Can We Improve Cafeteria Lunches?

Students are vocal about their dislike of cafeteria lunches, but they don't think about how much the school lunch has improved since elementary school. If you think about it, lunch is so much better than it was before. In sixth grade, my classmates and I were given beans and a tortilla as a lunch–how can that be a proper lunch? To most people, it would be a snack. In middle school, most cafeteria food consists of a meal. For example, one time I ate spaghetti with a piece of bread on top, now that is a meal. 

Most students think lunch should have more healthy options or different varieties. “I think that there should be more varieties or healthier varieties in, like salads or something,” an anonymous 7th grader once said. Personally, I agree because I see a lot of kids that only eat lunch on Thursdays (pizza day). Most scholars think they should also serve replacements of pizza, or have a vegan version for people that want to stay healthy.

Unfortunately, schools don’t have the resources to improve school lunches. A seventh grader argued that in order to have better food, we will need more staff. “We should have more workers for better food,”  he said. But how? How would we get more workers? Would they make the food? We cannot get students to work in the cafeteria yet. We get frozen food or already made food. Some people think it's good, but some people think it's bad. Students should have the option of having to eat fresh food or already made food only because most kids prefer the fresh food.

However, in some schools they do have the resources. For example, in Japan children are not allowed to bring their own food from home, and they have to all eat the same lunch. Also, during lunch time for the students, they find it a time to educate their students about the nutrition in the food that they are eating. They have some of the best lunches, because of the kids that work in the cafeteria and help clean also. 

In conclusion, although our lunches have improved, there is still room for improvement.  Maybe we can begin by starting a lunch club to learn about nutrition, and it could also allow scholars to work in the cafeteria.