School Lunch in Taipei

School lunch is an essential part of student life. No one wants to eat nasty food. Students already complain about numerous things about school, but a hearty lunch with friends can uplift their spirits. During lunch time, we want to be able to eat a good meal and chat with our friends from other classes, not complain about how the lunch is soggy or tastes weird. What students look for in school lunch is simple: deliciousness.

In Taiwan, many schools try to meet that criteria for students while some just try to stay within the budget. A balanced meal is good, but the taste is way more important. The below are school in Taiwan, Taipei City, where there are different types of school systems (international, private, public) so we could explore what different students in Taipei eat.

Dominican International School

It is a catholic international school located in Dazhi. Each semester, students pay around $13,000 NTD for school lunch. It is around 150 NTD for each school lunch.

This school lunch was a normal Tuesday and I enjoyed the fish and the rice. I liked how they gave us a garnish, which shows that they put thought in trying to make our school lunch better, Normally, the rice and the meat at my school would be more acceptable compared to the dishes on top. There is vegetables, which is great, but I do not like the vegetables being so watery and being cooked with wolfberry. The steamed eggs were okay, but they are always so watery at the bottom. To be honest, I barely touched the dish in the middle. I only ate the corn and it was average. I liked the orange juice, which was good after a meal to cleanse my mouth. I would rate this lunch a 6/10.

This meal was average as well. The meat looks unappetizing in the picture, but it is okay in real life, only hard to take apart and a hassle when eating it. The multigrain rice is good because it has more nutrition than white rice. The vegetables were better on this day, as there were parts that were more crunchy compared to the soggy vegetables from the picture above. I liked the glass noodles the most out of the dishes. However, I did not eat the dried tofu drenched in tomato water because it did not look great to me. Overall, I would rate this lunch a 5/10.

Taipei American School

From my perspective, their lunch looks okay, but it lacks color, apart from the tomatoes in the sandwich sub. There should be more vegetables, which Qbi agrees with. If I ate it, I would enjoy the chocolate milk but the watermelon looks like it lacks juice.

Qbi, a current freshman at Taipei American School ranks this lunch a 7/10. “It looks more flavorful and diverse than an average school lunch, especially with the sandwich sub and mashed potatoes with gravy.” She would want to improve the school lunch by adding more vegetables from the tray lunch option and the taste of the mash potatoes. She thinks that the taste was a bit off. 

Taipei Dongshan Private High School

This is a school lunch from Taipei Private Dongshan High School, which is on the mountains in Taipei. The lunch looks like a typical Taiwanese school lunch that is nutritious. I used to be in local school, and we would have to bring our own bowls and serve it to ourselves. This reminds me of the lunch I used to have when I was in elementary school. These servings provide insight on how their school lunch looks and there are options to a nutritional meal. There is rice, fish cakes, vegetables, meat and soup/oranges depending on the day (which picture). This is a pretty traditional Taiwanese meal that provides comfort to the students. 

Chiao-Fang, a 10th grader at the school, rates it ⅖ and she does not look forward to having lunch at school. “I like the fish cake the most, but the others are just normal, not good but not awful either.” It is an acceptable school lunch that is just there, but I would eat it if I was hungry at school as well. 

Taipei European School

This is an above average school lunch from Taipei European School. What I appreciate about this lunch that is served from Taipei European School is the clean plating and the structure of the lunch. Each plate was organized carefully and seems as if lots of care was put into it. The risotto is okay for the standard of school lunches. 

Sasha, a current Year 10 in Taipei European School thinks that their school lunch would rank pretty high, when it is compared to other school lunches, as she has only eaten local school lunches and she thinks their school’s lunch is better. For the school lunch to improve, she would’ve wanted more meat, as there was barely any on this plate. Students, as growing kids, need their protein that is not just tofu. She also stated how she would’ve preferred if there were more vegetables. Overall, this lunch is very bright in colors, from the yellow the risotto has to the magenta color the dragon fruit is, even if it was unappetizing, it looks decent on the picture.

This school lunch is the most appetizing and water-mouthing food I have ever seen. The wontons are made properly unlike the ones at Dominican International School, where the wrappers were way too thick to be called wontons. This meal looks like there was effort put into it. This plating provides a hearty meal for students and allows them to continue to strive in their studies.

Annabel is a student at Taipei European School as well and she enjoyed this lunch very much. At their school, some lunches like this one are more enjoyable while others are not. However, Annabel says that the quality is the same most of the time and she looks forward to eating lunch, as it’s usually pretty food. Compared to other days, she would rate this lunch a 8/10 because of the noodle dishes. For this day, Annabel would not want to change anything about this lunch, and it’s pretty balanced. One thing she would wish for is eggs. She would’ve enjoyed the lunch much more if there was an egg even if there are often eggs in their school lunch.

Conclusion

As a student living in Taiwan, this project became a meaningful way for me to learn more about my community and better understand what students from other schools experience in their day-to-day school lives. Looking at school lunches from different schools showed me how something as ordinary as a midday meal can reflect differences in resources, planning, and student needs.

At the same time, as someone who enjoys good food, it was interesting to see which school lunches went beyond the nutritional requirements and actually provided a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment. Not only are these meals fuel, they also shape students’ energy levels, moods, and overall school experience. By exploring what appears on students’ lunch trays, I gained a deeper appreciation for how food plays a quiet but important role in student life across Taipei.