Daycare banned my son's lunch for being 'disgusting' and 'inappropriate'

"The teacher called it a 'distraction'. Is that because it's our traditional food?" the upset and confused mum asks.

Another day, another mum shamed for the lunch box she's sent with her child; but this one is next level. 

A mother reported that her son's preschool lunch box has been banned completely, for being "inappropriate... disgusting... and a distraction."

Harsh.

The response has left the mum wondering if it's because some of the items are traditionally Korean - which is the food they often eat at home.

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"The lunches have an unpleasant odour"

Writing on Reddit, the mum says:

"[My five-year-old son] attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher.

"She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such 'disgusting and inappropriate' lunches.

"I felt absolutely appalled when she said this, as me and the teacher have, up until now, always maintained a very friendly relationship.

The teacher added, "The lunches I'm packing my son are 'very distracting for the other students and have an unpleasant odour'."

The mum explained that the food was what her son liked to eat.

"The usual lunch that I send him to school with is small celery sticks with blue cheese and goat cheese, kimchi and spam (we are Korean and he absolutely adores this dish), and spicy Doritos marinated in Sriracha.

"I ended the call by saying that I very much appreciated her worries, but that at the end of the day, I am not going to drastically change my son's lunches all of a sudden, and that it's not my fault if other students are 'distracted' by his meal."

But that wasn't the end of the matter. The teacher later emailed saying that the response was "unacceptable" and that the lunches are "just too inappropriate to be sent to school any longer."

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"AKA, cough cough, racist tone"

Redditors were appalled by the post, which has attracted 6,000 mostly outraged comments.

"Report her to the principal. Her comments regarding your son's food are 'disgusting' and 'have an unpleasant tone' aka cough cough racist tone," wrote one.

Another agreed: "Exactly. Your son's food is perfectly normal. For a 5-year-old. Your family's food is normal."

A third encouraged the mum to "Go to the principal. It's blatant racism. If they don't do anything, go to the press."

But our favourite comment was this one: "I came into this thread wondering what exactly an 'inappropriate' lunch might entail... Sandwiches cut into the shapes of dicks?"

Fair call, to be honest.

Others shared their own experiences of food-shaming, such as this person who wrote:

"A lot of second generation immigrants are ashamed to bring their food out in public because of people like this teacher, who clearly is very intolerant. Asian food is not inappropriate, she is."

But there were also those who were concerned about the smell of kimchi and blue cheese.

"The kimchi blue cheese combo probably is funky as hell after it's been sitting in a lunch box especially," one wrote.

"I would definitely lose my appetite eating next to someone eating that.

"The teacher is a complete ass for the way she went about it, but we do need to think about others when choosing foods in shared spaces. Just like microwaving popcorn in an office is rude, packing an incredibly pungent lunch can affect others."

This story was published in March and updated in July 2023.

Originally published as Daycare banned my son's lunch for being 'disgusting' and 'inappropriate'