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] Wednesday, Pearl Harbor Day. The menu consisted of the following items:
Asian Mushroom Soup
Oriental Noodle Salad
Classic Spinach Salad
Teriyaki Marinated Chicken Strips
Szechuan Tofu & Veggies
Garlic Roasted Edamame
Vegetable Fried Rice
Fortune Cookies
Apparently, this menu has ruffled some Conservative feathers. The school told the Washington Post that the menu was "just a fluke":
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.
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.
For the record, here's Barack Obama's statement on the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.