How students feel about school lunch

Lunch, an important meal of the day, is often served during the school day; however, it is also a big problem. The lunch served at school is a persistent issue that many people have an opinion on. Those opinions are often varied and can range from complete disgust to somewhat of a tolerance for the food produced.

Some students acknowledge that the food may not be great, but still eat it during the school day due to various reasons. “I don’t really like it, but I just don’t have time to make lunch in the morning,” senior Yawar Abbas said. “To me, food is food.”

On the other hand, many students may be more towards the middle of the spectrum and enjoy a few things out of the choices offered. “I think that our school lunch is sufficient,” junior Kylie Mum said, “Out of all the things offered to us, I like the Italian line because of the pasta and bread.” 

A big part of the whole debate is whether or not the food is actually healthy. Many students would not even necessarily classify the options as “real food,” which in itself, is essentially somewhere on the road of becoming an actual problem. Students tend to understand that some of the staff attempts to produce consumable food, but it becomes an issue when the quality is clearly debatable. 

Regardless, a few students go about it in a different way. They simply think that it could be adjusted or changed, such as the inclusion or removal of various foods. “They should take out basic food like burgers and chicken sandwiches,” senior Saara Ahmed said. “I think people would like the school lunch better if they had more options that aren’t as simple as the ones we have right now.” 

For the most part, it is evident that most students do not enjoy the quality of the food being offered to them on a daily basis. In 2013, a survey done in Fairfax showed the fact. Nearly 77 percent of high schoolers revealed that they either disliked the food or skipped lunch multiple times throughout the week. This means that only about 22 percent described the food as nutritious. However, out of those people who did consume the food, only 13 percent actually admitted to enjoying it. 

The manager of the project, Tatia Prieto, claimed that school lunch “is like taxes– no one ever likes it.” Following her argument and research, the School Board offered to revisit the topic later in the year.