Lunchtime, part II

Here are a few more details about lunchtime at school.

Once everyone has their lunches, one student stands up at the front of the class. Everyone puts their hands together, and says, "Itadakimasu!" Literally, it means "I accept (this food)", but it basically functions as grace.

If there is extra of anything, the teacher will go around and ask if anyone wants any. Some students trade food, or give away parts they don't like. Technically, you're supposed to eat everything, but in practice that doesn't happen. The teachers seem more concerned that all the students have their aprons on, and that everyone who isn't lactose intolerant has at least taken a carton of milk.

At the end, the same student stands up at the front of the class and the whole class says, "Gochisosama deshita!" That means, "It was a feast, " but functions as after-lunch grace.

Then everyone puts their paper and plastic garbage into their milk cartons, and flattens them. These are thrown away, empty rice boxes are put in the insulated boxes they came in, extra food is dumped in the buckets it came in in and dishes, chopsticks, sporks and trays are put in metal baskets. The students that dished up lunch take everything down and load it on the truck to go back to wherever lunch came from.

Then, everyone goes to the water fountains (more of a long sink with several faucets) in the hall to brush their teeth. The faucets turn, so they can be faucets or bubblers.

Lunch menus are published monthly. They list what lunch is, what the veggies are for each meal, what the carbs are (bread, rice or noodles), and what the protein sources are, as well as how many calories are in each lunch.