The American school lunch

The Japanese gender-associated culture surrounding the daily creation of the bento-box absolutely amazes me. Growing up, my mother made my lunch with love, leaving notes on the napkin, delighting me with the occasional ding-dong or twinkie. But, the pressure on me to finish the scraps of my wonderbread sandwhich never existed, and frankly, my teachers never cared when I finished my lunch, or when I did not.

The gender association with preparing a child's school lunch still exists to some extent in the U.S., but the introduction of school-provided lunch systems freed the shackles of many working mothers who did not have the time to filled a lunch box with love. But, in a way, it created a separation at the lunch table: those whose moms did, and those whose mom's did not. Strange to think about, but true. I remember the distinction between the soccer moms and the working moms. If your mom "stayed at home," you had the Wonderbread and Kraft singles sandwhich, oreos, wheat thins, and the banana/apple that was generally tossed with the garbage. The children who had working parents suffered the soggy green beans and oh-so-sloppy joes.

For me, having a homemade lunch served as a daily, comforting reminder that my mommy loved me, and would be waiting at the bus stop in minus 3 hours. And while I did not appreciate the fruit or carrots tagging along with my sandwhich and cookies, I now understand the significance of their place in my lunch. The lunchbox in America reflects a mother's nutritional ideology and gives her an opportunity to stay connected with a child's developing dietary habits. Parents who lost this opportunity due to heavy work schedules, lost this influence in their children's life. Thusly, the plight of the American dietary ideology perhaps stems from the lessening of parent involvement in daily nutritional decisions of their children.

My mother's influence still sticks with me today, and it still serves as that small comfort, even so far away from home.