Školní Jídelna

Welcome to the Gymnázium Strakonice School Canteen! Things work a bit differently here in the Czech Republic than they do back home. First, students place their backpacks and bags on these shelves. Okay, in reality the students just throw them there as they mad-dash upstairs for lunch. I was a bit shocked that they left their belongings unattended. I'm not such a trusting person. I blame my upbringing in New York.

There are two lunch periods: 11:35-12:20 or 12:30-1:15. Everyone eats lunch here everyday, including the faculty and staff. Individuals typically only bring lunch from home if they have dietary restrictions or severe allergies, which seems to be about 1% of the student population. I learned the first week of school that teachers always get to cut the line of students to get lunch first. Recently, I learned that within the same lunch period, older students get to receive and start eating their lunch before the younger ones. 

Though the lunch periods are 45 minutes in length, students inhale their food and are out the door in about 15 minutes. When I introduced the school, I mentioned all these benches and tables throughout the building. This is where the students go for the remainder of their lunch period. They sit and chat with friends, use their mobile phone to go on Facebook, or sometimes play cards. There is also a ping pong table and basketball hoop outside for recreational use as well.

When you stand on line, you take a tray and silverware. Each day there is a different kind of soup (in the large silver bowl). You use the ladle yourself and pour as much soup as you want into a soup bowl. This basically serves as your appetizer. 

Then, you receive your main meal from the kitchen ladies. This part is not self-serve. You usually get a small portion of meat with a big heap of carbs, such as potatoes, rice, pasta, or dumplings. Here are some of the various things I ate in the past two weeks.

Duck with Red Cabbage and Potato Dumplings

Vegetable Soup with Gnocci

Pork Liver with Sauce and Rice
Pea Soup with Fried Bread

Potato Dumplings Stuffed with Sprouts and Fried Onion Sticks

Bagpipe Goulash with Bread Dumplings and Peppers
Vegetable Soup with Red Lentils 

Beef Soup with Noodles
Fruit Dumplings with Plum or Cottage Cheese Filling

Beef Soup with Noodles
Soy Meat with Mushrooms in Sauce with Chips 

Vegetable Rice Soup
Sausage with Mashed Peas and a Pickle

At this school, we are lucky enough to have two options everyday: with meat or vegetarian. You may have noticed a common theme with the meals above. Hardly any of them contain fruits or vegetables. It often amazes me how thin Czech people are when the meals aren't so healthy! I wasn't a huge fan of the pork liver or the sausage with mashed peas, but I make it a point to always try everything at least once. For the most part, the lunches are quite enjoyable.

Oh, I forgot, if you're thirsty, you grab a glass and take juice, tea, or sometimes chocolate milk from these large containers. Be mindful that the drinks are warm, so you need to wait for them to cool down as you eat. Though the tops are off, this is only so you can see what is inside (and so the lunch ladies know how much is left). They're basically like Gatorade containers back home, so there is a spout you press to pour the liquid into your glass.

After you are finished with your meal, you must clean up after yourself. You bring your tray to the dishwashing station. You must take the plates off and put them to the left side. Be careful in that you must take the silverware off these plates and put it in the yellow buckets in the green bin, otherwise you'll get yelled at by the dishwashing lady (like I did in the beginning of the year). You also put your glass in the green washing bin. The tray goes to the right. If there is a special dessert or something in a small glass bowl, those get put to the right side of the trays. It's a very specific system.

Then, you can check what is for lunch the rest of the week and choose Option 1 or 2, or 0 if you know you will be absent on a particular day. You see, everyone pre-pays on the 1st of every month. Then, you just use this chip and swipe it when you receive your lunch, and it deducts the money from your account electronically. It also makes the line move faster.

Weekly Lunch Menu

Below you will see a device with numbers, this is where you choose your lunch option, and to the right a small box, which is where you scan your chip so that the right account is accessed. These small boxes are also located near the food, so that's where you swipe your chip when you take your lunch.

In America, about half the student population eats school lunches each day. The other half brings cold meals from home. In general, there are a variety of options for students to choose from if they are buying the school lunch. These usually include peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (vegetarian option), a deli sandwich, or a hot meal. The hot meal is made from all different types of cuisines since America is a big melting pot (full of people from various cultures). Normally, the faculty and staff do not eat the school lunches. Also, the trays are made from styrofoam and the silverware is plastic, so everything just gets thrown in the garbage afterward. The students are required to stay in the canteen, or cafeteria, for the entire lunch period. Additionally, the Czech system would violate so many health codes in America. Nothing in American canteens are self-serve, for fear that the food and/or drinks could be contaminated at any time. All drinks are served in individual containers/bottles/cans. We're really big on germ-prevention, and perhaps as a result, we are not so environmentally friendly.

Lastly, with the Czech system, an aspect that really surprised me was the fact that strangers can eat lunch at the canteen, or bring a 3-tier tupperware container to bring the food home. You can typically find retired teachers here who come to socialize for an hour, people from the surrounding businesses who come to eat on their lunch break, or even women on maternity leave with their small children. This is mainly because lunch is the biggest meal of the day for Czechs. Individuals do not have to cook if they go to a canteen at a local school (or a business if they have one) for lunch. For dinner, Czechs normally have cold meals, such as cold cuts on bread or a salad.

In my opinion, it is a great idea. I mean, who really wants to slave over a hot stove or oven for over an hour after work to make dinner for their family? Eating a big lunch is perfect because I'm always starving near lunch time. The big meal allows me to teach the rest of the day without being hungry. Sometimes I don't even eat dinner! Not to mention, it's cheaper to eat at the canteen than cook your own meal anyway, so really, I'm saving tons of money, too!