Let’s learn about elementary school lunch in Japan!
A child enrolled in public elementary school in Kawasaki City spends most of their
day at school. There’s time for study, time for recreation, and time for schoollunch.
Do you know how the lunches the children eat are put together?
A certified nutritionist takes into account nutritional balance, calories,
preparation methods, seasonal ingredients and so forth and creates a wellbalanced menu.
So, what exactly is a nutritionally-balanced meal?

Fats and oils, nuts
and seeds: Don’t
eat too much oil.

protein for making muscles and blood:fish, meat, eggs, beans

Carbohydrates

Proteinare energy forwarms youryour brain!

body up fast!

Cereals,potatoes,sugar
For making bones andteeth:
*milk
*fish
These have lotsof dietary fiber

eatenwhole(bones and all)*seaweed (Ca, Mg etc.)

and 7 essentialvitamins.
The brightly-colored vegetables have different vitaminsfrom the light-colored vegetables and fruits
from Three Colors Basic Food Groups

Try to eat something from each of the 3 colored groups at every meal!

If youdo, you’ll be able to eat a nutritionally balanced diet.
（Example）

vitamins

protein, calcium

vitamins

proteincarbohydrates

Why is it important to eat a balanced diet?
If you compare the bodies of 1st-year students to those of 6th-year students,
The cute little 1st-year student grows into a big, strong 6th-

you’ll understand.

year pupil． A balanced diet is important for this growth.
In the school lunch we try to provide roughly 1/3 of the nutrients the child willneed for the day.

Let’s all try to make sure our children are getting a balanceddiet at home as well.

The Purpose Of School Lunch
The school lunch program has other aims in addition to providing
nutritionally balanced meals. We hope to teach:-

how to cooperate together to eat together-

about natural ingredients in food, to value them and eat without wasting
them-

about all the people (school employees and others) who work to make school
lunch possible, and to be thankful for their efforts-

about the food culture of the area where the children live-

about social structures

What’s In The School Lunch:
BreadThe main ingredients of the bread in school lunches are wheatflour, salt, shortening, and non-fat dry milk.

Non-fat dry milk isused to provide extra calcium that growing children need.
Kinds of bread include large rolls, ordinary bread, brown bread, raisin
bread, small rolls, sandwich bread, pumpkin bread, chocolate bread, etc.

Rice
Rice is served 2 or more times a week.

Two or three times amonth we have mugi-gohan, rice with barley mixed in.
Sometimes they get sprouted brown rice.

The rice is grown inKanagawa Prefecture; newly-harvested rice comes in November.

MilkThe milk served at the school lunch is exactly the same asthat sold in stores. It’s packed at designated facilities andkept refrigerated at 10°C (50°F) or below at all times until
it reaches the students. Milk contains lots of high-quality
protein, calcium and vitamins that growing children need.

Side dishes
We try to serve a wide variety of things so the children willlearn the names of many dishes and become able to enjoy manykinds of food. Foods that are fried, grilled, stir-fried,simmered, etc. from Japanese, Chinese and Western cuisines
show up in school lunch. We also try to use seasonal ingredients as muchas we can, and create many different and enjoyable lunches.

Special Events
Every year school lunches are planned to coincide with various events andcelebrations on the school calendar, We try to use seasonal ingredients in these.

April:

celebrating

new

December, January, February:

students and advancing to “Made in Kanagawa” School Lunch
the next year
Day
May: Children’s Day

January: School Lunch Week

June: Dental and Oral Health

March: the Dolls’ FestivalWeekFor Setsubun the lunch comes
July: Tanabatawith roasted soybeans.

September or October: moonviewing

Schools’ Own Lunch
One day every month each school gets to decide their own school lunchmenu for the day, independently of the other schools. Meals areplanned to suit the tastes of the school’s own students.

Until today’s lunch is ready:
QUIZ
１． Do the people who make the school lunch wash their hands only
before and after doing their work?
YESNO

２． Is food temperature monitored as the school lunches are made?
YESNO

３． Do all students, from 1st-years to 6th-years, get the same amountof food?
YESNO

４． Have you heard of kenshoku?
YESNO

５． Do the children themselves serve out the school lunches?
YESNO

６． Are the white uniforms the children wear when serving the school
lunch washed at the school?
YESNO

７． Do the parents/guardians have to pay for school lunch?
YESNO

Answers:
１．

NO

Hand-washing is extremely important for kitchen work. To prevent
food poisoning due to bacteria or viruses the food workers have towash their hands many times as they make the food. They also wash
the ingredients.
２．

YES

Just about all the food offered in school lunch is heated or cooked
first. Thermometers are used to ensure that the food is cooked
through to the center to at least 75°C (167°F) for at least 1
minute. Foods which are considered a risk for norovirus are cooked
through to at least 85°C (185°F) for at least one minute, this also
being confirmed by thermometer.
We are extremely thorough when it comes to food hygiene. （Toprevent food poisoning we practice very strict hygiene
maintenance.）

３．

NOThe different years’ students get different amounts of food.
Elementary school students are divided into 3 groups, and each groupgets its proper amount of food. The groups are:1st-and 2nd-year students (lower school)
3rd- and 4th-year students (intermediate school)
5th- and 6th-year students (upper school)４．

Kenshoku is the practice of having a responsible person in eachschool eat of the food that is to be served to the students 30
minutes before lunchtime to confirm that it is safe. Then, samples ofthe food prepared for that day are frozen and stored away.
samples can be analyzed later if food poisoning occurs.

These５．

YESThe children take turns serving the school lunch. They have ４５minutes for school lunch. （total time, from serving it out to cleaning
up afterwards.）
６．

NO

Children whose turn it is to serve lunch borrow the white uniforms
from the school. On Friday those children take the uniforms home,
and wash and iron them. If you find the uniform is missing a buttonor string or the like, please repair it. Then on Monday the children
bring the uniforms back to school.

７．

YES

There is a charge to the parents for school lunch, but the money
covers only the cost of ingredients.

The costs of equipment,personnel, gas and electricity, etc. are borne by the City of Kawasaki.
The money that is not spent on days when an event, school trip or
the like prevents school lunch from happening, is used on days when
the school makes its own special school lunch menu.

Today’s Menu:
Barley rice, milk, chicken curry, Chinese-style picklesof cucumber and daikon radish.