fruits and vegetables

Last week, while going through a box of old things my father saved before he died, my younger brother found this old school lunch menu. It's from Valley Stream Union Free District Thirteen in NY (my family spent several years at Howell Road Elementary School in that district), and it's dated 1976. My dad was a pretty sentimental guy, so I'm not terribly surprised that he saved a menu from when we were kids.

I find the menu fascinating, and not just because there are still union free school districts in this country. I've been thinking a lot about what was on the menu back in 1976 in the context of the some of the comments you've posted related to our article "An Open Letter to Our Children: We're Sorry About School Lunch." For example, Ginger wrote:

Ah, I just love our Minnesota weather. One minute it’s 85 and humid, and the next thing you know it’s mid-60s and feels like fall. This past weekend was one of those sweatshirt-craving, appetite-confusing weekends at the market. My brain was saying summer but my mouth was pleading for stew. Lucky for me, the St. Paul Farmer's Market is in full swing and I can appease my fickle palate in all sorts of ways.