[mrabcx]

Norway as a state may be rich. but the state is also very afraid of spending too much money within the country as not to drive up inflation, salaries etc. In Norway the school children do not even get free/hot lunches (compared to e.g. Sweden).

[juahan]

Having lived in Norway forsome years, at least to me the locals told me that it is more due to tradition of ”matpakke” and not so much of not being able to do it. Even in the work place it is common to bring your own sandwitches in stead of having ”proper” lunch. And also, it would be a huge undertaking even if people wanted it as no school building is equipped with suitable kitchen.

[jampekka]

Free school lunches are coming in Norway next year.

https://archive.is/20241129112123/https://www.thelocal.no/20...

[4ndrewl]

You mean they're so rich the government don't need to pay for the food for the poorest in society?

[qeternity]

They don’t have poor the way other countries do. And that’s down to culture. I don’t think people appreciate just how homogenous Scandinavia is. (Although this is changing, especially in Sweden)

I also don’t think most people realize how small these countries are. Sweden is as big as Michigan, and Norway is as big as South Carolina.

Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland combined have about half the population of California. And California has about 1/10th of the US population.

[mongol]

Free vs hot makes a very big difference in this case since Norway is well known for its lunch culture. What matters: is it free or is it not?

[jay_kyburz]

Of all the things to pick, school lunches would not have been it.

[cycomanic]

School lunches are considered one of the best return on investment if you want to lift next generations out of poverty. It's really very little money, but greatly improves attendance and participation (poor kids go to school because the get lunch, and are much more attentive because they are not hungry).