Food Theory: DON'T TRUST Your School Lunch!

Special thanks to Ritual Vitamins for sponsoring this video!

Theorists, did you ever buy lunch from school? Did you feel like it was satisfying and healthy? Well, that is what we are looking into today. You see, your school lunch is meant to give you a healthy balance of foods to get you through your school day. Except, that is NOT what I remember about the lunches I ate from school. Is it all one big LIE? Let's find out!


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Credits:
Writers: Matthew Patrick, Justin Kuiper and Bob Chipman
Editors: Alex "Sedge" Sedgwick, Danial "BanditRants" Keristoufi, and Koen Verhagen
Sound Editor: Yosi Berman

#SchoolLunch #SchoolLunches #Lunch #Food #Diet #Recipe #School #BackToSchool #FoodTheory #MatPat #GameTheory #FilmTheory

[alexandergonzalez]

The “fries” that are shaped like smiley faces are god tier when it comes to school food

[breezybakeoven]

I'm a lunch lady (no my names not Brenda!) and I seriously had so much fun reading the comments below on everyone's favorite school lunch foods! Best part about being a lunch lady is serving those cute kids and seeing them get excited about the food. And seeing that a lot of your favorites are my kids favorites too was awesome! I love that Matt talked about the vegetable serving in the pizza's sauce, it always confused me too. I know there's a lot of controversy when it comes to school lunches but we really do try to make things as healthy as we can with, like Matt said, all the rules and regulations, budgets and people pushing decisions in all directions, there really is soooo much more that goes on in those Nutrition Offices than you realize and it's mostly about making the kids happy and healthy with what we have to work with. I've worked summers in test kitchens and it can be tough to get food to hit all the marks. (stepping down from my soapbox) This was a fun episode, loved that it hit so close to home for me!! My favorite foods from school lunch as a kids were the homemade rolls they used to make and the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy! And back then (when dinosaurs roamed the earth) they still made desserts for us everyday -

[jamessodaa]

1:21 i love how he was already at the theater kid table, because he totally was one it makes too much sense

[dantependragon]

The school district I attended (Elementary to High School) had a setup where they would bring in Pizza Hut pizza on the second week of each month, alternating days, been a few years but Tuesday for Elementary, Wednesday for High School and Thursday for Middle School (if I recall correctly) where we could pay for a slice or bring in $10 for a whole pizza to share.

Loved that setup and really miss it.

[IMGOINGTOCRYSJSJJSHA]

Matpat: “Don’t trust your school lunch!”
Me: “Never did, never will.”

[NoMercy]

My school used to have a fruit requirement. You could not have your meal unless you had at least 1 fruit (an orange, apple, or banana). They later changed it that you didn’t need anything except the food you wanted (but they would charge you more without telling you). There was a rumor that went around that the janitor would dig through the trash and pull out any fruit that looked like it could be served again. Almost everyone just assumed it was fake, but still didn’t eat the fruit because it was not very fresh. I did an experiment with an apple and really didn’t think anything of it. I made a mark on that apple that looked like it could’ve just been natural, but it was just different enough that I could tell the difference. I was actually disgusted when I found that same apple 2 days later. I never ate anything from that school ever again

[At_wa]

0:00 my school did these pizza baguettes where it would have pepperoni, melted cheese and marinara sauce, if you got to the front of the line it was all soft and warm.

[kodyjayvin]

My favorites were a different kind of Cheese Sticks. They were basically a sheet of connected side by side mozzarella sticks, but with just bread instead of breading. You'd get, like, 4 of them in their own little rectangle sheet, along with mozzarella sauce to dip in. They were delicious

[Stanfordscienceman]

Matpat definitely seems like the guy to unironically remember the exact names of 5 school bullies for years

[SplinteredLimb]

I considered myself lucky in high school when I learned that the sweet lunch ladies would work with the culinary class to chop fresh vegetables and grill chicken for our boxed salads. These big homemade salads would count as an entree because of the chicken, hard boiled egg, and breadstick that came with it, but would also have all kinds of good stuff in a couple varieties. I would always pick them up and thank the lunch lady that told me about it, because she definitely felt more like a lunch mom to the students.

[sklebonesgaming]

Matpat-“You’ll never see school lunches normally again” Me- “I will never look at game theory since Matpat quit again

[TotkGuy]

pizza sticks or nachos always got the school hyped

[erichrandomstranger]

My school has a student's mom as the main cook. So we always got traditional home cooked meals in the selections of food. It's actually very nice. School usually just gets the raw ingredients delivered by a nearby supplier. (This stuff is cheaper in my country)

[AmazingAudreyoffical]

I actually did a survey about school lunches at my school. Most people said the lunches were okay, a few kids hate the lunches, and the kids who think that the soggy fries and the dry spaghetti is to die for.

[tonyschmitz]

My elementary lunch program was a little different. I went to a small elementary school from ‘87-‘93 in a town of 130 people. Roughly 30 students k-6. Or fruits and veggies were canned but our main dish was always homemade. Our school cook would make things like tater tot casserole, elbow macaroni with velvetta cheese but the best was the pizza. She’d roll out pizza crust, lather it with sauce and thick layer of ground beef and a pile of cheese. It was so good. When I moved onto Jr High (consolidated school dist) I was in for a bit of shock when I had a more conventional school lunch. The JH/HS was in a town of 500 with approximately 250-300 kids k-12 in the school . The best thing they made from scratch was the pig in a blanket. They called them wiener winks. It was a slice of buttered bread wrapped around a hot dog with a chunk of cheddar stuck in it and a toothpick holding it all together. Heated in the oven for some toasty, cheesy goodness. Their homemade dinner rolls and cinnamon toast was also a daily salad bar option.

[Qroissants]

They had these super thick quesadillas, from elementary through high school all 12 years. They always hit without fail

[oliviaurquizu]

The best thing my school ever served was the “Holiday meal!” This included stuffing that strangely tasted like Rice-a-Roni, mashed potatoes, green beans, and two slices of turkey and the whole thing was covered with turkey gravy! Back when the the Pandemic was bad and they send lunches and breakfast, and when they were delivering the “Holiday meal” I would order extra because it was that good 😋

[goodlookinghost]

Matpat sitting crossed leg, refusing to be lifted by “Sporty Girls” lives in my head rent free 😂

[Kioshi]

Live in Cyprus, we didnt have a cafeteria in public schools but we had a sort of "kiosk" that served simple foods. Best thing they served: Hot dogs, Gyros and Fries. And they were top tier, made with the love of Cypriot gramma :)

[TheVRDoge]

My favorite food at school that NOBODY else wanted for some reason was cowboy bread. It is very soft cinnamon bread, I don't know quite what it was BUT I LOVED IT