(Lin Hsin-ching/tr. by David Smith)

Japan is widely recognized as having the most successful school lunch program in the world. Way back in 1889, Chuai Elementary School in Tsuruoka-cho, Yamagata Prefecture, began serving poor students simple onigiri, fried fish, and pickled vegetables. Serving school lunches proved popular, and gradually caught on nationwide.

In 1954, the Japanese government enacted the School Lunch Program Act and followed up with various pieces of related secondary legislation, thus building a legislative framework that laid down rigorous requirements governing health standards and nutritional balance.

No other country comes close to achieving the variety found in Japanese school lunches. Rice is the main fare, and is complemented daily by 10 or 20 other dishes, including beans, meat, eggs, fish, and seasonal vegetables, as well as a fixed proportion of locally grown foods or local specialties. As the seasons change or festivals roll around, moreover, schools modify their menus accordingly. They generally serve bamboo sprouts in the spring, for example, and chestnut rice in the autumn. At the time of the Chrysanthemum Festival (September 9th) they serve a chrysanthemum dish to bolster kids' physical strength.

But no matter how much school lunches may have changed over the years, milk has always been a constant on the menu.

The Japanese used to be rather short in stature, but after the Tokyo Olympics of 1964 the government began requiring that milk be included in school lunches. Several decades later, the average height of an 18-year-old Japanese person is now 172 centimeters for males and 158 centimeters for females, about 12 centimeters taller than the pre-war average.

In July 2005, Japan promulgated the Basic Act on Food Education, which defines dietary education as the foundation of intellectual, moral, and physical education. Schools have hired large numbers of nutrition instructors to develop lots of different food courses for students.

Linda Chin, president of the Taiwan Dietitian Association, notes that under the framework of the Basic Act on Food Education, the lunches at Japanese schools have become a sort of “teaching material” in school classes. At Shi­ro­gane Elementary School in Yo­ko­hama, for example, in general education class fifth-grade students learn about foods produced in the many different areas of the country. In social studies, they learn about the daily work performed by local farmers and food processors. And all the foods that children learn about in class eventually make their way into school lunches.

In addition, students have opportunities to tour local farms, and recycle kitchen waste and milk bottles, thus learning about the building of a recycling-oriented society. There are also serious discussions about the use of locally produced goods, and how to raise Japan’s food self-sufficiency. The content of the coursework is quite rich.

According to Ms. Chin, the mindset regarding school lunches in Taiwan has yet to progress beyond whether the meals taste good and are safe. More work needs to be done to deepen the content of school lunch education.