Let's eating!

I’m getting old. We have a new school lunch lady at my Junior High and she has introduced a feedback system where students and staff can tell her what they think of the food. Today’s lunch was rice, “spring rain salad” (which has some lettuce, cucumber, ham and clear noodle-like things in it), a tofu-based plate of stodge (it’s lovely stuff, but stodge is the best descriptor I could think of) and a carton of milk. When asked what might make this meal better, I said “maybe a little bowl of soup on the side…”. The students said “a pudding would be nice!” It never even crossed my mind. There was a time when it would have been an almost reflexive response. “How can you make this jam sandwich better?” “Add some chocolate cake?” “This black pudding is a bit dry, what shall we do?” “Put a little cream on top?”
Things have been a bit fishy of late. Out of my last six school visits, I have had fish five times (I've been hopping between three different school lunch schedules). The photo is of my lunch at Hari Elementary. It’s shishamo, rice, wakame seaweed salad, a potato and konyaku soup and a carton of milk. All the kids get the same and nobody can bring a packed lunch. Shishamo is where the line is drawn for many foreigners. They are about 15cm in length and resemble a willow leaf, apparently, hence their Japanese name means "willow leaf fish." They are grilled or deep fried whole, often while full of eggs (ko-mochi-shishamo). It used to freak me out a little when I arrived, but I’ve gotten used to it – eating the skin, head, tail, eggs, brain and bones of something is a good monthly challenge for me.