- Martha Payne began adding daily photos of school lunches to own blog site
- Pupils from America to Taiwan, Spain and Japan have now sent in photos
- Jamie Oliver is a fan and wrote to her encouraging her to ‘keep it up’
A schoolgirl who sparked an outcry over nutrition by posting pictures of her school food online has been inundated with pictures of school dinners from around the world – and has chalked up a million hits.
Nine-year-old Martha Payne started posting photographs of the pathetic plates of food she was offered at school and rated them as part of a writing project she and her father started.
It sparked a media storm and over the past few weeks her blog NeverSeconds has attracted a million hits, while children from America to Taiwan, Japan and Spain have emailed shots of the food they have to endure.
Writing on her blog, Martha said: ‘Whilst I was having my tea my blog went through 1 million hits! ‘When I started writing this I thought only my family and friends would see it so it’s amazing so many people have visited and you all care about school food.’
Pupil’s from the 4th grade class at Arlington Elementary School in Spokane, Washington, U.S. were among the youngsters who sent a photo of their very healthy lunch.
They wrote: ‘We had a crunchy salad consisting of lettuce, cabbage, turkey, ham, cheese, tomato, cucumbers, radishes and carrots.
Balanced: Pupils from a school in Spokane, Washington, U.S. sent in this image of their very healthy lunch of cheese, salad, turkey, kiwi and cauliflower
Colourful: Kimberley from Glenview School, near Chicago, Illinois, U.S. sent in this picture of her school dinner of spaghetti bolognese, fruit and plenty of vegetables. Martha thought it looked tasty
Healthy: A school meal from Yokohama, Japan which includes rice, pickled daikon radish and sour plum and steamed sliced okra. It was rated 8/10 by the pupil although Martha didn’t recognise many of the foods
‘On the side we were able to have peaches, kiwi, cauliflower and pickles. We have milk everyday – your choice of chocolate, strawberry or white (which is boring). For desert we were given fruit snacks.
‘The vegetables were crispy and full of juice.’
Meanwhile, Jamie, from Yokohama, Japan, sent a picture of his dinner which he rated 8/10 for taste and healthiness.
It included pickled daikon radish and sour plum, steamed sliced okra, green beans, carrots and garlic, white fish wrapped in a leaf and steamed as well as vegetable and egg cooked with a soy glaze and a container of white rice.
Pol Elia from Spain sent in a picture of her vegetable stew, which she rated 7/10 while Kimberley from a school in Chicago sent in her lunch of spaghetti bolognese with vegetables and fruit.
