Photo by Mele Letisi
School lunch is controversial topic to many people, this is what some students think.
“In a lot of American schools, the food is not commonly prepared ‘well’ so I think the staff that make/prepare the food should take more time and actually make the food from scratch. A lot of schools don’t have the funding for this though.” Jaina Benton (‘26) said.
The average price of school lunch for schools in Oregon is $3.40 (Oregon School District).
“The quality and options, I don’t think they really lookout for healthy options as much as cheap bulk options.” Elizabeth Wozniak (‘24) said.
The school has a very minimal assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, instead they have many options of food that are high in salt and saturated fat. For example, a slice of pepperoni pizza has 1100mg of salt which is roughly 48% of the suggested amount of daily salt.That single slice of pizza also has 10g of saturated fat, which is equal to 50% of your suggested amount of daily saturated fat.
“More types of fruit,” Parker Morgan (‘26) said when asked how he would change the school’s current offerings.
The only types of fruit that are provided are apples with lunch and applesauce with breakfast. All food is provided by the U.S. department of agriculture (USDA), which does not supply much of a variety when it comes to fruits.
