The road to healthy lunches

Well-seasoned phalo soup with eggs, crispy fried chicken served with rice, and a khanom jeen dish with side vegetables are all delicious Thai-style treats that can be served to school students for lunch. However, in reality, what some Thai children receive is rotten eggs in phalo soup, small slices of fried chicken on top of a tiny amount of rice that barely fills three spoons, and khanom jeen or fermented rice noodles with sprinkles of fish sauce and nothing more.

Over the years, Thai parents have voiced concerns both online and offline over the quality and quantity of food served to their children during school lunch. Countless cases time and time again have made news headlines that highlight not only the poor quality of meals served to school children but also incidents that have been associated with corruption within Thailand’s school lunch…