Comparisons are not your friend.  Restaurants don't replace parents, they replace home cooks.  And to answer your (stupid) question, yes, school lunches have been around for decades, but years ago they served home cooked food.  Today it is food service prepared garbage that the "cooks" reheat. It's similar to the frozen dinners you warm up for yourself, lots of salt, fat and preservatives and added colors.  That's why parents should be taking more responsibility in feeding their kids better lunches, but they outsource that job to the government.