Diet consumption for different cultures
Different cultures have different ways of diet consumption, especially in the education system. This essay examines the comparison of two lunchtime diets served in schools in Japan and the United States. The analysis is based on Japan having a better school diet for children in contrast to the United States. Over the years, the lunch programs that are administered in the United States have been questioned with many thinking and associating these programs with an unhealthy diet dosed with fatty foods.
Debates on these programs tend to fall on the quality of the food issued in the bid to improve the diet, but several factors have been omitted, such as how healthy the meals are to the students among many facets. In Japan, their lunch programs that are administered to students are different from those in the United States. Many principals tend to think that the lunch period in Japan is an educational period, same as math and other subjects, which is different in association with the lunchtime culture in U.S schools where the period is usually for socializing with friends and eating.
In Japan, students take on duties during the lunch period, including the washing of dishes and fetching the food from the kitchen. A survey conducted about the research topic suggested that the students were also involved in the growing and harvesting of vegetables form the school garden, a factor that is unheard of in the United States.
There are several comparisons to the dietary aspects of students in Japan and those in the United States. Typically, students in the United States will choose one of two servings, which to many will be a protein or carb stir-up such as pizza pockets, a burger, or spaghetti. Children get to choose from cocoa, raspberry, or regular milk. Certain institutions with a large proportion of students that are lactose intolerance are offered orange juice. Fresh vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, as well as celery are served for most days with some accompaniments such as dressings to choose from for those that might want “specialized” diet.
There is also a condiment of other dietary products such as baked beans. Dessert takes the form of berries or fruit-based desserts such as sour cream or apple sauce flavored with cinnamon. American students’ lunches often include packaged items such as chips and cookies, which are purchased from the supermarket. In Japan, the lunches are a reflection of the homogenous foods that the country has adapted over the years in their culture that sift through the education system. Some of the foods that are ingested by children in schools include rice, rice-flour bread, as well as noodles. There is a main dish of fish or meat with the side dishes filled with veggies and legumes. Milk is vital for these children for the growth of their bones because of the calcium content; however, on special occasions, the children will be treated to a dessert such as cake for Christmas and sweet rice cakes for Children’s Day.
Conventional Japanese cuisine is one of the globe’s healthiest items, and school meals display a strong effort to preserve the culinary repertoire. Several Japanese suggest that the flavors that one craves most during their lifetime are the ones they taste during the first three years of their life. Stay-at-home parents and nursery institutions that cater to young children pay closer attention to providing excellent, natural flavors without added salt and sugar, for example, plain rice porridge, fresh fruits, as well as dried sweet potatoes to mention a few.
It is vital to note that in Japan, the School Meal Law in compliance with the Japanese school ensures that the school lunches are planned by a nutritionist, who, in several instances, is a trained instructor in the health education sector. Nutritional information concerning every meal is published alongside the menu for the month. Japan has adopted the Shokuiku curriculum that ensures the students are provided with classes on how to make healthy food choices, nutrition, as well as the creation of a balanced diet. In the United States, there is no onsite nutritionist. The schools in the United States that want to take part in the free lunch program offered by the USDA should comply with the nutritional standards that have been set by the government by registering with the Team Nutrition who will aid the schools through providing ideas and advice on how to make healthier school lunches.
Attitudes of both cultures in relation to school lunches are also different. Japanese culture has a deep mottainai feeling, reluctance to waste everything, including food in particular. The natural assumption of use of what is provided makes school lunch sound morally progressive in Japan. Therefore in Japan, sacrificing calories for the sake of one’s desires is usually frowned upon by the Japanese. It is hard to connect the mottainai mentality in Japan with what falls into the trash of an American school cafeteria during lunch. Even after lunch, workers strive to make healthier food choices; children do not make an effort to wash their dishes. They also have the option of bringing lunch to school from their homes, creating high levels of wastage. All in all, the above analysis proves that the Japanese culture in terms of school lunch programs is more effective than the United States culture.