Did you have lunch at school when you were young? If so, was it similar or different to when I was young?
In a previous post I wrote of my early lunch at school experiences at Trevallyn State school. In 1954 we moved across town to #6 Bifrons Court in East Launceston, and I began Grade 2 at Broadland House, a private girls school run by the Anglican Church. The back entrance to the school is just down at the bottom end of this cul-de-sac street, so of course the lunch-at-home routine including lunch at school one day a week continued, with me taking the same sandwiches. But things were changing.
WWII had brought near-starvation to the millions of Europeans caught up in it, and on both sides of the conflict key foods were controlled by rationing via government issued coupons; and for all parties maintaining adequate nutrition in difficult circumstances was an important element in survival. Australians’ food was rationed in support of the war effort in Britain. Food rationing in Australia ended in 1950. Also in that year the Australian government announced a free school milk scheme to provide a 1/3 pint of milk daily to all primary school children, following a 1944 study showing Aussie children were consuming less than the daily recommended doses of calcium for healthy bones.
With this background, and with no close corner shop where girls at the school could buy lunches and drinks, it was inevitable that the school would take some action. In 1957 or 1958 the school began providing Oslo lunches a couple of times a week. I think they were assembled by parent volunteers, maybe on the school premises somewhere, but I can’t imagine that was in the busy school kitchen where the school’s boarders were catered for.
These bagged Oslo lunches were ordered and paid for in advance, possibly the day before, and we collected them from the school hall at lunch time. I remember a brown bread roll, a foil-wrapped triangle of cheese, carrots and fruit. I doubt lettuce was ever in ours because in my youth lettuce was highly seasonal, and it’s appearance signalled the end of the school year was approaching. Christmas came shortly after we broke up, and then we had 6-7 weeks of summer school holidays. I remember trying at least one Oslo lunch and didn’t like it much – probably too much of an onslaught to my tastes. Maybe most of the girls didn’t particularly like that kind of meal either, though to Aussies today it fits right in with simple means most of us eat at work or during a busy day. For whatever reason, the Oslo lunches didn’t last long, which might have been due to some logistics problem, but I went back to weekly egg sandwiches.
However, providing the Oslo lunches at school was a sign of things to come: about a year later the Parents and Friends Association organised a school tuckshop service through which we could order lunch every day of the school week. The menu included cold meat (polony) and salad rolls, meat pies, sausage rolls, fruit and some cakes. I’m not too sure about what drinks were available but I’m tipping small bottles of fizzy and perhaps flavoured milks. In the classroom, before going to each morning’s school assembly, we wrote our name and order on a brown paper bag and put the money inside. A box containing the orders was taken down to the tuckshop, and 3 1/2 hours later the orders assembled by rostered volunteer parents were ready for each girl to collect. There were always a few extra pies and rolls for late arrivals or girls who forgot to order, but you had to be quick.
This school lunch system prevails around Australia today, unless you take your own lunch. Schools prefer their students don’t leave the premises during lunch break unless they are going home for lunch – but most parents these days are not at home at lunch time. And as the couple of months either side of the long summer holidays are still hot in most of Australia, many parents prefer to have their kids eat properly chilled and heated food straight from the tuckshop. Usually run by Parents and Friends volunteers, typically the tuckshop earns revenue for programs supporting the school, anyway. It’s a long time since I was in a school tuckshop as either student or parent, but I think it’s a great system, which can respond to community trends and help educate and promote healthy food choices.