LET THE CHILDREN CHOOSE
Now as a father, I see these lessons reoccur in repeat as my three children journey their way through our school system.
My eldest is in a school that has a strict stand on what constitutes healthy eating, with guidelines on food that can and should be packed from home. The canteen adheres to this stand and serves only nutritionally approved meals, which makes for a bland smorgasbord of options. As such, said child is often pleading with my wife to pack her a sausage burrito. But nevertheless, she loves her canteen for the sheer friendliness of the vendors.
My son, on the other hand, has a school canteen that, from his description, sounds like a fast-food franchise. His daily recess ritual for the past three years has been two fish balls and a hashbrown, followed by maniacal running and savings from his allowance for his next Pokémon-associated purchase.
The third child – who still thinks coins are but collectable trinkets – is now primed to go on the same transactional, budgeting, negotiation and socialisation canteen journey as did her elder siblings.
Will a production-line style catered food model curtail these lessons? Maybe, or maybe not. But it is certain that with every pragmatic and efficient solution, the fewer chances there will be for meaningful human engagement.
Perhaps there’s an alternative to canteen versus catered – maybe a hybrid of both?
Whichever the case, I truly believe canteen stall operators aren’t there because selling food to students with limited allowances is such a lucrative business, but because they genuinely want to feed the young, developing masses. So perhaps we need to orchestrate a better, more sustainable subsidy scaffold for them to continue.
Then again, what do I know. My survey was far from scientific. All I know and will always remember is the big smile on the canteen auntie’s face whenever I wolfed down that first roti john she made for the day – with absolute relish.
Imran Johri is a marketing and editorial professional and a father of three.
