A month of kyushoku - bonus edition

Because I missed 4 lunches when I went home from school early sick, and also because there have been some very noteworthy lunches lately, here are a few bonus pictures from the month of March.

1 March

The ultimate horror of kyushoku - shirasuboshi - struck! Egg and onion soup, a cinnamon and tuna dish, and some rice. You may be wondering what the fuss is about. Take a closer look at the rice...

Yum! Tiny little whole fish (jako) mixed in. There's no way you can pick them out, and there's no point anyway, because they have a really strong flavour that contaminates the rice even if there's no fish in a given bite. I photographed mine, and took it back. This caused a bit of a stir as all the old ladies fussed over me, and I soon ended up with a second bowl of tuna, and some tea-flavoured cake. I was still hungry, but believe me, hungry is a good state to be when fish-rice is on the menu.

The little packet was mochi - a kind of rice-cake that is very sticky and a bit hard to eat. It was multi-coloured for hina matsuri (Little Girl's Day, celebrated on the third)

Rating: 2/5


2 March

This day I was lucky as I got to attend the graduation lunch of 6th grade at that day's school. We were served up small portions of the standard lunch menu (which included curry - yay!),  with tray of bonus menu option served up in the middle of each table.

Going from top left, clockwise:

• Okonomiyaki, kind of, it didn't look like the real deal. It also had octopus. I gave up my share to a grateful kid.
• German potatoes, otherwise known as potato, onion and sausage. Pretty good.
• Chicken, Excellent!
• Broccoli, strangely, there was an excess of this
• Corn, I managed to win an extra piece in a game of rock, scissors, paper

There was also a bowl of that awful fish-rice. I passed.

There was a desert too, mandarin tart, and a special bonus of chocolate powder for the milk.


Rating: 5/5 - There were some scary items, but there was enough choice to have a good meal of tasty things.


6 March

"Sauce spaghetti", otherwise known as spaghetti with pork and cabbage. It looked like yakisoba using spaghetti. The bread was steamed, which made it very sticky, but quite nice, and the fruit and jelly was good for a laugh. Jelly and chopsticks are not a good match.

Rating: 5/5


7 March

Cold fried prawn and veggies, basic veggie soup, and bread with jam.

Rating: 4/5


8 March

Another special Yr. 6 lunch, at a different school. The set-up was a little different, but the extra food was the same, the only difference was parts that came from the standard menu.

Rating: Once again, 5/5


9 March

Last ever kyushoku. The fish was mild enough to be edible. That's about all I can say for it.


Rating: 2/5