Just to lend another oddball perspective, during one of my many conversations with my wife's grandma (Japanese and 90 this year) asking her about her experiences as a young gal growing up during WWII, I asked her about food shortages and the like and asked about what kinds of things were available to her and the kids at her rural school. She said that it was pretty horrible and amongst many daily hardships, she and all the kids dreaded the 'main course' of many school lunches. Intrigued, I pressed her for details.
'Well, mostly we were given rice and seaweed products and things like pickled vegetables and tofu and dried fish. Sometimes we got bread which was good, but most often the non plant-based protein came in the form of bony, poor quality fish, often half-off. No meat to speak of was given, except a couple times a month they got something 'special' in the form of either whale, which she said was OK, or dolphin. When I asked her about details she simply made a face of disgust and said that it was horrible and most of the kids hated it. A select few who enjoyed it would be in hog heaven though, as most of the other kids, if not eating theirs or not bringing theirs home would give theirs away to them. 'Oh NO, not DOLPHIN surprise again!'
