Why school meals are under fire in Britain

Some communities prohibit the consumption of certain types of meat. Some prohibit meat altogether whether it’s seafood, lamb, beef or chicken. Others see no problem in eating these food groups. Children have grown up in both types of diets and they don’t seem to have any dietary problems as a result.  In fact, no one really says anything negative about children who have been born and brought up on a specific diet. To be honest, the bodies of children who have been brought up consuming a specific diet can get used to that food. Maybe that’s why people are critical of some schools in Britain that are now serving a wholly vegan diet to its pupils. From now on, there’ll be rice, potatoes, beans and chips on the menu. Sausage rolls will now be vegetarian and so every day will be vegan day.

So who’s complaining? Is it the parents of the children brought up in a meat consuming home? Or is it the nutritionists who say that the children’s diet has been compromised because they’re not eating a balanced meal? Or is it a campaigner?

I’d be very surprised if parents did not object. Those who have been brought up in a meat consuming environment would consider a wholly vegan diet as being very unhealthy.

One should take into consideration the mechanics of the human body.  The human body gets used to something and when that body is deprived of that something, or when part of that something, it suffers an adverse reaction. Likewise, if something different is added to that something it suffers an adverse reaction. Sometimes the reaction is immediate (often within minutes) and oftentimes it develops over a long-term period.

To be clear, the children seem to love the new menu with the thumbs up all around. But just because kids like it, that does not mean it was a good decision or a bad decision. If you gave kids ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner, they’d like that too. Does that mean that giving only ice cream for every meal is a good decision? No.

I think that the schools are very brave but at the same time, also very brazen to make this drastic change in the school canteen menu. I wonder if they sought permission from parents first. Probably not, because it seems that the change was implemented as a result of a local council decision.

So who is critical? Two sectors I think and in my view, for two completely different reasons. First it’s the nutritionists who believe that children on a vegan diet, and it’s not even vegetarian, are not getting a balanced diet. Lifelong vegans’ views will be the opposite. Then there are the farmers’ representatives who are quite irate with the local council decisions, and rightly so. The decision undermines farmers’ livelihoods. They spend their entire lives raising cattle, sheep and lamb only to find out that their customers are being encouraged by their own local councils to go vegan!

In my opinion, as adults you should be free to eat whatever you choose to eat. But should adults, even if they are the parents, be imposing their ideals on their growing children? More to the point, should local councils, and by extension, their local schools be imposing their local governments’ decisions on unsuspecting children who might eat anything if it’s slathered in sauces? One item that is being placed on the menu is baked beans on toast.

But since when did baked beans become an acceptable food for anybody? Yes, beans are vegetarian and so too is the sauce in which it is packed. But the biggest ‘but’ of all is that no matter how you package it, baked beans are still classed as processed food. It contains sugar, salt and whatever else is added to preserve it long term in the tin. How is the school able to get away with serving baked beans on toast to children?

In all fairness, when I was a kid at school, we did sometimes, get fish and chips for lunch, and sometimes even crisps if they ran out of chips, and yes both were processed foods. But back then people were less aware of which food affects people so they could be forgiven for this transgression. Now, of course, there’s no excuse.