Good Meal or Bad Deal

December 14, 2018 | Peydin Pennick, Maya Jaworsky, and Dang Tran

Here at South Mecklenburg High, the school food is what most of the student body eats. South serves breakfast and lunch. We were interested in the planning that goes into the meals, what makes certain foods regulated, and how students feel about the school food. These are the responses that we got.

Student Interviews

Do you find school foods appetizing?

“Only certain foods are appetizing. Chicken tenders and breakfast for lunch are examples of those. Hamburgers aren't that good and so are the lesser prepared meals like “chinese” food.”

“It’s pretty good, better than most schools.”

What is something that should be improved about school lunch? Not necessarily the food but the timing of lunch itself?

“We should be given 10 minutes before lunch starts as a delay time to get lunch. With people skipping lines and the limited time by the time I can get lunch I only have 5 minutes to eat it.”

What meals do you think could be added?

“I don't really know. They food we’re eating now were introduced while we were still in middle school so I wouldn't really care for new foods, but improving the quality of the current meals should be priority.”

Mrs. Dolan Interview

Besides asking how our peers feel about school lunch we came up with great questions to ask our lovely Cafeteria Manager, Mrs. Dolan.

What goes into picking what foods to serve?

“School nutrition staff (directors, managers and dieticians attend multiple food shows per year. One to two are in state and a couple are national food shows. These shows exhibit products designed specifically for k-12 school nutrition operations. We also do sampling events and test items before they make it to the menu.”

What is the planning behind the meals?

“School meals must meet federal nutrition standards – calories, fat, saturated fat and sugar all have limits – minimums and maximums. If you need more info on that you can go to www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/nutrition-standards-school-meals.”

What foods are allowed to be served and what is not allowed? Why?

“We can’t serve soda- school board policy. But, it’s more about what we want to do and that’s to motivate you all to eat heart healthier, less salt and sugar and fat. Use other seasonings. We’ve started using fresh cilantro this year and some other seasoning. We work with the Farm to School program to bring in North Carolina fruits and vegetables.”

Do you guys try to get creative with what you serve on holidays?

“We have many promotional days during the year. Around Thanksgiving we have our International Week and the Thanksgiving meal is part of that week.”

Are there any new foods coming soon?

“Always! The Sabroso chicken just came on the menu and was very popular and Wednesday we are introducing our Buffalo Chicken Dip. The Pork Mojo with plantain we tested here last year and that had just joined the menu. The Stuffed Spud has been a hit. We also introduced the Sunbutter and Jelly pack. There is also the Hot Beef Sundae, Vegan Power Salad and the Chicken Taco Salad/Sabre Bowl (that our Culinary Arts department created), cilantro lime beans and we are working on some new ciabatta bread sandwiches.

Have y’all ever thought about giving student menus?

We used to but we’ve improved our technology. Our digital monitors above the serving lines will let you know what’s on the menu today as well as tomorrow. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We also partnered with Nutrislice. If you go to the CMS homepage and click on the red tab on the right side you can bring up what is being served in your school, this is an app you can also download to your phone that will help you with calorie and carb counts.”

Do you try to plan things you know students would like?

“Absolutely. We analyze menus for high participation of students and we take student feedback from the Nutrislice app and on social media. We also have a menu committee of managers who bring feedback from their cafeterias to the district office.”

Overall, the South Meck lunch system is effective in what it does, which is to provide for students’ meals. The responses students gave us have weak points but the overall view is positive, despite stereotypes of school lunches being inedible. CMS and South Meck are working to improve the foods every day to give students a brighter future by fueling hungry stomachs for hungry minds.