Hot Lunches

Several days ago,while at the hairdressers, I over heard two parents talking about how their children no longer will buy hot lunch,because the new healthier foods being offered,are thing foreign to their  taste buds.
For any one whose ever raised children,the understanding  of good nutrition and pallet ability,are one in the same,in other words if it looks funny,taste strange,or smells odd,you have just lost not only the health food battle but the entire war,making every meal from that day forward a drama of wills, you vs. them.
Most children are no longer raised with the attitude of if it sits on our family table you eat it or if you are served something you do not complain you just eat it.
Children now days are more pampered due to parents inability to listen to the complaints or their  tiredness from a hard day of work to fight the supper time fight.
The rule here seems to be maybe offering hummus as part of a school lunch is not going to fly with most children.
What this all boils down to is,most school lunch rooms that ran on the idea that if you can open a prepared can or package and heat it,no matter how bad the calorie count,sugar,fats and salts,the easier it was on them.
The time as come for these school dietitians to become more creative to appeal to not just little children but teenagers.
Trickery is always important,if you can hide the healthy stuff into the acceptable childhood food fare,you can win the daily  food war.
Most parents understand that there are all sorts of ways to sneak in the good unacceptable childhood food  into the meal,its all about presentation and taste.
Not all so called junk foods are totally bad.
Things like pizza,spaghetti,meat loaf,hamburgers and sandwiches can all be a gold mine of healthy foods wrapped up or hidden in ways making them a positive nutritional value,not only healthy but mouth watering and desirable..
When my son was a child he hated onions,peppers and celery but liked meat loaf,I learned quickly that if you blended the offensive veggies,in a blender, then poured the mixture into the meatloaf mixture,no one but me was the wiser.
Another trick was to cook potatoes and cauliflower then mash them together,with milk butter,or margarine,salt and pepper and we both had a happy stress free meal.
We as parents understand that you can make meals a trauma or a joy,it all depends on your level of creativity,which is something these school systems now have to learn and adopt.