The cafeteria sat in the center of campus, and truth be told, it wasn't a cafeteria at all. It was a multi-purpose room, and the sign on the door said so. Before and after lunch period, it was cleared out and used for P.E., band rehearsals, and assemblies. But during lunch, it was filled with rows of identical brown tables with collapsible benches and the noise of hundreds of kids.
I grew up in a Mormon neighborhood in a Mormon town, though I wasn't Mormon myself. The one thing you can count on about Mormons is their fertility. Family sizes in the double digits were commonplace on my block. And lots of kids meant lots of kids at school.
Everyone brought their lunch. At early ages, it was cool to bring a lunchbox with a favorite character. As we got older, though, the brown bag became the preferred lunch transporter. That way, you didn't have to carry a lunch box home. Very few kids bought their lunch on an everyday basis. There was, in fact, some stigma attached to getting a hot lunch, as many of the kids that did were poor and on the school lunch program. Somewhere along the line, someone decided it was cool to buy something from the cafeteria, and so we all started bringing a quarter for a pint of milk.
Most of my friends brought standard issue sandwiches and chips and apples and desserts. We'd pull out our Capri-Suns and the lunch lady would have to help punch the straw into the pouch. The juice would inevitablely squirt her, and we would laugh and laugh. She was good-natured, and she would smile. I wonder now if she squeezed on purpose.
Occasionally, Heather -- who was always setting trends -- would start a new lunch fad. One time, she brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with mint jelly. Now, I'm still not sure what mint jelly is intended for, but I'm pretty sure it is not for sandwiches. But she was doing it, so we wanted to too, and pretty soon the local Fry's was sold out of mint jelly. Her mom also wrote her notes on her napkins and decorated her lunch bag. I'm sure I whined to my mom, "Why don't you do that?" and soon enough, she did.
The sandwiches were so forgettable because, even then, it was all about dessert. Hostess and Little Debbie pretty much had the corner on the market. Not only were we eating processed, trans-fatty filled goodies, we were doing so with all the creativity we could muster. Somehow as a kid, food is so much better if you pull it apart. The peanut butter and chocolate wafers were the best for this: we would coax apart each of the layers and lick off the peanut butter in between. Little Debbie Swiss rolls came in a close second, because you could eat the outer chocolate shell, unroll the cake and icing, lick the icing out and then eat the chocolate cake.
Maybe the Swiss rolls were the best, now that I think about it.
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written in response to the prompt "lunchbox" as part of Writing Wednesdays.
No, no, no. The peanut ones were much better and more fun to remove the layers. Swiss cake rolls are just too easy--it takes talent to de-layer peanut butter, dontcha know.
This is great. I hope to have time to contribute something tomorrow while my wee one is in MDO. Good topic!
Posted by: Steph. | October 05, 2006 at 01:06 AM
Ahhh, yes, see? The Little Debbie does rule all. Obviously. Memory lane is FUN! :-)
Posted by: Mrs. Flinger | October 05, 2006 at 01:26 AM
I always loved the spaghetti with the side salads.
This is interesting topic b/c my son brought in his lunch and as result...this post came about.
http://www.beforebaby.com/waya/2006/09/24/chinese-boy-i-am-not/
Posted by: Waya | October 05, 2006 at 08:42 AM
Hostess cupcakes and Twinkies all the way. I love how we all wrote about the ever important DESSERT! And I do recall now that slow metamorphisis from cute lunchbox to the uber cool plain paper sack.
Posted by: Jamie | October 05, 2006 at 11:52 AM
Mint jelly is to go with lamb! (My husband is from New Zealand - they have mint jelly and lamb for every special occasion.) Only you could make a story about lunch boxes riveting. :) You should write about politics...I bet you could make that riveting, too. :)
Posted by: misha | October 05, 2006 at 03:24 PM
I loved reading this post.
and mint jelly????
Posted by: Irene | October 06, 2006 at 03:30 AM
I did the same thing with the swiss rolls.
When I was pregnant I did that with ho ho's
Posted by: Amanda | October 07, 2006 at 09:58 AM
Ah, the Swiss Cake Rolls. My favorite. My brother used to dip them in a tub of Cool Whip, and when you looked at him funny for doing this, he's say, "What? It just like cheese dip and chips, only sweeter!" What a weirdo.
Posted by: Vanessa | October 08, 2006 at 08:58 PM
apparently I cannot type anymore - two typos in one comment - I'm a moron
Posted by: Vanessa | October 08, 2006 at 09:00 PM