On the occasion of giving some guidelines aimed at the elaboration of healthy menus to take the food to school in lunchbox, we had talked very much about the Japanese 'bento'.
This is the name of the balanced menus that are converted into art from home (They also sell them facts), and they are very attractive to the eye, as well as healthy for the organism. The bento are taken to school or the office, and those who prepare them do not mind spending a good time in this task in order to achieve an optimal result.
However, in many districts of Japan it is not possible for students to bring lunch boxes to eat, at least not while they are in Primary Education. But This is not an obstacle for Japanese children to continue eating healthy.
Objective: healthy school menus
Government efforts and family involvement have contributed to (according to government data) the rate of childhood obesity in Japan is among the lowest in the world, having been reduced during the last six years.
If we compare this result with figures from the United States where they are already taking desperate measures to fight the disease, or with those from Spain, where we observe alarmed how obesity rates increase, we may want to know a little more how children are fed in Japan.
In the Japanese country food in schools is specially designed to take care of health, it is common for local producers to be used, and food is almost never frozen.
The children eat as if they were at home, that is, food cooked using basic foods, and in addition the menus turn out to be very balanced: with a diet rich in rice, vegetables and fish. In school canteens there are no vending machines for drinks or packaged foods.
Nor is it usual to serve fried foods, and desserts consist only of fruit or yogurt
Teach to accept food
At lunchtime, Japanese students follow a ritual that includes the older ones helping to serve food, the same that they will taste. There is also an opportunity for children to ask the questions they deem appropriate and increase their knowledge about nutrition.
In general, children have a mentality that It makes them appreciate what is served on the plateAnd to achieve this, the work of school nutritionists has been necessary, although I understand that there must also be a family education in this regard.
It is true that the Government has invested resources to - among other things - establish basic nutritional guidelines. But this regulation is basic, because in each school they know how to make healthy menus, and although it is true that officials could intervene in case unhealthy meals are being served in schools, this is a situation that does not occur.
School canteens in Japan are funded in part by the Government, with contributions from families
In this Asian country, food is part of education, its school meal system made 'from scratch' has not yet been copied by other countries. Or at least that is what Masahiro Oji, director of government for health education in schools, says, who is surprised to find the fact.
As we can see, the organization of school menus in Japan (a whole country achieving a single goal is to admire) differs from the meals served last year at the Scottish school of Martha Payne. Although in our country we can not 'throw the bells on the fly' either because already during the previous school year the school menus had worsened, situation that I wish had changed, although I have my doubts about it.
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