In the social sciences, it is a classic practice to contrast the development of the
countryside and the city as two endpoints of a chain. However, since the beginning
of the 21st century, the validity of the rural-urban dichotomy has been increasingly
questioned, and we are now talking about two interconnected and complementary systems
instead. In examining contemporary school meals, we ourselves observed this close
and varied pattern of intertwining between the city and the countryside. Therefore,
we believe it is useful to identify rural and urban features in contemporary public
catering practices, and to outline mixed models that can be placed between the two
endpoints in space and time. All of this can be edifying because urbanized foodways,
following current food health and gastronomic trends, sustainability, climate and
environmental protection requirements, as well as social considerations, return from
time to time to the old village farming practices and foodways in various ways, and
utilize knowledge related to traditional farming. Illustrated with specific examples,
the study outlines three types of school catering models, from the oldest practice
called “rural” to the “urban” (urbanized) type. A comparison of these types of public
catering practices reveals the problems observed in today’s public catering.