Picture of the day: Chinese rural kids’ invariable staple
Kids stand together and have soybeans mixed with rice for lunch
In several rural villages of Du’an Yao Ethnic Autonomous County, Guangxi province, most boarding schools do not have a standard dining hall. School children have to bring raw rice, soybeans, Chinese cabbage and salt to school and steam them for meals. Only a handful of students from slightly better-off families can afford lard and cured meat. Most of elementary school students eat soybeans mixed with rice for both lunch and dinner every day. Suffering from malnutrition, they are stunted and skinny, and according to local teachers, some even tend to faint during morning jogs. (From Sina)
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On the other hand, American kids eat giant sugary candy bars, sugar filled sodas, and have juvenile diabetes in record numbers. Rice and soybeans might be light in the vitamin department, but if they get some cabbage and other greens it’s probably extremely healthy. Growing kids should have protein too. Eggs would do the trick if meat is too expensive.