Back to School Aug. 15—Confessions of a 'Picky School Lunch Eater'

Students in the Sonoma Valley Unified School District will head back to school on Aug 15.

That means some parents—and maybe grandparents—will begin fretting over what to put in young children's school lunches, day after day...after day.

We thought we'd have some fun with this. The good news is that Sonoma Valley residents can play too and maybe win a gift certificate to a local market to stock the shelves for lunch boxes. Read on...

(I'll share first, then you can. We'll make this safe.)

My name's Julie Pendray and I was a picky school lunch eater.

It's true.

Several years ago, as I stressed over this issue while raising my own picky eater—creating all kinds of healthy treats only to find they went uneaten at school—I recalled how I had taken an awful lot of lettuce sandwiches to elementary school (or primary school as they call it in New Zealand). I don't recall any cute little boxes of raisins or any special cookies. With all the options these days, I began to think I'd had an underprivileged childhood. I must have had a mother who wasn't on the ball, I thought. What went wrong?

On a visit to New Zealand, I was chatting with my mother one day when the subject lightly came up and I said, "How come I only ever had lettuce sandwiches in my school lunches?"

With a sigh, as though recalling a battle lost long ago, she said, "That's all you'd eat. I tried putting cheese or Vegemite or anything else in them but you wouldn't hear of it. All you wanted were lettuce sandwiches."

Ha! I do recall I loved lettuce.

A mother exonerated. A "picky eater" comes out of denial. Evidently the memories of the bleak color of lettuce on white bread is not to blame for my adult idiosyncrasies. Even if they were, one has to take personal responsibility for them instead. Darn! Don't you hate having to take responsibility?

I did a chuckle thinking of how much I love to eat now. I've come a long way Baby! (Specifically all the way to gourmet food and wine country—Sonoma. That's about 7,000 miles from New Zealand.)

In fact, I specifically recall that I used to throw away my school lunches sometimes or trade with other kids. Ok, the lettuce sandwiches didn't have a big trading value, but sometimes I'd be lucky to find someone who'd forgotten a drink and I could maximize the value of mine. Sometimes on Fridays, we'd all order "take-aways" ("food to go," in American lingo) from a store across from the school. This was a big deal. I would get fish and chips. The fish was fresh and we all loved being able to eat chips for lunch for a change.

I should say that back in those days, all the New Zealand primary schools had milk delivered for each student every morning. And I was the one in the family who ate all my vegetables raw—even then—but wouldn't touch them when they were cooked and served in sauces for dinner. Yuk! So, I certainly didn't lack vitamins. We grew our own vegetables and fruit, and made our own compost.

Ok, enough of a disclaimer.

I digress.

The point of this shaggy dog story is to ask you parents and guardians out there if you'd share your own lunch box stories—successful or otherwise, just for fun—so our readers can learn from them, or just share the pain (or victory!)

For those needing a happy ending, here it is. I made a new friend in middle school ("intermediate school" in New Zealand terms) who brought such a fascinating array of options for lunches that I secretly started to compete. Before long I was setting fruit in jelly at night, whipping up apple sauce, mixing nuts and raisins—to my mother's shock and amusement.

See, there's hope out there.

I've had my own picky eater to deal with in my household. However, my friends were right. All of a sudden, I can't keep enough food in the house to satisfy the demand.

It all does work out in the end.

Sonoma Valley residents, please tell us your own stories, recipes and tips in the comments. The best ones will be nominated for a $25 local market gift certificate and readers can vote for the winner. Leave your comments by Aug. 15.

Meanwhile, for the Sonoma Valley Unified School District calendar, list of schools and other information, visit the district's website.