Nostalgia kids would have you believe that it was always good. However, I would say it was maybe 15% of the time that it was good. But stretch that 15% across the entirety of time you are in school for and then you’ll see the real results. It wasn’t like you had a plethora of options as to what to eat. Some of the options did suck for the week and that was all you get, too bad if you are wanting something else.

In High School, it was slightly better with the access of vending machines and the ability to sometimes buy food but then again, that involved money. Whatever provided to you, was marginally better, but still the same odds at the end of the day.

Yes. My schools eventually offered a ‘snack bar’ which was decent food for more money, if you didn’t want the garbage the cafeteria line served. We also, in high school, got pizza delivered and sold by a nearby restaurant every day. I ate a lot of pizza during that time.

The hs cafeteria fries with seasoning was actually really good though. Though it’s not very hard to cook a batch of fries…

It absolutely depends on where the funding comes from. I know someone who works student nutrition for a school district that doesn’t receive state funds, it’s all county school tax funded. They chose to contract out to a company that provides the food. Usually this is a recipe for disaster, but they actually provide high quality food. All fruit or vegetables are fresh, not frozen or canned. All food is prepared fresh daily, no microwaves. Their food is so good, every employee that she knows, eats the food too. This is in stark contrast to prison food level quality found in many districts.

Ignoring private schools, it really depends on locale. Most schools are run by a combination of local and state guidelines. So each state has its own minimum standards, which are then implemented on a district level.

However, in some districts, the budget isn’t equal between all schools.

So you can have varying quality within the same school system, and even more between different systems.

The good thing about school meals is that they aren’t usually super expensive, don’t require packing only foods that won’t spoil or be gross by lunch time, and there’s usually some kind of budget for free reduced cost lunches (sometimes breakfast too) for those in need. It makes sense that most students will choke down even the bad options instead.

Some schools do damn well though. The bulk is usually going to be supplied by one of the industrial food distributors, but most of that is similar to or the same as what you’d get in terms of ingredient quality as chain restaurants.

So the staff of the cafeteria can make a huge difference in quality right there. Knowing how to turn fairly meh ingredients into something tasty is a great thing.

When schools supplement with fresh produce, it can be damn good food. Local farmers out in rural areas often contribute. Some high schools have agriculture programs where they grow stuff that gets used in their own school, and may be distributed to others. Our closest high school supplements their own cafeteria, plus the elementary schools, and part of the jr high schools (some of those have their own gardens, so they tend to handle their own). My kid was very happy with the high school’s food, unlike the food at their jr high in another state that they hated.

I ate at the high school a couple of times. Waaaaaay better than when I was a student there, and the agriculture program was starting up back then. Mind you, the lady that ran the cafeteria was doing a great job with what she had. The supplies were just crap back then. All canned shit for veggies if it wasn’t grown local, mandated recipes on a schedule set by the county, so you could only do so much to improve things. She ran a damn good kitchen though, so even when the food was bad, we knew the cooks were doing their best.

And that’s pretty much the problem with school food. It just isn’t a nationwide priority.

It varies a lot by school. My highschool was okay, but I still preferred to pack a lunch from home. My kids’ elementary school found is awful and if I don’t pack lunches for them they just won’t eat.

When the government allowed corporations into the schools with soda and snack machines in exchange for a kickback in the 80s, any hope of a bureaucrat looking out for the kids’ health was dead. Once they could use the excuse that most kids weren’t making use of a subsidized nutritious lunch(very loosely using the phrase) because they were bringing their own or eating their lunch from the machines, they didn’t even need to try any longer.

https://www.nuvending.co.uk/news/history-of-vending-machines-in-schools/
(Ironically, a post from a corporation installing the vending machines points but it makes the necessary points)

some bring their own lunches (home or leftovers) to cut costs

Students bringing a lunch box is very common in the US

Schools are run by cities, counties, with oversight and regulations divided between every level, all the way to Federal.

There are minimum standards set for nutrition but many kinds of schools are exempt from providing meals or meeting the minimum.

Some schools go above and beyond, providing nutritious breakfasts, lunches, and snacks that the students can take home. Others, on the other hand, see it as a hassle and do the bare minimum.

Many US schools are misfunded, with many layers of unneeded bureaucracy and testing added, pulling resources away from the classroom and cafeteria.

Most kids still pay for the shitty standard cafeteria lunch tray…

Sometimes in later in like highschool they’re given more options. But it’s pretty much comes down to capitalism.

The vast amount of parents won’t pack a lunch and will never even see the quality of food.

What’s fucked up is healthy food is actually insanely cheap at that scale and dependable need. We’d spend just as much feeding kids a healthy high protein/fiber low sugar/fat meal as we do giving them ultra processed garbage.

There just would be profit margins for contracting companies if we did that

Likeost things in America, no system is designed to be the best or most efficient at anything other than making money. Anything that doesn’t make money, the wealthy are constantly trying to privatize.

That’s the whole “late stage capitalism” thing people always say.

Late 90’s, early 2k’s, it was far more disgusting that just “trash”. It hasn’t changed any since then, either. The food is all microwaved, deep fried or baked; all from frozen. And you might be inclined to think baked stuff wouldn’t be so bad. But the only thing that came out of an oven was the pizza - and I’m pretty sure they’d have fried that too, if they could.

The closest any of that came to decent food is when the delivery truck passed by the grocery store.

One time, a friend had grabbed strawberry milk, and ended up gagging on a gelatinous rope that some how came out his nose. (You know the pasta trick? In the mouth? Out the nose?)

It came out to jiggle on his tray like pink snotty jello from hell.

The only reason people ate that crap is largely because they didn’t have a choice.

it’s really terrible from an adult’s perspective. like frozen food dinners but worse, because it’s only for kids. but kids don’t actually know any better. they will actually look forward to some of it, even though as an adult you wouldn’t be able to enjoy it.

it’s not up to the kid though. it’s up to the parent. in the US both parents work, so if mom is too exhausted from work, you’re going to have to buy food.