actual journalism
In what seems to be an unfortunate coincidence,
Sidwell Friends
-- the school that Malia and Sasha Obama attend -- served an Asian-inspired
lunch menu
[pdf] today, Pearl Harbor Day. The menu consisted of the following items:<blockquote>Asian Mushroom Soup
Oriental Noodle Salad
Classic Spinach Salad
Teriyaki Marinated Chicken Strips
Szechuan Tofu & Veggies
Garlic Roasted Edamame
Vegetable Fried Rice
Fortune Cookies</blockquote>Apparently, this menu has
ruffled some Conservative feathers
. The school told the
Washington Post that the
menu was "just a fluke
":<blockquote>The contractor that prepares school lunches randomly assigned an Asian menu to Dec. 7, and the subcontractor that prints the calendars automatically marked Wednesday at Pearl Harbor Day. "It was completely coincidental," said Ellis Turner, associate head of the school.</blockquote>Although
intentionally serving Japanese food
on a day that commemorates one of the bloodiest foreign attacks on U.S. soil would certainly be strange and inappropriate, the Sidwell Friends' menu is barely Japanese. Last time we checked, dishes like "Classic Spinach Salad," "Szechuan Tofu & Veggies, "Vegetable Fried Rice" and "Fortune Cookies" are not particularly Japanese. The "Teriyaki Marinated Chicken Strips" and perhaps the "Garlic Roasted Edamame" are the only items remotely reminiscent of the country's cuisine. More interesting to us, actually, is how surprisingly tasty much of the school's food sounds. And, for the record,
here's
Barack Obama's statement on the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
