Shhhh... how can I say?” Mr Kurata of the Japan School Lunch Research and Reform Association sucked the air through his teeth as he began to explain, with mild embarrassment, that anyone working in, or even visiting, a school kitchen in Japan must by law take a stool test every other month to prove that they are completely free of any disease. I’m not sure whether to giggle like a schoolgirl or be impressed by the rigorous health standards of this great Japanese cultural institution. Imagine Jamie Oliver, who exposed the shocking standards of British school lunches a couple of years ago, being put through such an ordeal.
Today, any Japanese schoolchild will tell you that kyushoku (school lunch) is the best part of their education. However, those Japanese like myself, born before the 1970s, would agree that kyushokuwas not always the stuff of fond childhood memories.
The inter-war generation, which had suffered severe food shortages, was determined that its children would not go hungry. Nutritional values and economic pragmatism took priority over anything pleasurable. Children dressed in white coats with face masks and headscarves would bring food from the school kitchens to their classrooms, where they served and cleared up afterwards. Teachers ate the same food, served in utilitarian aluminium dishes and eaten with sporks (a spoon with prongs) – hideous pieces of cutlery designed to make children eat fast.
There was no sign of traditional Japanese rice, seasonal vegetables, fish or miso soup. Instead, a typical lunch comprised a bowl of tepid reconstituted powdered milk (Japan relied on food aid from America), over-boiled unidentifiable ingredients (often whale meat for its cheapness) and a white bread roll (also thanks to the US). Everything had to be eaten in hushed silence.
Happily, times have changed. Chiyoda Junior School is a typical average-size state school in central Tokyo, a stone’s throw from the corporate headquarters and government ministries of Japan Inc. There is no graffiti, no discarded sweet wrappers and, above all, no vending machine of any kind. It is a noisy but seemingly happy midweek lunchtime for some 300 pupils, aged between six and 12. A small group of children in whites is on duty to collect and serve the food sent up from the kitchen. The rest of their classmates form an orderly queue and take their trays of food back to their desks, which are pushed together. Their eyes are focused on the food and some are already asking if there’s any more. I see no overweight children. They put their hands together and say itadakimasu (a Japanese form of grace) before picking up their chopsticks to eat.
The menu is miso soup with deep-fried tofu and seaweed, grilled chicken with a six-vegetable stir-fry accompanied by a bowl of rice, a carton of milk and fresh kiwi fruit. Gone are the ugly aluminium bowls; the food is served in attractive, strengthened ceramic dishes. It is cooked in a spotless, well-equipped kitchen by a team of five dinner ladies who are, as we know, completely disease and parasite-free.
A monthly menu is prepared in advance by the school’s qualified nutritionist, Miss Yoshida, and sent home with every child. The same menu pinned on the school notice board shows a largely Japanese flavour: rice with a wide variety of soups, meat or fish, with at least five seasonal vegetables for each meal and always fresh milk. The children are taught to flatten the empty milk cartons and recycle them. The menu shows all the ingredients, grouped into protein, energy or vitamin sources. It also lists total calories and protein.
Like its political and economic systems, Japan modelled its school lunch on European systems when it reopened its door to the west and began modernising in the late 19th century. The first school meal was served in 1889 at a small private school in Yamagata Prefecture for the poor. It consisted of two rice balls, salted fish and pickled vegetables. Schools in Tokyo began subsidising lunches in 1914.
But the real history of the Japanese school lunch began in 1946, after the second world war, when Tokyo and two neighbouring prefectures started serving lunches to undernourished schoolchildren. The rest of the country followed suit in 1947. In 1960, the Japan School Lunch Research and Reform Association was founded to “research, improve and assist school meals across the country, to advance the health of school children and to promote nutritional knowledge”, according to a 1962 government charter.
Today, all 11m children in the state education system aged between five and 12 eat lunch at school. Nearly half the 34,000 junior and junior high schools have their own properly equipped kitchens, while those too small to have their own join together to cook hot midday meals. The government’s detailed guidelines state that a school lunch should provide 33 per cent of daily calories, 50 per cent of the recommended daily intake of calcium and 40 per cent of the recommended daily intake of protein, vitamins and minerals. The guidelines even set the salt content at less than 3g – or half a teaspoon – per lunch.
There is one nutritionist for every three schools and the ratio is increasing. Some 12,000 nutritionists enjoy full teaching status. But the most significant figure is the national average cost of the ingredients is ¥260 (£1.93) per lunch, paid by nearly all parents. The government and local authorities share the cost of lighting, heating, equipment and labour. Foods are locally sourced whenever possible so that the children can learn the culinary culture of their region. Teachers eat with children and manners, such as the correct use of chopsticks, are emphasised.
However, there are worrying trends on the horizon. Twenty years ago, less than 8 per cent of 12-year-olds were overweight compared with one in 10 today – still enviably low by British standards but the trend is rising. Japanese children are getting bigger and eating more fast food. Most older children, especially in large cities, attend after-school crammers and tend to eat out or late at night. Working mothers are cooking less at home and relying more on ready-made food. Kurata of the School Lunch Association says that all these trends put more pressure on maintaining high standards to safeguard the health and welfare of the country’s future generations. Jamie Oliver, I think, would heartily approve.
Kimiko Barber is the author of ‘The Japanese Kitchen: A Book of Essential Ingredients with 200 Authentic Recipes’
