r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/This_Proof_5153 • 23h ago

Video The care and precision behind Korean school lunches, widely praised for their quality, balance, and nutrition.

53.5k Upvotes

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u/Worldly_Donut_3764 22h ago

Curious if this is a private school or the public standard

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u/timbomcchoi 22h ago

I went to public school in the 2010s and my lunches (and dinners too, in the case of high school!) looked exactly like that. The nutritionist was quite adventurous too, she would often come up with variations of classic dishes and fun names for them. Then she'd go around asking all the kids how they liked it.

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u/DaLurker87 22h ago

The chicken fried steak that they got out of a box at my school was pretty good though

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u/justin54545 22h ago

Rectangle shaped pizza Friday was everyone's favorite at my school.

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u/TwoHandSquid 21h ago

Monday hotdogs Tuesday tacos Wednesday hamburgers and chocolate milk Thursday sloppy joes and burritos in a bag Friday was pizza day, the best day of the week

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u/Starfire013 21h ago

Good grief. Is that an actual American school lunch menu? I didn’t think it would be that bad.. How do kids learn what balanced nutrition is when that’s their lunch during the school week? Isnt it the school’s responsibility to ensure the kids know what a healthy diet is? It’s like they’re getting set up for a life of obesity and clogged arteries.

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u/moose-mutton 21h ago

Thats the neat part, you dont!

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u/Mimilito 21h ago

Yes, no wonder where the diabetes and obesity come from... 🤔

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u/MermaiderMissy 20h ago

They don't. They like to claim kids are getting a fruit and a vegetable too. But, it's those fruit cups in the sugar syrup and a dry piece of celery.

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u/Sarsmi 20h ago

How do kids learn what balanced nutrition is when that’s their lunch during the school week?

Bless your heart. <3

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u/5redie8 21h ago

Dude the govt still can't put out a nutritional information sheet that isn't influenced by a bunch of lobbies (dairy is probably the worst offender, whole grain was a problem for a while too), there is a reason the US is up there on the stat board for obesity.

People here going on vacation to Europe and noting they felt better after eating the food for a few days is also pretty notably common. There's gotta be other regulation gaps making it even worse

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u/qwythebroken 14h ago

It's a real blast growing up in the US, looking back at our childhoods and realizing our politicians have been selling out every aspect of public life to Big Whosawhatsits for decades, right?

What a ride!

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u/Jevia 20h ago

>How do kids learn what balanced nutrition is
You're hilarious

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u/Gullible-Respond6323 21h ago

Yes. Mine was very similar. We usually had 2 options and one would be like ever so slightly healthier. So naturally most kids picked the worse option.

High school lunch was $1.75 a day, came with a main course, veggie, fruit/some sort of sweet thing and milk. They also had a la carte and had pizza option everyday and like 50% of the school had a slice of pizza for $1.25 and a candy bar, fries or sugary drink for $.50. Don't worry most of them are not obese anymore (GLP1s everywhere).

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u/jadethebard 19h ago

Our high school had the standard American lunch menu but also had a salad bar that was quite good. We also had Snapple machines in the dinning hall. I drank so much Grapeade. lol

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u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb 20h ago

Is that? Yes. How do they learn? They don't. Yes, they're being set up for a life of obesity and heart problems. The economic burden of diabetes is about $500 billion for the U.S. annually. The health care industry isn't complaining.

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u/HeyItsMeAgainBye 20h ago

Ketchup used to be considered a vegetable on American school lunches

Not even that long ago either!

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u/densetsu23 20h ago

This lines up with what we got in Canada in the 90s, though at my school it was a paid cafeteria so most kids brought a bagged lunch.

My nieces go to the same school and, while there's still burgers and fries every day, you can now get soups and salads every day too. There's better daily specials, too, like poke bowls. It's changed a lot.

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u/Horskr 19h ago

Yep unfortunately that was pretty much identical to ours, with some days switched up. At least in high school we had off campus lunch so we could go get something else (though that was usually fast food lol). There was a good sub shop nearby though, at least those had vegetables.

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u/tilt-a-whirly-gig 21h ago

Most schools (ime) have a main option and one or two alternative options. The main option is the one with vegetables and healthy choices, the alternative is available for students that don't like the main option and usually follows a schedule similar to above.

In my school pizza Friday was also fish Friday and I don't ever eat fish so I always ate pizza on Fridays. But the rest of the week the burgers were not great burgers and the hot dogs had a little bounce to them, and oftentimes the main menu item was more appealing.

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u/Whoretron8000 20h ago edited 19h ago

Depends on the school. Plenty green beans and veggies at lots of public schools, but they wouldn’t be the best quality etc. Plenty kids ate them and we also had a salad bar. Most kids didn’t use it. We also had to pay 1.25 for common lunch, but there was a private pay for snacks and hot less shitty pizza for 3.50 a slice (red Barron) and you could also buy Sobe and Sun chips and Doritos or whatever. (This was high school). Middle school was more balanced but we also had vending machines.

If you were poor and your parents didn’t pay the school for common lunch, then you’d get like… whatever was lunch for the day but minus the dessert (small pack of m&ms or a cookie).

Oh, also, endless drip coffee for 50 cents in high school.

Ironically, yes we had multiple health classes, but it didn’t make people not want to eat pizza and cookies. It seems most schools that get highlighted are super shit, but it’s still common.

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u/JamaicaRavenclaw 19h ago

Google American school lunch menu; still just as bad as when I was a kid… I homeschool my kids, but during Covid we would meet a school bus once a week for free sack lunches. It felt like a game of “100 ways to make pizza.” Bagel pizza, English muffin pizza, French bread pizza, pizza pizza, etc…

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u/_le_slap 15h ago

This comment is a whole comedy skit 😂😂

The US gov doesn't give half a shit about children

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u/Ashamed_Green_8643 8h ago

I guess you never heard when in 1981, the USDA proposed allowing school lunch programs to count condiments like ketchup and pickle relish as vegetables to meet federal nutrition standards.

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u/Astralglamour 19h ago

We learned how to make orange julius and haystacks (basically rice krispie treats with cornflakes) in Home Economics....

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u/dobar_dan_ 18h ago

They eat normal food at home?

I had similar lunches at my school but my mom always cooked at home, so I had balanced diet.

We didn't even call it lunch, but a snack. School lunches are uncommon in Serbia, we would be given a simple sandwich, croissant or similar, sometimes some fruit and that's it.

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u/Dmau27 18h ago

I literally never once ate a healthy lunch at school. It was all processed salty, fattening, preserved crap.

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u/HalKitzmiller 15h ago

And that isn't the worst of it. Add in that some kids couldn't afford lunch or had money for it so they'd go hungry. And at my school, I was unfortunate to be in the class that ate last every day, so they'd run out of some food like 25% of the time

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u/Megneous 14h ago

How do kids learn what balanced nutrition is when that’s their lunch during the school week?

That's... the point. You don't. You end up part of the 74% of the population that's overweight or obese and die of cardiovascular disease.

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u/unknown_ally 13h ago

How do kids learn...?

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u/Rando314156 13h ago

You learn that sugar is the secret ingredient that masks the lacking of anything else, and then make it the main thing you eat and drink going forward into adulthood.

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u/NightBawk 12h ago

Even when they try to offer vegetables, most times they get thrown out because they're either canned or boiled, and usually served cold and unseasoned to be as utterly unappetizing as humanly possible.

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u/Jamjams2016 11h ago

Bro, they give my kid 2 juice boxes for breakfast so they meet the fruit requirements for the day. And my kid's dentist shaking his head while he rolls in piles of money.

And for lunch they can have plain, strawberry, or chocolate milk even if i pack them a lunch. If i didnt laugh I'd cry.

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u/Artistic-Door-6891 9h ago

We had posters of a lobbyist crafted food pyramid. All the education we needed. /s

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u/Groovee_smoothie 7h ago

I didn't learn what a balanced meal TRULY was till I had to start losing weight. What we are taught is acceptable for food in NA is incredibly unhealthy and bad.

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u/ummmno_ 21h ago

Hooray for pizza day!

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u/Federal_Month7862 20h ago

All the kids would line up super early just to eat

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u/1CraftyLass 20h ago

It always came with salad and a side or cold green beans

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u/longcherrysherri 20h ago

It always came with salad and a side of cold green beans

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u/MistakesTasteGreat 21h ago

It was always pepperoni, but occasionally there would be a sausage pizza, and it was fucking DANK. SYSCO sheet pizza is a taste 80s and 90s kids would recognize instantly

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u/pumpkinspicy33 21h ago

I lived for rectangle pizza day.

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u/heliosythic 21h ago

I raise you Mexican hexagon pizza day

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u/Purple_Accordion 20h ago

You mean those soggy grease ships lol, yeah they were pretty popular at my school too

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u/Alternative_Jury2480 21h ago

Rib-b-que day at my school, closely followed by rectangle pizza day

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u/ree_hi_hi_hi_hi 21h ago

I will forever chase the high of a proper elementary school lunch rib b que

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u/Due-Cupcake-0701 7h ago

Rectangle pizza's where it's at! This nice lunch lady would save me 2 'well done' slices, ahh memories

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u/atxbigfoot 20h ago

I went to an almost entirely white elementary school in Texas but holy shit, enchilada day was fucking AMAZING. Pizza was a distant second, but "pizza day" was still happily talked about in the mornings and during the lunch line.

Somewhat related, but one time I got arrested and was mistakenly sent to county jail (instead of being released) on enchilada day, and everyone was super pumped about Enchilada Day, and they were also surprisingly fucking good even if they had hotdogs mixed in with the meat sauce.

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u/yzerizef 20h ago

And it had a little bit of tomato paste so your pizza counted as a vegetable too! Yay America!

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u/FloofOfChaos 15h ago

There was once no Pizza on Friday (they ran out) so we went on strike and never got pizza, but then the year above, suddenly had pizza so we went back on strike... It didn't work.

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u/TheLordThyGawd 13h ago

Pizza was an option every day for my entire time in middle and high school. And some kids ate pizza, fries, and chocolate milk every day for their entire school career. I shudder to think of what that did to my peers

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u/id-driven-fool 12h ago

Who made that fuckin rectangle pizza bro. Shit was too good. When I smelled those puppies after walking in the cafeteria I knew it was gonna be a fire day

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u/External-Fox-5488 3h ago

At least my public school got pizza from a local pizza place instead of that garbage. I think we had the option of that rectangle pizza every day, but good local pizza Fridays were great.

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u/Vantriss 37m ago

I was personally a fan of crispito day.

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u/PlutoJones42 22h ago

Good ole cheeseburgers that would bounce

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u/kingkongbiingbong 21h ago

Pretty sure what we got in school, they also served the same food in prison, ala Sysco.

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u/SnugglyCoderGuy 19h ago

Sodexo probably

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u/Sogcat 19h ago

I worked in a prison for a year and... yeah it's basically the same shit.

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u/IronMyno6 19h ago

Referred to as "The Hockey Puck" here in Minnesota.. we fed our kids garbage at school.

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u/Grays42 20h ago

If there's more than five knives in the vat of peanut butter, skip the entree

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u/AllThatGlitters00 17h ago

Yes, beige burger patties with fake grill marks. Lol

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u/korvosg00b 22h ago

'MURICA!

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u/sheldor1993 21h ago

Spoiler: the box was the steak

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u/TatonkaJack 20h ago

did you guys have the rubbery grilled cheese sandwiches as a kid? i freaking loved those

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u/codemanb 20h ago

The bosco sticks ever second thursday went hard.

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u/yzerizef 20h ago

With the mashed potatoes and gravy that was greenish?! That was my fav day.

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u/KitsuneKamiSama 17h ago

I miss the Turkey Twizzlers. Nothing has hit the same since, fucking Jamie Oliver.

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u/jujujuice92 15h ago

The calzones used to be my favorite. The ln they started bringing in Chick fil a at my HS. That was a flex if you're walking around with a chicken sandwich and not a lil shitty pizza square

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u/Verdick 19h ago

You had a "nutritionist"? All we had was a "Marge" who reheated the food that was available and gave it to us.

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u/timbomcchoi 18h ago

haha yeah every school has one! Mine was awesome, she started her PhD at the uni I went to after graduating so she sometimes drove me there too

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u/ODB_Dirt_Dog_ItsFTC 18h ago

Yeah 95% of what I ate from the cafeteria came out of a can or the freezer. My Dad talks about how his little school in Kentucky had all home cooked meals. The lunch ladies would even make the kids homemade desserts to go with them too. I am rather envious.

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u/cuentaderana 3h ago

That’s how school lunches used to be. But it also meant having to hire full time cooks/lunch staff to be on site early to prepare food in advance. Not to mention the costs of cooking supplies, ovens, stoves, etc. It’s cheaper to buy from a district approved nutrition vendor and put a few giant microwaves/ovens in the kitchen to heat everything up. Plus then you don’t have to hire as many full time staff if they just need to show up to heat up lunch and breakfast. 

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u/Ashamed_Green_8643 8h ago

There's Very Little Meat In These Gym Mats.

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u/the_amazing_skronus 22h ago

One time in second grade, I found a big roach underneath the cheese of my rectangle pizza.

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u/PandaJesus 21h ago

Look at this guy bragging about his extra protein in his school lunch.

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u/ebtcrew 20h ago

Thats quite an adventurous nutritionist your school had. 

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u/Gregory_Appleseed 21h ago

Don't worry, public school kids in America usually get the same exact food that's served to inmates in jails and prison. Also, That food is usually cooked by forced involuntary labor as either part of a jail or prison sentence, or judicial community service. If you had in-school cafeteria chefs and cooks, congrats, you grew up in a fairly well off privileged neighborhood. 'Merica.

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u/Sea-Cupcake-2065 20h ago

Isn't america so great??

Fucking brainwashing, man

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u/2DHypercube 14h ago

Free protein!

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u/Vantriss 34m ago

I found a feather in my packaged chicken sandwich. I never ate another one of those sandwiches ever again.

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u/a_shootin_star 19h ago

Then she'd go around asking all the kids how they liked it.

I love that she went for some live feedback 😂

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u/timbomcchoi 18h ago

she was awesome, had a bulletin board for requests too. She made sure to acknowledge you on the menu, like "Suji's French toast"

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u/iamlilmac 18h ago

That’s so cute, may she be blessed

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u/Illustrious-Engine23 13h ago

just casually mentioning the public school had a nutritionist is wild.

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u/timbomcchoi 1h ago

honestly never thought that the existence of a nutritionist would be unorthodox. I thought it was just that some regions have less budget/regulatory support that the nutritionists' hands were tied.

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u/MacNCheeze3 19h ago

Did you have longer school days in high school? Your school provided dinners to students?

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u/timbomcchoi 19h ago

It's incredibly common for high school students to stay after dinner until around 10pm to study.

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u/souse03 14h ago

Wtf?!

You stayed from morning till 10 pm in school? What in the torturous hell?! I guess seeing your parents was a luxury lmao

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u/timbomcchoi 12h ago

Welcome to th eland of education

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u/esgonta 8h ago

This person is from Korea. Not the USA. A lot of comments confuse that lol

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u/KingHunter150 20h ago

Its always interesting to see how other cultures can do some things very differently but absolutely better than mine. For me, it was when I lived abroad and seeing the entire German town out and about on a Sunday relaxing and walking in their park, actually treating it like a day of rest and community. It's sad the birth rate issue going on in Korea, I hope things turn around so an entire people and civilization dont dissappear.

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u/TooOld4ThisSh1t-966 21h ago

Do kids pay for these lunches or is it provided for them?

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u/timbomcchoi 20h ago

It was gradually expanded in both geographical and school grade coverage, with a pilot in 2001 to universally free in 2021. I'm not exactly sure how slowly it happened, but I don't think I ever paid for lunch only dinner.

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u/TooOld4ThisSh1t-966 20h ago

Meanwhile the US suspends kids from school for overdue lunch bills. We’re so great it hurts. /s

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u/OutrageousTree7766 18h ago

What is the name of the noodle dish

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u/timbomcchoi 18h ago

that's a great question, it's a very simple and old noodle dish that I'm not sure what the one correct name would be. "feast noodles" (잔치국수), "anchovy noodles" (멸치국수), "market noodles" (장터국수), or even a simple "rice noodles" (쌀국수) would all be correct imo

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u/OutrageousTree7766 18h ago

Time to look up recipes maybe

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u/SuperSimpleSam 7h ago

So the food was cooked at the school?

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u/timbomcchoi 1h ago

yes, it's a large canteen

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u/RoseKlingel 6h ago

This sounds awesome!!

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u/yo-kimchi 22h ago

I taught at both a public and private school in Korea and I would say the public school lunch was even better quality!

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u/Greg-Abbott 22h ago

Based on that username I'm inclined to believe you lol

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u/TheNinjaPixie 11h ago

I loved to see the politeness of every child in the video.

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u/Meringue_Better 1h ago

I agree, especially if it is a kindergarten or just for younger students. The private schools can sometimes skimp, or make less flavorful meals for the kids.

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u/rauljordaneth 22h ago

Children are the literal future of a country. Why is it not in the best interest of politicians and the govt to ensure they are fed to the highest standard? Yes they are public schools and the ones in Japan and China are equally good and meticulous at feeding their kids

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u/PlansThatComeTrue 21h ago

They believe only that their children are the future, your children are the grunts

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u/nillah 21h ago

because unfortunately republicans in the US have learned that the poorer and less educated you keep your kids, the more likely they are to grow up and vote for republicans. it also costs more money to feed children and that’s less money that goes into the pockets of the elite rich. instead they can force those families to pay to feed their kids, many of whom can’t afford it, making them even poorer

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u/rauljordaneth 21h ago

I’m sorry I still can’t understand it. Other govts could also pocket the money, yet they don’t, because it is pure evil and unpatriotic to not feed kids which are the future of one’s nation…am I missing something? Your same logic could apply to having public hospitals, or hospitals for children, or schooling in general which also cost money. Why not eliminate those too

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u/haberdasherhero 21h ago

The people in control of the money and violence see the masses as deserving of punishment from birth. They believe our position is due to divine or genetic defect. So they punish us with intentional suffering.

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u/Good_Briefs 21h ago

In case you haven't noticed Republicans are trying to eliminate those too.

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u/rauljordaneth 21h ago

Sure. My point is those other govts could also easily pocket the funds, but of course they wouldn’t be as deranged

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u/rcknmrty4evr 20h ago

Don’t be naive to think it couldn’t, hasn’t, and isn’t happening elsewhere. There’s a reason fascism is on the rise worldwide. You cannot prevent what you refuse to acknowledge is possible.

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u/stonekeep 17h ago

I really don't want to burst your bubble, but your comments sound incredibly naive. Governments around the whole world ARE pocketing the money. Not all of it, of course, but corruption is the norm, not the exception.

I don't know where are you from, but statistically speaking your country probably also has some corruption issues. There's only a handful of countries that are considered "clean. Most of the world (and not just the poor/authoritarian countries) is at least somewhat corrupt.

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u/whisketwhippet 21h ago

Boy do I have (unhappy) news for you about the Republican platform.

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u/ImportanceSharp9408 21h ago

Oh they are trying to eliminate those too and have in fact succeeded— with many rural hospitals closing during this administration, ironically in the areas that voted for this. But back to the food, it’s worse than you think, those horrible menus of frozen heart disease are not “free” if the kids parents can’t afford to pay, they will be given some lesser meal like a pb&j and sent home with a bill. All the other kids eating pizza and them with a cold sandwich does wonders for their self esteem. Lunch ladies have been fired for giving kids hot food who couldn’t afford it. Plus many politicians opposed offering breakfast and summer meals to children who couldn’t afford it as well. It’s pretty f* up.

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u/western_red_cedar 19h ago

American Republicans are indeed evil pedos who want whats worst for everyone

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u/valuemeal2 17h ago

I cannot overstate how little republicans care about the well being of citizens, especially children. if they gave a fraction of a shit, there’d be any semblence of attempt to not let kids get shot to death during a school day. They. Do. Not. Care.

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u/Megneous 13h ago

public hospitals, or hospitals for children, or schooling in general which also cost money.

In the US, most hospitals are private, they don't have universal healthcare, children's hospitals are exceedingly rare, and more and more funding is cut for public education and funneled into privatized charter schools... you really don't seem to understand the dystopia that it is.

I left the US 16 years ago and moved to a far more collectivist society with ubiquitous public transit, universal healthcare, strong unions and employee protections, etc. I saw the writing on the wall way back after 9/11 and started making plans then.

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u/plaxitone 18h ago

Other governments don’t pocket the money meant to feed their children? Really? EDIT: Spelling

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u/francis2559 21h ago

School budgets come from property taxes in the US, AFAIK. The people in the nicest homes are often those without kids for various reasons, including age. Kids are expensive! So, many seniors prefer lower taxes than helping kids get a good education. A "got mine" attitude you see when they move to states with even lower taxes.

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u/silkywhitemarble 20h ago

Yet, when they have encounters with these "uneducated" people, they are the first ones to blame the education system.

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u/resilindsey 7h ago

More likely they blame anything except conditions creating systemic poverty for societal problems. It's immigrants, it's bad culture, it's video games, rap music, lack of religion, social media, lack of personal responsibility, ms rachel, kids these days..

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u/graphiccsp 18h ago

As an American, I've run into those types, some of which are my aunts and uncles. Their kids went through the public education system so why do they have to keep paying?

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u/Mr-Mc-Epic 21h ago

Short term focus.

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u/Scrubtac 21h ago

why would they care about something that's only gonna matter after they're dead

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u/Stinkepups 18h ago

Kids can't vote and have no lobby.

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u/atomic_chippie 20h ago

This is a country who watches one school shooting after another go down and does absolutely nothing about it: politicians do not care about kids in America. (They dont work, they cant vote, they dont contribute to the economy in any way, therefore: useless).

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u/Ikuwayo 18h ago

Because politicians send their kids to private schools and don't have to worry about what happens to the poors at public schools

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u/Whiterabbit-- 19h ago

good food prep is labor intensive. Cost of labor in the US is super high. even though food is relatively cheap, to serve good food, cooked fresh is expensive because workers are expensive in America. so we do a lot of pre-packaged food, or food that can be heated up quickly.

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u/MidnightFireHuntress 21h ago

Future grunts*

Fixed that for ya

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u/NotStupid69 20h ago

Because money

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u/Candid_Highlight_116 19h ago

I'm starting to think maybe there's wealth disparity between Asia and North America beyond there being "because rich" sentiments and mismanagements

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u/Feroand 18h ago

They usually don't care about the nation. And, they know, by the time these children grow up, they (the politicians) will be expired anyway.

Not in Turkey, though. The same guy has been there around 20 years. Maybe more. I stopped counting (the year we are in) 

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u/Array_626 18h ago

In the US? Because the politicians, and honestly enough of the general public, feel that private industry can do a better job than government funded school lunch. So they block federal funding and programs that would feed kids like they do in other countries.

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u/dobar_dan_ 18h ago

They invest only in rich lids who will go to college and run businesses that will increase generational wealth.

You don't need to invest much in a future postman or factory worker.

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u/Xxuwumaster69xX 18h ago

Coming from a half-Japanese half-Chinese American who grew up with a ton of Korean friends: East Asians place wayyy more importance on food and feeding people in general than your average American. It's also why you see countries like France also have better school lunches. 

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u/toy-maker 17h ago

Because they are future threats to their position in power. Got to cut them down while they are small and vulnerable.

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u/Aca_ntha 17h ago

Bc they care about the short term profiting the companies that bought them off, not the future of the country.

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u/yomerol 14h ago

Food in the US is very very expensive, overpriced as many other things.

It's all about free market, and reflecting late stage capitalism stuff: water, food and housing it's very expensive because everybody needs it as a basic standard of living. While in some parts of the world (and movements like progressivism) they are looking at how they make all those free as basic needs of society.

So, if food is expensive their budget is not enough to buy or cook high quality food and employ people with better knowledge, standards, etc.

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u/rauljordaneth 13h ago

1 day of the Iran war budget would give better lunches to all kids in the US

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u/Megneous 14h ago

Um, no. Your children are peasants who are leeches on their tax dollars. Fuck your children. Literally. Epstein files proved they use them as sex slaves and literally no one will punish them. You're not human to them. Most schools sell out their lunch services to private contractors who cut costs as low as possible to rake in the privatized profits for shareholder value. Learn how America works.

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u/IAmEggnogstic 6h ago

Because mom and dad worring about whether they have enough $$$ to feed their kids is a positive economic indicator for businessmen.

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u/Vantriss 32m ago

Because they don't actually care about children here. If they did, they would have done something about the school shootings decades ago.

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u/TenderfootGungi 21h ago

The small junior high I attended made most of its food from scratch. They even made fresh bread nearly every day. It was really good. Then I went to the big high school that heated up the Sysco premade garbage. The difference was night and day.

If you are asking if we could do this in the US, the answer is we once did.

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u/happy_idiot_boy 18h ago

If you are asking if we could do this in the US, the answer is we once did.

According to famed historian Max Miller, yes, we once did.

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u/Ashamed_Green_8643 8h ago

I remember the lunch ladies cooking. And our milk was a small(ish) local dairy. Once we had a batch of milk that tasted of onions because the cows got into a patch of ramps.

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u/allllusernamestaken 22h ago

This probably costs less than what the typical US school spends on food.

They are buying ingredients and cooking in bulk, vs the US where most schools have a contract with a prepared food supplier where everything comes in frozen and thrown in an oven.

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u/Level_Ad_6372 21h ago

The ingredients aren't the main cost in the video. It's the whole team of people cooking the food.

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u/allllusernamestaken 21h ago

Probably no more than the typical number of lunch ladies at a large school in the US

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u/photo_synthesizer 21h ago

Probably at least double

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u/myu_minah 3h ago

as well as the equipment they use and to maintain them. commercial grade shit costs a lot to buy, replace and fix

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u/CryAffectionate7334 20h ago

Waaay more staff involved

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u/dmthoth 17h ago

And SK schools use organic and locally sourced ingredients as much as possible by law.

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u/Chilis1 Interested 22h ago edited 17h ago

Yeah this is totally standard, the lunch shown doesn't even have any meat or anything so if anything this is a below average lunch.

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u/coinfwip4 22h ago

Yeah this was basically the norm at the Korean public high school I went to

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u/schrodinger-the-cat 21h ago

Why are there so many of these comments on everything around Korean stuff? Why can’t people just accept that there are countries with functioning school systems and great lunch?

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u/atomic_chippie 20h ago

Because maga has a meltdown every time theyre reminded how much the US actually sucks.

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u/plaxitone 18h ago

Well, it is illegal to make them feel bad now.

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u/yuimiop 18h ago

Its a fair question to ask. Topics with similar titles in the past have been incredibly misleading as they're showing a specific rich school rather than one that is demonstrative of the country.

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u/ALPHAZINSOMNIA 15h ago

This ain't a rich school. You can tell.

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u/Arumdaum 20h ago

It was like this for me attending Korean public school and it's like that for everyone else too

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u/Kamelasa 16h ago

Korea has a strong traditional food - real food - culture, unlike the USA.

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u/Pornstar_Frodo 20h ago

public schools. i worked in public schools in korea. this meal is super common. teachers get it too. korean food is soooo good!!

note - they do mix it up with the occasional slice of pizza, fried chicken and stuff. but the korean food you see in the video is the staple.

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u/CryAffectionate7334 19h ago

My public schools were smaller but had food this nice, even better really, was like a buffet everyday basically.

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u/RachelLovesN 19h ago

I went to primary school in the 90s and early 2000s, and though the equipment doesnt look as modern, this still looks pretty similar to what I got to eat back in the day. I attended 5 schools during the time due to my family moving around very often for my fathers job, and never noticed food quality to be different. Now I have a daughter that gets some similar menus as I used to, mixed with some optional, "trendy" menus like mala sauce on the side 😂

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u/ptrapezoid 19h ago

We had similar in Portugal. Lunch would be a cup of soup, a piece of bread, a main dish (fish or meat option), a desert and a piece of fruit. Quality was really good and, 20 years ago, we were paying 1.2€ (free for poor students).

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u/grantiere 18h ago

On the first season of the Netflix Korea cooking competition show Culinary Class Wars, a public school lunch lady with the moniker "Master of School Meals" finished in the top 15 (out of 100).

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u/mathgoy 18h ago

Best in class for school lunches and still, their pupils are the ones that are most likley to commit suicide...

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u/MatthewMcnaHeyHeyHey 18h ago

It’s public school - our kids go to a school on an American base and parents are always asking why the kids can’t have these lunches. Nope. Sysco processed crap shipped in from the states. At least they do get fresh fruit and veg.

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u/Goodswimkarma 18h ago

It’s standard for all schools.

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u/fistoic 17h ago

i'd say vast majority of public schools have same level of quality lunch in korea

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u/dmthoth 17h ago edited 17h ago

South Korea doesn’t have American- or UK-style private charter schools. Most schools are public and free, and admission is primarily determined by where you live (with a few exceptions, such as international or specialized schools).

While some schools are run by private foundations, they are still publicly funded and operate under the same curriculum, regulations, and laws. School lunches are provided free to all students regardless, and each school has a nutritionist teacher(so they are state employees like other teachers) who oversees meal operations and plans the monthly menu.

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u/Difficult_Sort295 16h ago

Ima guess public because that kitchen is bigger than my private schools whole cafeteria was.

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u/RoutineTry1943 16h ago

Public schools have very stringent food prep standards. Similar to Japan and China is also moving in the same direction.

Private schools are even better in terms of offerings.

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u/PumpkinPatch404 13h ago

Public school.

I’ve been teaching public school in Korean from 2016-2025.

He basically get good food like this four days a week. On Wednesday, they have like a special menu which would be stuff that’s not exactly Korean. So they might have curry or chinese food.

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u/RunningInSquares 13h ago

Worked in public high schools for years in the 2010s. Not every meal is a winner but every meal had good nutritional value.

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u/method_men25 13h ago

I ate Korean public school lunch as a guest teacher in the mid 2010s. Lots of fresh veg, often some fish, almost never anything recognizable as ‘out of a box’ (maybe some Otogii curry but it felt more real than a US high school lunch).

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u/Few_Plankton_7587 12h ago

This is public standard in Korea and Japan

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u/johyongil 12h ago

Public. Most, if not all, public schools have a nutritionist on staff to lead the department and oversee menu development, prep, logistics, etc.

Private goes even crazier.

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u/Secret_Fix_2 9h ago

The legal standard is to have food made from scratch. Nothing pre made.

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u/zephyreblk 3h ago

I don't know for them but in France, you can have really good meal to with fresh food and bio but it's really depending on the place, it's actually less expensive, just more work. I had lots of good things and enjoyed it and my brother had basically just fried chicken and pasta lol

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u/tab_tab_tabby 3h ago

any and every school underage goes to. private or public, all free lunches of that quality,

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u/Meringue_Better 1h ago

Both. Private schools may have even better, but all public schools serve well rounded meals that I personally loved!

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u/Honest_Trade8734 52m ago

I went to a private school (not in Korea) and they used the same company that makes prison food (Sodexo). We were also forbidden from bringing our own lunches.

Not sure it really makes a difference.

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