Boarding school food

is mentioned in an article in today's paper. It is also mentioned quite frequently by Ms W.

The food provided at her school is actually very good and she would be one of the first to acknowledge it.  It is far superior to what I had at boarding school.

The girls at her school get cereal, toast and fruit for breakfast - or rather, they help themselves. There is an adult on duty of course or, as Ms W puts it, "someone around to see that we actually eat breakfast". They make their own toast.  They are also expected to clear their things away.

The boarders get a mid-morning snack too - often fresh muffins or scones or cake and milk or juice.

Lunch is also serve yourself. There is hot soup in winter, fresh rolls or wraps, cheese, eggs or meat and salad vegetables, more fruit if they want it.  Again there are adults around to ensure that the girls eat sensibly.

In the evenings there is a variety - vegetarian, ethnic, traditional. There is a second course too - with a choice. 

The week's menus are up for everyone to see. Some things are more popular than others of course. 

It is all so different from what I had - or even what I might have had.

At the school I attended the boarding house for the girls was half a mile away from the main school buildings - where the boys boarded. We had stale cereal for breakfast. Yes, it was stale. I read the "use-by dates" on the packets. I suppose they got it cheaply. It was edible but we never knew whether we were going to get cornflakes, rice bubbles, weet-bix or something else. Occasionally there were even "coco-pops" or "froot-loops". (The last of these were vile. I always handed my portion on to others.) 

The main meal was at lunch time and I never had it. Once I reached school I stayed there. I was given a "packed lunch". It was almost always stale white bread with a scraping of margarine and some baked beans in the middle. There was usually a piece of fruit but that was it. Walking to and from the school to the boarding house and back was simply too far for me to go at lunch time. This was the alternative. Why I was not permitted to do the logical thing and eat a hot meal with the boy boarders I have no idea. It didn't happen. I did not have a main meal at school the entire year I was there. There were no main meals served at weekends although there were things like baked beans on toast or boiled eggs or pasties - things which required almost no kitchen work. 

Most of the time the girls were hungry. Sometimes the day girls would bring packets of biscuits or sweets for the boarders but it was against the rules so they had to be careful.

I don't think the school saw anything wrong with this approach. In all likelihood they believed they were catering adequately for our needs. I survived because I would escape on Friday afternoons and go to my paternal grandparents for the weekend. 

By then my paternal grandmother was so physically frail that getting out of bed in the morning and getting dressed was an effort. She would sit at the kitchen table and tell me what to do. I would cook a week's meals and leave them ready in their refrigerator or tiny freezer.  From Friday evening until Sunday evening I ate well because my grandmother saw to it. On the rare occasions I could not spend the weekend with them because of a school activity I was required to attend I did not eat well.

In a way the school did me a favour. It gave me the opportunity to learn to cook - and do a lot of other household tasks as well. (My grandfather still wore shirts with detachable collars and, even now, I could starch and shape one of those!) 

But Ms W also wanted to learn to cook "to look after my dad" and so I have taught her, the mother of her closest friend has also taught her and a neighbour has sometimes helped her too. She is a good and even adventurous cook. Most of the time she will stick to a recipe but sometimes she will substitute. Their freezer has neatly labelled meals for her father to use during the week "so he doesn't have an excuse not to eat properly".

Perhaps my boarding school did me a favour and, in turn, Ms W a favour as well. Mind you, it did not seem like that at the time.