Fukuoka's Great School Lunch Tea War Isn't Going Well

Officials in Fukuoka are learning the hard way you don't mess with a kid's school lunch milk.

The Grand Experiment

For decades, a small carton of milk has been a non-negotiable part of Japanese school lunch, a holdover from the post-war era. It's not a huge drink here otherwise, but it's packed with nutrients for growing kids.

But the Fukuoka Board of Education wanted a more "harmonious" meal. They figured since a lot of Japanese food is designed to be eaten with tea, they should serve tea. This wasn't a cost-cutting move, by the way — milk is actually cheaper. This was purely for the aesthetics.

So they launched "No Milk Day," a monthly trial where kids got a carton of green tea with their Japanese-style lunch instead.

So, How'd It Go?

It went about as well as you'd expect.

While a few students appreciated the pairing, many schools reported seeing up to 20 times more untouched drinks than on a normal milk day. A news report on the subject featured kids with expressions of what I can only describe as politely veiled disgust.

The internet had thoughts, of course. The consensus was that giving bitter green tea to children was a fundamentally flawed concept. As one commenter put it: "What kid cares about food pairings?" Another noted, "This sounds like the idea of adults who don’t set foot in a school."

The Next Chapter

The Board of Education isn't giving up, though. This autumn, they're rolling out new options: hojicha (roasted green tea) or mugicha (barley tea), the latter of which is caffeine-free and something kids actually drink.

It's an ambitious plan, especially since Shizuoka City tried something similar and scrapped it after 18 months over nutrition concerns. It's just hard to replace all the good stuff in milk.

Fukuoka says they'll "tailor the rest of the meal" to make up for the lost nutrients, which sounds... expensive.

Personally, I think they should've just served kinako milk. Tastes great, feels Japanese. Problem solved.