Back in the olde Day’s

Back in the olde Day’s

On the way to soccer yesterday my eldest son and I were talking about buying lunch from the school cafeteria.
When I was a kid, I bought lunch everyday, my parents would give me money to go to the office to purchase my “Lunch Card” that had the numbers 1 thru 5 on it and each day the lunch lady would punch out a number as I got my lunch.
I went to Medill Elementary school and our cafeteria not only was the auditorium but also could have doubled for a gym. I remember the milk machines and the plastic cups we had to use. The conversation turned to things I liked from the Cafeteria, I loved the Rice ( served with a ice cream scooper) with gravy and also the Hamburgers. In Middle school the rave was Friday Pizza burger, a pizza made on a hamburger bun.
We also talked about how we in school used to barter or lunches with one another. I would always trade my Jello to my friend whose mom made him Lebanon Bologna sandwiches…which he couldn’t stand and I happened to love. Lunch became like a arab market, kids bartering away eatables to each other in a heated exchange.
One thing I loved in school, that I never loved at any other time, was the tomato soup. I hate tomato soup, but for some reason I loved the schools…maybe it was the mind control drugs they were slipping in.
Things change as school progressed, in high school, after the riots of my Sophomore year, we lost the rights to plastic trays and silverware and had to get our lunches in flimsy Styrofoam trays and plastic silverware. The had Hamburgers everyday as a Alternative ( in Elementary school it was PBnJ as a Alternative) and the lunches seemed to loss there taste.
Milk would no longer be retrieved from the stainless steel milk machine, but purchased in the now familiar carton ( Which, when punctured by a fork and squeezed, shot milk like 100 feet). I remember a friend getting two days detention because he dared to pioneer that theory.
As for my son, The school happened to chose the two things that he loves to be served on two consecutive days, chicken nuggets and hot dogs…he was in heaven…but now he is back to the old staple, the Jelly sandwich.