By Sebastian Rendon & Geovanny
Ever wondered what goes into preparing and making the “delicious” food we eat during nutrition and lunch? Well wait no more for this article will answer all the secrets about the holy dumpster that is our school lunch.
Admittedly, it is not some top secret political information kept away in the depths of Mount Fuji that School lunches all over the world have a bad reputation. Our school lunch is no exception since it has its own flaws (a good amount of them too), but if we find it important to criticize it we must also find it just as important to take into consideration the work that goes into making a school lunch possible.
Here at Neuwirth lunchtime is the student’s brief “escape” from the prison that is learning. It is a time of debriefing and recharging for the next class. Normally during a time of recharge people would like to enjoy a nice little meal to regain their energy and fill their bodies with the nutritional sustenance it needs. And here at Neuwirth the food definitely has nutritional value, but it just also happens to lack the “nice” part of it. Many students have projected their voices toward what seems to be an empty abyss of concerns about the food’s quality, appearance, and taste. In a survey given to students during the 7th of October this year during advisory, one individual claimed that “I find the food to be bland and unappealing which could drive most students from eating the school lunch” this was one out of 192 responses that students filled out to voice their opinion about the school lunch. Within those 192 responses, 54.7% of the students voted no on whether or not they enjoyed the school lunch and only 8.9% actually said yes while the rest felt indifferent to it.
There have been many efforts to change the school lunch that have fallen short. An example of this is the school lunch survey from last year that promised students a chance to cast their voices and bring direct change to the school. This promise was nothing but empty words according to students who voted during the advisory survey I administered this year, where 57.3% of the students voted that there were no changes to the school lunch and even 22.9% said it has worsened. A whopping 58.3% of students who voted believe that their voices were not heard, while only 20.8% believe it was.
One may ask themselves, why hasn’t any change happened if the majority of students don’t enjoy it? There isn’t a real and straightforward answer to that question, unfortunately. A lot of planning and consideration goes into making the school lunch possible which sometimes hinders the ability to freely choose any specific lunch item. According to Mariano Salgado who is the Operations Manager here at Neuwirth, “..before we select a vendor or a nutrition vendor we do have a panel where scholars - scholar’s parents and myself we go out and we have a sample of what a nutrition item will be, whether it’s breakfast or lunch, and we have three samples of them...” One factor in choosing school lunch is determined by choosing which food company the school makes a contract with for that school year. Then once that company is chosen by those participating parents and Salgado there are no changes able to be made until next year’s taste panel.
Another significant factor that goes into the school lunch is the nutritional facts about the food. There are legal requirements that go into the school food that have to be met in order for the school to be able to serve it. For students this means that the reason the food doesn’t taste the most flavorful is that those nutritional values sacrifice the flavor. An example many students will understand is Beyond Meat versus the taste of actual meat and how vegetarian optioned foods taste worse since they are made to be healthier instead of trying to taste better. Although the food doesn’t taste like their traditional counterparts, most of the students can admit there are still pretty good items that pop up on the school menu and then again there are also really bad items that pop up in the school menu.
An additional determining factor in which of these items will return to the students is how many lunches are taken on a given day. During the interview with Salgado, he stated, “it depends on… the participation of you guys.” He went on to explain that on the day of the interview hot dogs were on the menu, and “today it seems everyone was eating it so that means they enjoyed it.” Because this particular lunch was popular as evidenced by all of the lunches being taken that day, “that means that I have to increase it for next month when we have hot dogs because that means it was a meal that was very involved… popular.”
So while it may seem the students don’t have a direct say in what appears on the lunch menu, they do decide whether or not an item stays based on the participation with that item. To us students this means if we want true change to happen we must only grab the lunch items that we will eat instead of instantly throwing them away like some of us usually do.
The best way to create change for lunch is by talking and sharing your voice with the administration because they want and encourage feedback, but it is important to remember that they are restricted to following certain requirements so they can’t perform miracles.
Nutritional facts/calories tracking of lunch foods still being investigated has been brought to Salgado’s attention
Sliced fruits and veggies might be introduced in the near future
the possibility of past lunch items being reintroduced.
Those concerned about other beverage items besides milk, such as juice options for lunch
Salgado informed me that efforts of introducing an outside water fountain are being made
The food is also made fresh that same day it is being served, it is made early in the morning and delivered here from the city of commerce and kept in specific storage units that keep the food at a certain temperature that is checked before and after arriving at the school to ensure the food is good to serve