An American working as a teacher at a school in Spain has compared school lunches there to the ones she used to have growing up.
Addey Blakeney has been living and working in Seville for almost two years now. “I studied marketing and Spanish at university and got to study abroad in Spain in 2020, but I was sent home after about six weeks due to COVID,” Blakeney told Newsweek. “I loved it so much and knew I wanted to come back!”
After working in marketing for a couple of years following her graduation, Blakeney decided to make a change and move over to Spain, taking a job teaching English as a language assistant at an elementary school in the city.
It’s a move she has no regrets about, not least because of perks of the job—like the food she gets to enjoy during her working day. It’s a world away from what she was served as a kid back in Ohio. “I remember in elementary school having spaghetti, pizza, grilled cheeses and occasional salads or vegetables but it was nothing like here,” Blakeney said.
“I was initially just surprised by the sheer variety of foods offered each day. There is always an option of cooked vegetables and a salad. I’m in southern Spain so we also have a lot of fresh white fish which was definitely not common at my school growing up.”
Eager to provide a glimpse of what is regularly served up, Blakeney took to her TikTok account @addeylonglegz to share snapshots of what is served in an average week. “My pictures look so foul but I promise it’s good,” she wrote on the video.
There’s usually a selection of salads, soups, fish, meat or vegetables. On one of the days showcased in her video, Blakeney enjoyed Lomo Adobado, a marinated pork loin. On another she sampled the Fabada asturiana, a rich Asturian bean stew, which she says often contains potato or even chorizo.
Marinated chicken and homemade meatballs are also served up on different days alongside an array of vegetables all cooked in olive oil. “We also have a variety of fruits everyday,” Blakeney said. “Bananas, apples, oranges, grapes, pears and more! Fruits and yogurt cups are considered ‘dessert’ after the meals.”
As well as offering up an impressive daily menu, full of options to suit almost any palate, Blakeney and her students are also treated to a proper lunch break. “The students get an hour and a half for lunch and recess, and it’s up to them how long they spend eating and going outside,” she said. “School goes from 9 a.m. to -5 p.m. which caters to the longer break hours but I think it definitely makes a difference not feeling rushed when eating. The kids are able to stay and talk as well as move around a bit during that time.”
Blakeney works in a private bilingual school but says, from her understanding, what’s served is similar to what you would find in other schools and the U.S. could learn a thing or two from Europe when it comes to what they feed their kids.
Some parents certainly feel a change is needed. In 2024, a study published in the journal Health Affairs Scholar based on a survey of 1,100 parents in the California area found a little over half felt their child had enough time to eat (54.2 percent), while fewer parents perceived school lunches to be of good quality (36.9 percent), tasty (39.6 percent), or healthy (44.0 percent).
“I think the European approach to school lunch would be very beneficial if adapted in the U.S.,” Blakeney said. “With a greater variety of fruits and vegetables and less processed foods,” she said.”
She’s not the first to say it either. Earlier this month, an American mom in Italy highlighted the contrast between what her kids eat at their school in Bologna compared to what children get back home. Prior to that an educator based in South Korea also highlighted the differing standards.
