Since 1910, student lunches have lacked nutrition. According to Ordo.com, the school lunches have changed over time. 

In 1910 the lunches had soup, bread and milk. In the 1920s it was coffee, potato chips and pickles. 1930 had beef and pork butter. 1940’s offered cream chipped beef, cornmeal pudding, fruit shortcake and pork. 1950 had cheese, meatloaf, sausage, shortcake, and ham. 

1960 introduced pizza. 1970 introduced fast food chains like Mcdonalds and Burger King. 1980 introduced ketchup, chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, rectangular pizza, chocolate pudding, and jello. 

1990 had Mcdonalds, Little Caesars, Chick-Fil-A, Froot by the Foot, Dunkaroos, Gushers, and Airheads. The 2000’s had grilled jerk chicken, barbecued pork sandwiches, fresh fruits and vegetables outside of cans. 2010 was the “Healthy Hunger-free kids Act.”.-I feel like I don’t need to say or point out how terrible some of these lunches are for kids, the information speaks for itself in this case.

Manchester High School’s school lunch requirements: Milk, Grain, Meat Alternante, Fruit, Vegetable. According to projectbread.org the official school lunches should include the following. 

“The reimbursable meal requirements emphasize whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products, with limits on sodium, saturated fat, trans fat, and calories.”

 The general consensus of the students’ opinions on the school lunch is that it’s not good, after asking dozens of students they most commonly said the lunch was not good. No reports of the lunch being good, only at best decent, or tolerable. 

There are many nutritional benefits to the school lunch requirements on its own, so why do the kids say that the food is bad? Why is there so much backlash for the school lunch?

Dissatisfaction with the food is offered as the main reason students skip school lunches, though factors such as long lines, feeling rushed, and not having enough time also impact students’ ability to eat their lunch at school. Kids being teased about the contents of their lunch either being too healthy or too processed. It is inconvenient to stand in the cafeteria line and uncool to sit in the cafeteria and more cool to hang out in the school commons rather than eat.

School lunch has been a joke over the years and the health of the students never really seemed to be important.