School Lunch: Is it Good, or Just Misunderstood?
By Ellie Flaum, Isla O'Flynn, Lia Mizrahi, Tenzin Demaling, 7th Grade News
School lunch has caused echoes throughout the hallways. Do they like it, or absolutely hate it? A variety of opinions are reflected on school lunch, and East Siders say that either school lunch is very good, or kinda gross!! Let's interview school lunch eaters and see what they have to say!
“It has like no flavor at all– the flavor is bland, and the food is dry.” Tenzin, an active school lunch chicken nugget eater says. “I honestly prefer the chicken nuggets because they taste the best.”
What are the pros and cons of school lunch? Why is it such a problem, while also a huge help to families who don’t have the time or materials to pack lunch for their children? Gigi, who never eats school lunch, says, “I would never eat school lunch, It’s yucky.” Some enjoy meals such as chicken tenders, mozzarella sticks, or pizza, and believe eating lunch made by hard working cafeteria workers tastes good. So let's take a look at the pros and cons of eating school lunch.
PROS:
Time efficient, and saves hours for parents who would have had to prepare lunch for their kids, but instead can rely on school lunch to provide a meal.
It's a free and nutritious lunch for students which can be a big help to many families.
Some kids can agree that lunch from school can actually taste good, which also pushes them to try more dishes prepared in the cafeteria, opening up a whole new selection of foods they are excited to eat for lunch.
Let's talk about the many pros that also come along with the cons. One being the free meals that parents can rely on, instead of being expensive, so parents might not have to worry about buying more than enough groceries for their child’s school lunch. “Well, it– saves money. People don’t have to pack their lunch in the morning. It also doesn't add weight to your backpack,” Lia, a seventh grade student says. This shows that many different students believe that school lunches can be good, and opinions do vary. Not everyone agrees that school lunch is gross, some find it a good coverup for days they can't pack lunch, and some students like some meals.
CONS:
Most students don't like school lunch and say it tastes bad.
It probably isn't made with very good quality ingredients because of the low budget public schools are provided with.
It can be a waste of food, since most of the time students throw out the food they don’t enjoy.
A lot of students enjoy picking up icees from the food tray, but are told to pick up the full tray instead of just an icee, which makes students throw out the rest of the food. That promotes a lot of lunch wasting in school, and it motivates students to pick up lunch but only take the one or so items that they desire, leaving the foods that students don't enjoy in the trash. This can be very wasteful, because according to Google, 39 pounds of school lunch per student is wasted every year.
How would you feel if you had to eat school lunch for a week?