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Politics

Kids Tweet #ThanksMichelleObama for Crappy Public School Lunches

Robby Soave | 11.21.2014 3:52 PM

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Large image on homepages | White House
(White House)
Turnip for what
White House

American teenagers are rebelling against federal government lunch regulations, and the sarcastic Twitter label #ThanksMichelleObama is their rallying cry.

According to many kids, U.S. Department of Agriculture requirements supported by First Lady Obama—whose main issue is fighting childhood obesity—have driven schools to craft lunch menus that are even more disgusting and meager than before. Some complain that portions are inadequate for student-athletes, while others say the options are just plain yucky.

Students are sharing pictures of their lunches on Twitter under #ThanksMichelleObama. Check out some examples below.

Submitted by Hunter Whitney:

Submitted by Jess Sency:

Submitted by Lauren Talley:

School lunches have been atrocious since the beginning of time, so it's not really all FLOTUS's fault. But the new regulations certainly aren't making things better. Kids would be best served by Reason contributor Baylen Linnekin's suggestion to "Separate School Lunch and the State" entirely.

More from Linnekin here.

Hat tip: BuzzFeed

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NEXT: Federal Judge Orders Police Not to Interfere with Recording in Ferguson

Robby Soave is a senior editor at Reason.

PoliticsPolicyNanny StateSchool LunchFood PolicyMichelle ObamaPublic schools
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  1. Palin's Buttplug   11 years ago

    When did Michelle Obama issue an EO to force schools into shitty lunches?

    1. some guy   11 years ago

      When did Michelle Obama have nothing at all to do with changing the nature of school lunches?

    2. Harvey_birdman   11 years ago

      When were you fucked in the ass by a homeless person?

      1. some guy   11 years ago

        You win the contest. Here’s your award for “arguing in the least good faith.” P’s B was a close second. He’ll have to try harder next time.

  2. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

    This gives me hope for my generation.

    PS Do the school lunch people use the same supplier as AppleBee’s?

    1. flye   11 years ago

      Grade F meat?

      1. Rich   11 years ago

        “More testicles mean more iron!”

      2. Episiarch   11 years ago

        Now with Vitamin R!

      3. Stormy Dragon   11 years ago

        When I was in college, I happened to be walking by the cafeteria one day when they were getting deliveries, and I swear to go they were unloading dozens of boxes labelled “Meat, Grade D But Edible”.

        1. LynchPin1477   11 years ago

          Very little meat is more than none!

  3. Episiarch   11 years ago

    Every one of these kids’ parents are about to get audited by the IRS. Wookies have thin skins. You wouldn’t think so, but they do.

    1. some guy   11 years ago

      When you’ve got that much fur you don’t need skin?

      Warty should weigh in on this.

    2. JEP   11 years ago

      I just don’t want her to pull my arms out of my sockets if she loses!

  4. Stormy Dragon   11 years ago

    It’s not clear to me why I’m supposed to be horrified by the ham in the last picture.

    1. Rich   11 years ago

      Because that “ham” is a BLUEBERRY PANCAKE!

      1. UnCivilServant   11 years ago

        +1 you made me laugh, you bastard!

    2. Episiarch   11 years ago

      It only has only tiny piece of pineapple and it was supposed to be Hawaiian themed! That’s just wrong!

      (though to be honest some kid would probably put a picture of lau lau up even if they were lucky enough to get some)

      1. SERENITY NOW!   11 years ago

        It only has only tiny piece of pineapple and it was supposed to be Hawaiian themed! That’s just wrong!

        I agree. Appropriating Hawaiian culture is both wrong and racist.

        1. Episiarch   11 years ago

          Plus that mac salad looks WAY too yellow, and I don’t see any lomi salmon either. And cornbread? Instead of white rice or poi?!?

        2. MJGreen   11 years ago

          If you’re going to appropriate Hawaiian culture, you should be forced to include poi.

          Let the little bastards chew on THAT.

          1. Sevo   11 years ago

            And SPAM!

        3. CE   11 years ago

          The ham was imported from Kenya. They just forged the documents to say it was from Hawaii.

      2. JEP   11 years ago

        Where’s the artisanal mayonnaise?

    3. Invisible Finger   11 years ago

      I came here to say exactly that. I dunno, maybe it’s not kosher?

    4. Mickey Rat   11 years ago

      Pineapple ham slice, mac & cheese, and a hunk of cornbread. Looks like a meal plan out of the sixties, but not particularly horrifying.

  5. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

    Who elected this woman? Did she go through the confirmation process?

    1. The Other Kevin   11 years ago

      It has been confirmed that she has good intentions, which is all that matters.

      1. Rich   11 years ago

        It has been confirmed that she has good intentions

        Citation needed.

    2. John Titor   11 years ago

      She’s the Empress of America. Duh.

      1. seguin   11 years ago

        Empress? I thought we were an autonomous collective.

  6. some guy   11 years ago

    When I was a kid I ate plastic and red #2 sauce on a perforated dough substitute every day and I liked it. Also I drank chocolate flavored animal milk. I didn’t complain because it had enough salt and sugar to keep me happy.

    1. Brett L   11 years ago

      You know the old school chocolate milk was made out of all the milk that had visible blood in it right?

      #urbanlegend

      1. UnCivilServant   11 years ago

        The blood adds iron.

        /end sarcasm

  7. Slammer   11 years ago

    #3 looks fine. And the serving tray in #1 looks like the kind they had in jail…those big plastic ones with rounded edges so you can’t use as a weapon.

    1. some guy   11 years ago

      Break it in half, though and you get instant pointy pieces.

  8. Stormy Dragon   11 years ago

    As I’ve noted before, growing up my school cafeteria had it’s share of unappetizing meals. Sometimes I chose not to eat the offering as a result.

    It never would have occured to me to then complain to my parents about being hungry afterwards because I’d have gotten zero sympathy.

    1. Root Boy   11 years ago

      When I was growing up we brought our lunch. I have heard stories about kids not being able to, or getting locked in the box for bringing PBJ or some such — but that is more typical Public School stupidity than Moochelle at work.

      She is awesome with her double standards though.

      1. Stormy Dragon   11 years ago

        I don’t like the healthy food campaign, but I also hate spoiled whiny kids. Again, I’d gotten home from school and gone “MOOOOOOOOOOM…. I threw away my lunch today and now I’m hungreeeeeeee….”, their response would have been to mock me for being an idiot and to quit whining, not to call the news and complain about it.

        1. paranoid android   11 years ago

          Who’s calling the news about it? From what I can tell, kids were posting this stuff on Twitter and some bored Buzzfeed writer saw it was trending and wrote a post about it.

          1. Stormy Dragon   11 years ago

            There’s dozens of stories like this out lately:

            Parents, students complain about Wilson MS lunches

            1. Root Boy   11 years ago

              And I am happy to see the whiny kids complain about this…if it really is due to Obama’s (either one of them) dictatorial nanny statist control of something so local it boggles the mind that this has the feds attention.

        2. MJGreen   11 years ago

          But did you have an easy way to show them what the food was or what the portions were? They’d mock you because kids make up shit and whine all the time, but if you could show them a disgusting picture, that may change their response.

          And there probably are more helicopter parents today than back in your day.

  9. swillfredo pareto   11 years ago

    It’s probably been done but…

    Kids [and parents and taxpayers] would be best served if we “Separate School Lunch and the State” entirely.

    1. Invisible Finger   11 years ago

      We would be best served if we separated “School” and “State” entirely.

  10. The Other Kevin   11 years ago

    I wonder what Millennials think of the school lunches? They are probably pissed because theirs aren’t always free.

    1. LynchPin1477   11 years ago

      Excuse, is this goop locally sourced?

      1. seguin   11 years ago

        I picked up a jar of artisanal gruel at the free-range orphanage today.

  11. Slammer   11 years ago

    This thread has nothing to do with immigration 🙁

    1. UnCivilServant   11 years ago

      Don’t worry, and tell me what they claimed the second one is (Not what it actually is, that I don’t want to know).

      1. Rich   11 years ago

        Pureed cauliflower?

      2. Slammer   11 years ago

        It looks like a dumpling or wonton filled with ????

    2. Rich   11 years ago

      Hey, anchor babies need to eat, too!

    3. flye   11 years ago

      Astrid was brought to America when she was four years old. Her only possessions were a cross, her doll, and the frilly dress she had on. When she started school, she didn’t speak any English. She caught up to the other kids by reading newspapers and watching PBS, and became a good student. Her father worked in landscaping. Her mother cleaned other people’s homes. They wouldn’t let Astrid apply to a technology magnet school for fear the paperwork would out her as an undocumented immigrant — so she applied behind their back and got in…

      …and she never once complained about her school lunch.

      1. Rich   11 years ago

        Who is Astrid?

      2. The Other Kevin   11 years ago

        From the article: Today, Silva is a 26-year-old college student working on her third degree

        Let’s let that sink in for a minute.

        1. Rich   11 years ago

          Silva is an organizer for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada

          Let’s let *that* sink in for a minute.

        2. The Other Kevin   11 years ago

          At least she’ll be well placed to lobby for forgiveness of all those student loans she won’t be able to pay back with her Starbucks paycheck.

          1. Root Boy   11 years ago

            I am sure the pay as an organizer for the Prog Leaders Alliance of Nevada pays her a living wage plus.

            Not like they use unpaid volunteers to tell us how unfair capitalism is.

      3. CE   11 years ago

        She caught up to the other kids by reading newspapers and watching PBS…

        Uh oh… future prog alert….

  12. Sigivald   11 years ago

    That ham steak, cornbread, and mac and cheese actually looks pretty good.

    1. UnCivilServant   11 years ago

      That was their ‘Vegan’ option.

  13. Invisible Finger   11 years ago

    I would think the biggest problem with these pictures is that there were no other choices.

    The only reason “school lunch” even exists is because someone is making money off of it. My old man wouldn’t let me have “school lunch” because “it’s a ripoff, you’ll take a bag of lunch with you to school.” Of course, he was right. And notice now how brown bag lunches are “inspected” and discouraged “nutritionally” all so the state’s minions can get more coerced money from parents and taxpayers.

    1. Episiarch   11 years ago

      DING DING DING

      Not only do they suck more money out of the taxpayers, they get to control what the little inmates eat. It’s win-win!

      1. JEP   11 years ago

        they get to control what the little inmates eat.

        Pretty soon we’re going to have a bunch of middle school reavers running around.

  14. LynchPin1477   11 years ago

    What’s so gross about hamsteak?

    1. Old Man With Candy   11 years ago

      It’s people.

      1. Slammer   11 years ago

        LOL!

        +1 “The scoops are on their way!”

      2. Whahappan?   11 years ago

        Long pork?

  15. Len Bias   11 years ago

    This is preparing kids for a future of more rationing to come. People should always be grateful for rations.

  16. Rich   11 years ago

    Turnip for what

    Obviously for FLOTUS lipstick.

  17. Mainer2   11 years ago

    This First Lady bullshit irks me as a litmus test of why things are so fucked up. People have this strange desire for royalty I guess. Frankly I don’t see any reason to treat her with any more or less deference than any other pompous arrogant self centered bitch I might deal with in my life. First Lady…bullshit.

    1. Tony   11 years ago

      After some debate, our Founding Fathers ruled that court etiquette, with its flowery titles and knee-bending to superiors, was not fitting for a dignified republic. Therefore, our highest official is not His Extraordinarily Important Worship, but, as you note, simply “Mr. President.”

      His wife, although popularly known as the first lady, is legally a private citizen with no official title to go with what have come to be enormous responsibilities. The only concession is that she is THE Mrs. Obama, as opposed to any other lady who might happen to have that surname, so should be addressed in writing, as well as face-to-face, without using a given name. Woodrow Wilson’s wife had two sets of cards: “Mrs. Woodrow Wilson” after he left office, but just “Mrs. Wilson” during his presidency.

      –Miss Manners

      1. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

        Woosh.

      2. Wasteland Wanderer   11 years ago

        What’s wrong, Tony, someone commit l?se-majest? in your presence?

  18. GILMORE   11 years ago

    “FLOTUS”

    This is a very unfortunate acronym.

    I can’t help but think of “things that come back up after you flush”

    1. Mainer2   11 years ago

      yeah, it creates the same kind of imagery for me, but why is that unfortunate ?

  19. CE   11 years ago

    Out of an abundance of caution, I suggest we shut down the public schools until this problem can be studies more thoroughly.

    1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

      Precautionary principle. It’s a moral imperative.

  20. heartburn   11 years ago

    No alt text? Really?

  21. HeteroPatriarch   11 years ago

    Little ingrates.

  22. Rufus J. Firefly   11 years ago

    “Little sh*ts are tweeting #ThanksMichelleObama over school lunches while 16 million kids in the U.S. starve everyday. http://www.bread.org/hunger/us/”

    Lori Lewis, you’re a cunt.

    1. kbolino   11 years ago

      16 million kids in the U.S. starve everyday

      So the entire under-18 population of the United States will be dead in about 5 days?

      Seems legit.

  23. Jayburd   11 years ago

    I went to a tough elementary school. It was so tough the hot lunch program was a cup of hot coffee and a pack of Lucky Strikes.

    1. Mickey Rat   11 years ago

      You got no respect?

  24. finerbiner   11 years ago

    American processed food is shit. It is the reason why we are the fattest people on earth.
    Too bad if your kids don’t like the food because it is no longer full of partially hydrogenated oil, sugar, and salt. Eat it or don’t. Eventually you will get hungry.
    Or do what my kids did, pack a lunch.

  25. ashbusuttiloac   11 years ago

    my co-worker’s step-sister makes $69 hourly on the internet . She has been out of work for nine months but last month her pay check was $13181 just working on the internet for a few hours. Go Here this site….

    ????? http://www.netjob70.com

  26. Mickey Rat   11 years ago

    Her dream turnip.

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