School lunch - *NEW POLL!*

[confusedsafferinkorea]

Eat the lunch. It's 90% healthy, 95% delicious and 100% cheap. Not eating the lunch for whatever the reason won't gain you respect and may harm your reputation.

Well, we will have to agree to disagree on all of those points.

[Cacille]

I've been at the school for two days now, and the lunches have been rather interesting. Good, yes, I think. Edible most of the way (although the kimchi is a bit spicy for me, other things haven't been that were somewhat spicy, and I'm not tolerant to spicy usually). Fresh fruit mix, yummy soup that wasn't too salty, bibimbap I think the first day, I think  I'm lucky. This school seems to serve good food although I can't say how good it is without a comparison.
I was very nervous as to if I would like Korean food before I came here, but I think I can survive on the food for a while. Though, I have to say the portion size leaves me feeling sated but not full. I'm not sure if that is intentional, but I may bring a few extra snacks to help.

[0mnslnd]

Saying that you find it too spicy is usually a safe way out, even if you don't find it very spicy at all. Koreans are proud of their food's spiciness - never mind the fact that it's far from the world's spiciest food - and their ability to handle it, so at least going that route may leave them feeling superior in some way.

An easy way out. But it prolongs this ridicolous stereotype.

[cs00106]

Lunch at my school is pretty good.  I actually look forward to lunch because im starving by 12:30.  Also i thought i was going to have to pay for my lunch when i got to the cafeteria but didn't. does this mean that they have already taken out the lunch fees from our paychecks?

[justanotherwaygook]

Lunch at my school is pretty good.  I actually look forward to lunch because im starving by 12:30.  Also i thought i was going to have to pay for my lunch when i got to the cafeteria but didn't. does this mean that they have already taken out the lunch fees from our paychecks?

More or less.  You'll be asked to sign some paper stating that you let them deduct money.  I believe mine is taken directly from my bank account (like automatic bill pay).

[LemonWater]

Lunch at my school is pretty good.  I actually look forward to lunch because im starving by 12:30.  Also i thought i was going to have to pay for my lunch when i got to the cafeteria but didn't. does this mean that they have already taken out the lunch fees from our paychecks?

More or less.  You'll be asked to sign some paper stating that you let them deduct money.  I believe mine is taken directly from my bank account (like automatic bill pay).

Last year I didn't have to pay for my lunch, I assume because I was at a large highschool and I wasn't factored in. . . Now I'm at a Middle school, and have to pay 2500 per meal (I pay in cash to the admin office at the end of each month). . . but it is the best meal of my day.  I get a buffet lunch, always at least 3 kinds of meat (except on vegetable Fridays, but at least eggs, fish, and bacon fat aren't counted as meat). .. . Honestly I look forward to my school lunches. I guess I am one of the lucky ones. I've heard about nasty elementary lunches . ..  . My cafeteria is great. All the Korean teachers agree . .. .  so maybe I am spoiled. I hear some teachers continually complaining about too many "starches" in their food . ..  .I don't know what the food situation is in the rest of the country, but I love what I get. Maybe some teachers are too "picky" when it comes to food, or maybe it really is terrible. . .I can't say  .. .   But at least the standards here are higher than anything in North America when it comes to health
 

[eveliens]

My last school had wonderful lunches and I usually look forward to them, excluding a few dishes with seafood or snails. Lots of greens, veggies and protein. The rice always had another grain or beans mixed in.

Had lunch at my new school for the first time yesterday. It was a sad, sad disappointment. I ended up with rice, kimchi, and potatoes  :-X because the soup and japchae had mushrooms (allergy). There was no meat whatsoever just tofu for protein (in the soup that I didn't eat). So basically I burned right through it in an hour and was starving for the rest of the day. I believe my CT said it was 3, 500 w per day which is a lot more than I was paying for the better meals.

I suspect once I get my kitchen going I will be bringing my lunch and opting out. At least I impressed my new co-teacher by munching through the kimchi! 

[emilyjanem]

I think you should keep trying the food and in the end you may end up liking it! I think you just have to give you taste buds time to get used to the taste. I have only have lunch twice now at the school and I thought it was really nice. There was a bit of fish and plenty of beef in the soup as well as fruit. Just give it another go!

[TorinScott]

haha im in a similar situation, my main issue is 90% of the time I have no clue what I'm eating, at least the spices are good haha.

[TFC]

So far my lunches haven't been too bad, although the fish soup that I had yesterday took some getting used to. I find that i get starred at quite a lot when eating, maybe its my chopstick skills that aren't up to scratch! :)

[justanotherwaygook]

Lunch at my school is pretty good.  I actually look forward to lunch because im starving by 12:30.  Also i thought i was going to have to pay for my lunch when i got to the cafeteria but didn't. does this mean that they have already taken out the lunch fees from our paychecks?

More or less.  You'll be asked to sign some paper stating that you let them deduct money.  I believe mine is taken directly from my bank account (like automatic bill pay).

Last year I didn't have to pay for my lunch, I assume because I was at a large highschool and I wasn't factored in. . . Now I'm at a Middle school, and have to pay 2500 per meal (I pay in cash to the admin office at the end of each month). . . but it is the best meal of my day.  I get a buffet lunch, always at least 3 kinds of meat (except on vegetable Fridays, but at least eggs, fish, and bacon fat aren't counted as meat). .. . Honestly I look forward to my school lunches. I guess I am one of the lucky ones. I've heard about nasty elementary lunches . ..  . My cafeteria is great. All the Korean teachers agree . .. .  so maybe I am spoiled. I hear some teachers continually complaining about too many "starches" in their food . ..  .I don't know what the food situation is in the rest of the country, but I love what I get. Maybe some teachers are too "picky" when it comes to food, or maybe it really is terrible. . .I can't say  .. .   But at least the standards here are higher than anything in North America when it comes to health

Oh, lemonwater.  Wasn't it you that ranted about my thread highlighted the absurd number of starches in school lunch?  I was told that I was raging against Korean culture because I didn't think lunch was awesome?  I was told that I'm always complaining?

Anyways, yea Lemonwater, everywhere is different.

You get 3 meats a day?  :o
Some of us maybe get 2 real meats a week.

Maybe you get kimchi made by 90 year-old Jeolla-do grandmothers. 
Some of us get stuffed scraped from the bottom of the barrel of a Chinese kimchi factory.

You know what's the best evidence that NETs aren't just complaining for the sake of complaining?
The Korean teachers complain, too.

[bjinglee]

My school lunch is hit or miss. In the very beginning I was polite and took everything, but now I'm to the point where I only take the things I like and just tell them that the stuff I don't take is the stuff I don't like. They're fine with it. 

[EllettMC]

My school has had pretty good lunches so far. I enjoy spicy foods, and it seems as though everything but the rice has a good dose of that chili sauce on it, so I make do. I just don't try to guess what sort of meat or veggies are included. I've only had a few meals there that really turned me off... and in those cases, there is always the rice.

[marbar]

Yeah I've only just started at my school, but it seems okay. So much rice though. Though I didn't realise you had to take everything?!I don't like soup in general so I've never taken it. Am I committing a huge faux pas?!

[orangeman]

One thing I don't understand is the idea that some people have that Korean food is so much more healthy than 'Western' or 'American' food.  While the problem with many American foods are more evident through growing obesity rates, the downsides to Korean foods are more subtle.  It is loaded with sodium and starches, and the meats are incredibly fatty.  Yes, Americans may be bigger, but Koreans have a very high rate of stomach and colon cancer as well as high blood pressure and other digestive issues.  Not to mention in general Koreans have a hard time staying awake for 4 hours at a time which despite the popular belief has less to do with their 'hectic' schedule than with their diet.  When's the last time you saw a Korean eating fresh vegetables or getting a proper amount of calcium?  Can anyone tell me the benefit of eating bleached white rice three times a day everyday?  And what other country puts so much faith into pig fat (stamina!  Seriously, if all the stuff Koreans believed gave you stamina actually worked men would be walking around with books in front of their crotch all day long). 

Basically, there is healthy and unhealthy food in both North America and in Korea.  Yes, if you take an extreme from one place and compare it to the opposite extreme from the other it will prove a point.  You can pit bibimbap against a Big Mac, but I can pit samgyeopsal against a fresh greek salad.  At least Americans don't go around telling the world that Big Macs cure cancer. 

[Jrong]

And what other country puts so much faith into pig fat

All over northeast India that's what they like. I wouldn't be surprised if it was highly valued everywhere between Northeast India (Burma, NorthernThailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam) and here.

I'm actually giving up school meals. I spoke too soon (earlier). First day back I had massive stomach aches and nausea from eating so much SALT. I think I'll spend more money on fresh veggies and stay alive instead of dying on a diet of salt that doesn't even taste good.

[Warra]

I can't use the metal chopsticks at all so eat everything with a spoon because they don't have knives and forks. is this considered rude?

[danielled]

I haven't been here very long but I haven't been a fan of my school lunches.  Everything has been very fishy, even for someone who likes fish.  I try to just take the smallest servings of everything so that I don't look rude for not trying anything and that way I don't have anything left on my plate because I'm a good sport and just eat it even if I hate it.  Today though I was so happy.  We had chicken fingers with honey mustard!  I was beyond happy.  To bad I only took a few pieces because I was afraid it might be some mystery meat disguised as chicken fingers!  Definitely looking forward to that one coming back up in the rotation!!!

[Wench]

I had originally opted to bringing my own packed lunch but when I walked into the cafeteria, The looks I got was just not worth it.. So now, today, I had my first Korean Lunch. I barely managed to get it down, about half the table watching me.. So I had to grin, smile and pretend it was tastey, while my insides were like nooooo freaken way!!

[VizionMC]

I LOVE SCHOOL LUNCH!

staring, not starring