When I was in primary school, I dreaded school lunch.

I could not stomach the skin of teriyaki chicken on my lunch plate. And even though curry was everyone’s favorite, I loathed the vegetables in it and had to wash them down with gulps of milk.

Every time I left something uneaten on my plate, I was scolded by the teacher and told to stay behind.

Now that there aren’t any foods I dislike, I wonder what that punishment in my childhood was all about.

The Asahi Shimbun’s Life section is currently running a series on the theme of how to make schoolchildren eat everything they are served at lunch.

From a recent installment, I learned that some schools still force youngsters to clean their plates.

But Tatsushi Fujihara, whose main field of research is the modern history of food and agriculture, noted that children should be encouraged, but never forced, to eat everything.

I completely agree.

If eliminating food waste is the goal, schools can surely try to figure out how best to get kids to eat.

While doing research on some schools’ obsession with making every child polish off their lunch, I came across a document about the resumption of the school lunch program after the end of World War II, made possible by U.S. relief supplies.

According to the document, when a U.S. military officer in charge visited a school for an inspection, the school’s representatives told him of their policy of instructing pupils to “appreciate the goodwill of the occupation forces by never being picky and trying not to leave anything uneaten.”

However, the representatives were admonished by the U.S. official, who told them the youngsters should be allowed to decide whether to eat up or not.

There was more to this story.

A few days later, a different U.S. military officer came to inspect the school. Upon seeing food left uneaten, that officer became angry and said something along the lines of, “It’s unacceptable that if the kids don’t want to eat, they don’t have to be fed.”

That left the school in confusion, according to “Gakko Kyushoku 15-nen Shi” (15-year history of school lunch), published in 1962.

Back then, making everyone eat the same food was said to foster a “sense of equality.” But in reality, the main purpose of the school lunch program was to ensure that children got adequate nutrition amid the postwar food shortages.

Nearly 80 years have elapsed since that time. But even today, there are children for whom school lunch is their only square meal of the day. One in eight or nine youngsters is said to be living in poverty.

I really and truly wish I could make them happy by letting them enjoy delicious meals to their hearts’ content.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 26

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.