29th March, 2023 by Jea Y. (G12)
Foods are cold, noodles are overcooked, meat is tough, soups are salty, and above all, the menu itself is not the one that we want to eat. I have many experiences of not getting to eat food because they are not delicious, having cold food or salty food. Also when there are many tests, then I have to study during lunch time, but I am hungry for the rest of the school day.
One of the biggest reasons for us going to school is because of the lunch that we get to eat. Especially for seniors, who don't have a reason to come to school, and wish to have a great menu for their lunch. However, most of the time, we are unsatisfied with the lunch menu. When students don't eat their lunch, the deli is the only way to eat lunch because the other food court bars that provide fruits, juice, and bread are only for the people who have checked their ID cards. In previous years, all the food court bars were provided to everyone, but suddenly this year, the school cafeteria banned people from eating at the food court bar. This made students only go to the deli and figure out their lunch.
One of the high schools in South Korea, Segyeong high school is famous for providing a hotel quality lunch to students and faculty. Imagine a lunch of lobster with caviar on top of it or red crab and red tiger shrimp. It looks like a made up story but it’s real. All of the students in the high school started to eat lunch and the number of students who went to the deli started to decrease. A few months later, students didn’t go to the deli to eat their lunch (Shinailbo).
The biggest problem of KISJ deli from a student's perspective is that the menu is bad. One, it's an all snack based menu that can easily get tired of. Two, famous menus are quickly sold out so many afternoon students can’t eat. Third, as time passes, delicious menus disappear.
When there is a famous menu, then the deli should increase the amount of the menu or add a similar menu but nothing happens at the deli. Instead, that menu disappears a few months later. In the past, there were various kinds of menus in KISJ deli such as sausage, vanilla ice cream, Binggrae banana flavored milk, ade juice, and milkshakes but these foods started to disappear one by one and today, only a few drinks and snacks are left. We are disappointed with the menus of the deli because there were delicious foods in the past but not today and we can't understand why the deli is taking out the menu that we like.
Compared to other school deli menus, where they sell cup noodles, kimbob, ice creams, hamburgers, bread, soda, jellies, candies, and hotdogs, food that is delicious, has diversity, and heavy enough to eat for the lunch, our deli menu is just a snack and because the same snack is in the deli for more than years, we are tired of eating it (Maejum Mall).
The lunch menu is important to students as well as to all faculty members because “lunch directly relates to students health, well-being, and ensures that students have nutrition they need throughout the day to learn” (Benefits of school lunch). It’s hard to make lunch that can satisfy all people in the school because every person has different tastes and food that they like and cafeteria meals are cooked differently from the food cooked at home due to the number of people. However, still, food should be warm and the taste should be good.
Our school tries its best to provide high quality menus to students and faculty members, and they constantly ask for feedback and send out surveys. However, the taste and quality of the food don't get better. With the same taste and quality of the food, the cost has been increased which made more students not eat lunch. In addition to that, many students started to bring their own lunch. The complaints and feedback don’t work to make a better quality of our school menu so the school has to add more foods in the deli so that we can eat food that we like at a cheaper price.
Works Cited
“Benefits of School Lunch.” Food Research and Action Center. <https://frac.org/programs/national-school-lunch-program/benefits-school-lunch#:~:text=School%20lunch%20is%20critical%20to,obesity%20rates%2C%20and%20poor%20health.> Accessed date 22, March 2023
“Maejum Lall.”<https://maejum.cafe24.com/.> Accessed date 27, March 2023
박고은, “"랍스터 한마리 실화?"…세경고등학교 급식 '관심 UP'.”신아일보<http://www.shinailbo.co.kr/news/articleView.html?id no=1149424> Accessed date 29, March 2023