Everyone has different opinions on whether school lunch is improving or not. With many altering views, time has proven that school lunch has changed throughout the years, but has it changed for the better?
In 2010, Barack Obama signed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act which changed the whole menu for students. Schools turned away from processed foods with minimal nutritional value and instead offered more fruit, vegetables and whole grains.
As schools serve the lunch and encourage students to eat it, Ms. Rosario, a school lunch helper, tells us how the act has impacted the school and herself as both a helper and mother. She’s worked with 223 for almost 7 years. She states how “I actually think it could be much better. When Barack Obama was in office, [First Lady] Michelle Obama changed the school food menu and when she changed it, it didn’t get any better because they changed everything to whole grain, whole wheat, everything is healthy. It just sucks.”But, what about whole grain and whole wheat and healthy food? Isn’t it beneficial towards your health? Well, only the DOE thinks that.
Some lower classmen can be seen eating the school food but only when it seems actually appetizing like chicken tenders and french fries. Not to mention, the majority of students would prefer to not eat at all, rather than eat school lunch. As a result, many don’t have enough energy to do their work afterwards.
Zay, a senior in HS233 who doesn’t eat school lunch at all says, “ It could improve in so many ways.” School food for him has not improved throughout time; it has always tasted “nasty”. According to him the school food doesn’t smell or taste right. For example, he says that the burgers smell like soup. It’s very different compared to the food at home or you buy outside and not in a good way.
Carlos Perez, the dean of the school who has been working at MS/HS223 for 16 years, also stated that school lunch will always involve money. An example in his statement was how private schools get better school lunches since they get more funding and aren’t being supported by the government. Meanwhile, public schools don’t get enough funding for school lunch so they try to make “new” ideas on the menu by reusing ingredients and finding another way to make them “appetizing.” “You get what you pay for,” he says. You get what the government gives you. The school food is different from when he was growing up since before, the school lunch was actual food and not everything was made out of vegetables. An example given by him was, “The chicken nuggets when I was growing were actual chicken and now they’re made out of chickpeas” We decided to interview the dean because he didn’t grow up with the same food we eat now so he knows if the taste has progressed or not.
But wait, if staff and the 223 community have been saying that the school food is unpleasant, what could we do about it? Well, we technically don’t have the power to do anything, they just work for the school and attend it. What would the DOE do to change the current menu? Overall, we hope it does improve and we will continue to keep fighting and advocating for this change.
