What makes a good lunch compared to a bad lunch in Year 8 at Joeys? Well, vegetables as it turns out.
Three weeks ago the boys had sausages for lunch with potato and steamed vegetables. About half of Year 8 didn’t take lunch that day and opted for bread and jam instead. When I did a survey of the boys who didn’t take lunch they told me that the sausages didn’t taste good, that they weren’t hungry, or that that they felt like chips and nuggets instead.
Last week, the boys were offered exactly the same sausages cooked exactly the same way but half had vegetables and potato mash, the other half were served just with sausages and mash but no vegetables. The servings without vegetables went first. When they ran out, boys stopped taking the ones with veggies. When the sausages are served on a bread roll, they all get eaten and the boys queue up for seconds.
I’ve spoken to the boys about making good choices when they eat. We don’t force anyone to eat anything they don’t like but I hope that Year 8 boys aren’t so fussy that they would leave a perfectly good meal just because it has some veggies in it.
PS: Each week I eat every breakfast, every lunch, and 5 out of 7 dinners with the boys. The meals are never as good as Mum would make, but I can tell you that there is very little to complain about.