I'll trade you 2 gushers for the rest of your chee-tos

May 12, 2012 11:55 AM

What are the hottest desserts in the school cafeteria right now?

When I was a kid, the cafeteria landscape was dominated by fruit-snack heavy hitters: Fruit Roll-Ups, Gushers, and Fruit by the Foot. Any of these 3 items could be traded for almost anything else. Especially Gushers. What are their equivalents now?

(Inspired by this Ask MeFi)

posted by scose to Society & Culture (14 answers total)

Some of the students I used to work with at an elementary school really like these things (not sure if these are the exact brand though). They're basically the virgin version of Jello shots. Imagine my pleasure when some of the kids started saying they were doing shots at recess during snack. *groan* They were majorly hot commodities.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 12:32 PM on May 12, 2012

My nieces and nephew always seem to have super-super-sour stuff in their backpacks and when they pick candy up from the convenience store on the way home, it's always some version of Sour Patch Kids, Sour Life Savers Gummis, etc.
posted by xingcat at 12:43 PM on May 12, 2012

According to my son (age 8) most kids don't get a dessert with their lunch. I usually send him Newman O's (like organic Oreos) or the jelly shots that Birds linked. He's usually able to trade them for pretty much anything he wants.

Another hot commodity at my son's school are the cans of Izze fortified sparkling juice - apple is the most popular, but they all trade well (except grapefruit - they can't even give that away).

Disclaimer: I live in Seattle and my son goes to a "hippish" school, so YMMV.
posted by dotgirl at 12:48 PM on May 12, 2012

Jelly cups were the hot "new" dessert when my little sister was in elementary school. She's 23 now.

I feel like candy innovation has kind of stagnated as upper-middle-class parents have shied away from putting candy in lunchboxes. When I was little I was the only kid who didn't have some variety of fruit snacks in my lunch, but none of my nieces and nephews are allowed to eat that stuff every day anymore.
posted by town of cats at 12:50 PM on May 12, 2012

Honestly, you've got a lot of kids eating grapes, banana flax muffins, and "school safe" allergen-free packaged snack cakes. My kids are specifically prohibited from bringing candy into the cafeteria, as well as anything with nuts.
posted by apparently at 12:50 PM on May 12, 2012

My kid says those 100-calorie packs of tiny Oreos and other cookies and treats were the rage, along with fruit gushers.

He also says that kids aren't allowed to trade anything and they get in trouble if the cafeteria monitors see them try to do it.
posted by kinetic at 12:53 PM on May 12, 2012

I work in an elementary school, and supervise the lunchroom. I must say it's still Fruit/Froot by the Foot at our school. And the more colourful "flavours", the better. It's just awful stuff - they eat it first, of course - and the whole table clamors for a bit of it and the shiny paper that it's stuck to is always on the floor. If they've got it on the playground, their grubby hands are all over it, pulling it apart by the colours and bestowing it upon their lucky minions. There's no "trading" - it's power and social currency.

This past week Kool Aid Singles made their first appearance. Some students actually poured it in their water bottles - most just poured them in their mouths.
posted by peagood at 2:35 PM on May 12, 2012

Food for children has really changed. It is all very healthy, not prepackaged, natural etc. We had hot dog days when I was in school (seventies/eighties); my kids get pita days (salad in a wrap with juice). I live in a high socio-economic area fwiw. Dessert is now generally a piece of fruit. I find even birthday cake/hallowe'en candy isn't that popular, children haven't developed a taste for the sweet stuff.
posted by saucysault at 2:39 PM on May 12, 2012

I worked at a (lower income hispanic) high school in TX this year and everyone LOVES Takis and basically anything super sour or hot. Most of the chips they like I believe are actually made for the market in Mexico by doritos.
posted by raccoon409 at 2:51 PM on May 12, 2012

At my kid's school, they get chastised for bringing "unhealthy" snacks (including homemade cookies; chocolate covered marshmallow granola bars are fine, because granola is "healthy," don't get me started) and anything really junky or with nuts would merit a note home, probably. But more to the point they are not allowed under any circumstances to share or trade any part of their lunches, ever. No joke, her best friend had some pepperettes in her lunch that my daughter was drooling over, and friend had to bring some to a Saturday night sleepover, like some kind of filthy contraband, to share.

As a result, I don't think they have any playground savvy about the relative worth of candies and snacks, sadly.

Ontario public school, grade 3/4.
posted by looli at 2:57 PM on May 12, 2012

Strangely enough, at my kid's (mostly upper-middle-class white) school it is Not Done to send treats in a packed lunch, but the school itself seems to practically shove candy down the kids' throats in the form of rewards for good behavior. (In kindergarten and first grade it was everywhere, now that he's in 3rd I think the concrete reward stuff is mostly centered in his Special Ed class.) Favorites are Starburst, Sour Patch Kids, and Tootsie Rolls. Lunchtime trading of anything is absolutely verboten.
posted by Daily Alice at 4:16 PM on May 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

Chocolate chip cookies were the norm at my prep school.
posted by lotusmish at 4:41 PM on May 12, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks for the great answers, everybody. I could have guessed about the health foods but I had no idea that trading is now completely forbidden. As Calvin said, "One more nostalgic part of childhood goes thbppth."
posted by scose at 11:54 PM on May 12, 2012

Just asked my kindergartner this. He says that most kids don't bring sweets with their lunch, but that days when the school lunch includes cake are widely looked forward too. Trading isn't allowed at his school.
posted by escabeche at 7:02 AM on May 13, 2012