Sydney+H’s+2015+OpEd+Article

‘Cafeteria Food’. Usually a negative connotation, and some people cringe at the phrase. The schools cafeteria food needs to be more closely regulated. For starters, the food needs to be labeled. Schools encourage eating and living healthy lifestyles but how are we supposed to do that if we don’t even know what is in the food we’re eating? Aside from the raw numbers such as calories, sugars, proteins, carbs, fats, etc., I really want to know what ingredients go into the food. Now to be fair, I dont expect high grade grass fed organic beef patties for the cheeseburgers, but I surely hope all the meat is even beef. Looking at it and tasting it, might give people second thoughts.



Secondly, lets back pedal for a second.... cheeseburgers??? Not exactly what I would consider healthy.. on top of nachos, orange chicken, pizza, burritos, mashed potatoes and gravy, taquitos, enchiladas, and so on.. the point being, many of the main dishes are simply unhealthy, and adding to the fact that the ingredients used are not the highest of quality. I know they are trying to improve the lunches by providing a salad bar but no offense, lets face it, its usually a pretty crappy salad bar. I can tell you I’ve had more than one experience with gross tasting fruits and veggies served on the carts.



Now, the main reason why I no longer eat at the cafeteria is this: One day, I was with my friend waiting in line to get our food, and I was really excited that they had mashed potatoes that day. To my disappointment, when I got there, the last one had been taken. I said something along the lines of “ugh I wanted mashed potatoes” and one of the students working there said “don’t worry hun, you don’t want those, they’re old.” OLD??????????????? What?!?!?!? Is she saying, it’s common for them to reuse uneaten food for the next day or perhaps the day after that? Food that has already been sitting out? Does that food have so many preservatives and is heated from a frozen state, that they don’t even have to worry about it going bad? I realize I don’t have all the details, but that was absolutely enough to stop be from eating at the cafeteria ever again.

To recap: We aren’t informed about: -The nutrition facts -The ingredients -How long the food has been sitting out

So basically we know nothing about the food, except for what it’s called. Great. I think this is a problem that is relevant across the country in most public school cafeterias, and we need to take a closer look at what we are feeding the youth of america. We wonder why we have high obesity rates, while encouraging these problems at the very root. Providing kids with this unhealthy crap is going to introduce them to a life of unhealthy relationships with food if we aren't careful. We need to fix this before our youth grows a taste for crappy cheeseburgers with addictive chemicals instead of fruits, veggies, and healthy carbs and protein.