In a desperate measure to curb skyrocketing obesity rate among school children, the Ministry of Health (MoH) issued a new guideline to set out types of food sold and frequency of the food served in school canteens. The new guideline will come into effect this very month. Everyone’s initial reaction was “What?! No more nasi lemak?!”
Although I follow the news with much amusement, chuckling at the national debate of preserving nasi lemak on the school menu, I pain at the thought that school food will be forever changed. Nasi lemak was the first dish I shared with my father on my first day at primary school. I ate the same nasi lemak almost everyday (punctuated occasionally with curry laksa, keropok lekor, banana fritters, Beehoon Siam, fried rice, and fried noodle…. Simply put, extremely oily and fattening food) for the following six years. The toothachingly sweet pink bandung sirap (rose syrup with a dash of sweet condensed milk) was also a staple.
We were not taught the concept of healthy eating. The closest we got was the Headmaster reminding every pupil to not overeat nor be wasteful with food. Throughout my six years there, the canteen operator made little effort to change the menu. In spite of all the fatty school food I consumed daily, I was never a fat child, and neither had I any fat classmates. PE classes and extra-curricular activities (usually involving sports/ball games after school hours) were frequent. Every morning before classes started, girls played rope-skipping and hopscotch while the boys takraw or sprint racing. The same scene repeated during recess. After schools, we would climb the two old jati (teak) while waiting for the school buses. That was the 1990s.
Surely school food is not the reason pupils grow obese. But, I applaud the introduction of the new guidelines to control types of food sold in school canteens. The canteen menu is no longer mere traditional favorites. Malaysian lifestyle and foodscape have seen tremendous change in the past 15-20 years. Nowadays canteens are selling chips, soda, and other junk which they seldom or never did in 1990s. As more subjects and syllabus are introducted, school hours lengthened. This can only mean that it is likely that children have more than one meal at school daily. Children no longer play in field after school but rushed to tuition classes. It is open secret that present-day children’s idea of play involves mainly interaction with TV or PC screens. In fact, the move to teach children how to choose their food and adopt a healthier diet is long overdue.
As for the fate of nasi lemak, to the relief of many, it will remain on the menu, albeit is only allowed to be sold twice weekly under the new guideline.
Leather Pumps 