘turkey corn scallop.’
“No scallops were in the dish, but it had diced-up turkey, rice, corn and was covered in a white gravy.
“Thinking back, I enjoyed all the school lunches and never understood those who complained about them. It was well balanced: main dish, vegetables, dessert, with a small carton of whole milk. The cost was just a quarter! What a deal!”
School cafeteria
Jim Manke enrolled at Wahiawa Elementary midway through the fourth grade, when his family moved to Oahu from Lanai. “The school was then in what I believe were old military buildings located where Wahiawa General Hospital now stands.
“In our fifth grade year, we were the first students to relocate to the new campus up the hill. My parents always made lunch for us at home. Since there was no cafeteria, we would eat seated on the curb of the roadway outside our classroom.
“The new school had a cafeteria, and every few weeks we were assigned to ‘work cafeteria.’
“The drill for student helpers included wiping down the tables and scraping gum from under the tabletops before assisting with food prep and service.
“I vividly remember the massive potato-peeling machine. We’d dump potatoes into it, turn it on to rotate the tubers for a few minutes, and voila! Most of the skin had been scraped off. Then they were boiled, mashed with milk and margarine, and put into serving trays.
“On the days I worked at the cafeteria, the favorite menu items included beef tomato, luncheon meat and Spanish rice.
“Student workers got to eat just before our classmates came streaming in, and for me this was a welcome break from the home lunch routine of white bread sandwiches and a fruit of the day.
“Following lunch service, cafeteria staff doled out leftovers, and while I was stoked to be able to take home a gallon can of mashed potatoes, and maybe even a half a loaf of luncheon meat, I’m sure my mother wondered what she would do with all of this stuff.
“I have no idea whether ‘working cafeteria’ is still a part of the school routine, but for me the experiences were teachable moments, and certainly unforgettable.”
Practice eating
“When I was a kid, I loved to practice eating,” Wayne Shiohira commented, “like gnawing slices of square Top Hat bread down to smaller geometric shapes.
“I looked forward to starting school, where I’d heard about the wonderful aroma of lunch and fresh bread wafting in the air as it was being prepared.
“Mom would send me to school with a quarter in a plastic clamshell coin purse that included an extra nickel for juice money. The juice was served during morning recess and included a snack in waxed paper bags, like graham crackers or, my favorite, a square shortbread cookie.
“In kindergarten our lunches were delivered to our classroom by sixth grade students.
“I was impressed by the bigger kids with their white aprons, and how important they were to be trusted with the responsibility of delivering the food to us. I looked forward to that day when I, too, would be a big kid that was entrusted with that duty.
“When the day finally came that our class was called for cafeteria duty, I found my new calling: buttering slices of fresh bread.
“I was given a sandwich spreader, a large stainless steel bowl with bricks of butter, and trays with loaves of bread. The end cuts were put aside, saved for making hamburger patties or meatloaf.
“As I buttered the bread, at intervals I’d butter an end cut and scarf it down. I was in hog heaven!
“In high school the cafeteria was close to the band room. It offered choices of hot lunches, sandwiches, salads and even pies and cakes. It was much too crowded in there, so I’d just get a sandwich and milk, and eat it as I walked.
“I noticed another band student, David Nagata, doing the same thing, but this skinny guy would eat his sandwich in four bites, gulping everything down with his milk in less than the two minutes it took to walk from the cafe to the band room. Impressive!
“Nagata played the French horn with dental braces on his teeth, and loved playing baseball even though he was allergic to grass. He was an outstanding student, a band nerd, a skilled masticator, and became my best friend.”
School lunches
Wayne Sumida said he attended Hokulani School in the first grade. “I remember our lunch was served on light green, compartmented plastic trays with each of the five compartments filled with food.
“My favorite was the Spanish rice and fruit cocktail, or sliced orange wedges. For a 5-year-old, that was a lot of lunch for only 25 cents.
“We could also have a midmorning snack for a nickel. We would get a cup of juice and a small snack. I loved the graham crackers.
“In my sixth grade I attended Kaiulani School in Palama. Chocolate milk instead of white milk was offered as an option. Also, for a nickel you could buy ice cream for dessert. My love of fudgsicles started here.”
Spanish rice
Ken Fujii grew up in Hilo, and his favorite school lunch was Spanish rice. “I did a little research and found that the basic recipe for it was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and distributed to all public schools. That’s why so many schools had Spanish rice on their lunch menus.
“Since Spanish rice is usually a side dish without protein on the mainland, local cafeteria managers modified the recipe to include ground beef and additional veggies like minced onions, bell peppers, diced celery, chopped tomatoes, corn and parsley.
“Some managers added shredded cheddar cheese on top to use up the huge blocks of surplus cheese.”
Lunch strategy
Marian Yee said she does not have fond cafeteria memories. “I attended a parochial school in the late 1950s and ’60s. Cafeteria food was bland, and most of the vegetables and fruit were out of cans.
“My father insisted on hot meals for lunch, and we were given a quarter each morning. I was given no extra money for morning snacks or afternoon desserts like bread pudding or ice cream, which I craved.”
Yee said she developed a strategy well before age 10 to make the most of her situation. “I’d study the posted weekly meals calendar on the cafeteria chalkboard and avoid the ‘undesirable’ days.
“On those days I’d secretly pack a bologna sandwich, peanut butter and jelly or a backyard mango. I’d save the quarter in a piggy bank.”
The Catholic school had frequent fundraisers with quotas for each child. “We sold the World’s Finest Almond Chocolate bars for $1 each to as many uncles, aunts or neighbors as possible, but with three kids in the family, we could not approach the same uncles or aunts.
“Depending on the fundraising goal, I had to sell one or two cases of chocolate bars.”
For every four quarters saved in a given week, Yee was able to eat one chocolate bar. “The fifth quarter was used to intermittently buy popsicles or afternoon desserts. I never indulged in desserts if it was the Lenten season.
“This is how I managed school lunches, met my fundraising goal and had money for an afternoon dessert as well.
“I don’t believe my parents ever found out.”
What was your experience of school lunches?
Bob Sigall is the author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com or sign up for his free email newsletter at RearviewMirrorInsider.com.
