Every day. Every year. Without fail, breakfast and lunch is provided to hungry students and staff members. Although not everybody stands in line and gets lunch, most people can say the food isn’t the best.
“I feel the food tastes like plastic. I feel like I would rather starve than eat the food,” mentioned senior, Ethan Melendrez.
However, behind these meals are hard working individuals that prepare the food twice a day. Huntington Park High School has many wonderful women working in the kitchen every day to provide students with hot meals. Yet, it has been a long time since they were tasked with actually cooking the food.
The school lunches are delivered every Tuesday and Thursday by companies affiliated with the district. The cafeteria staff does not freshly prepare the food instead a good majority of the food is heated up in an oven and it is packed and served to the students.
Blanca Ayala, cafeteria staff member of twenty two years, said, “Sí, prefiero la comida fresca, pero aquí en el sistema es diferente”.
When speaking to a couple of the lunch ladies, they said they would prefer to cook the food fresh but it would be difficult. Because of the size of the school and the limited number of staff members, time is a factor. They are able to cook some of the meat, vegetables, and mashed potatoes.
Ana Torres said ,” Si, comerán más saludables los niños,pero no tenemos el suficiente tiempo para hacerlo”.
Most of the ladies in the kitchen come to work early in the morning to prepare breakfast for students while also having to prepare themselves for a long day at work.
Each lunch lady has a daily routine ahead of them when coming to work, whether it is to count the packaged food for the classrooms, clean, or even cook, they all do the same amount of work or when someone is out sick, they all distribute the work within each other.
Many of the cafeteria workers have actually been working for the district for many years. One thing they’ll change would be to provide better food that the students would enjoy. However, there are some meals that students do enjoy.
“I feel like the food is pretty decent. Chalupas, salad with the garlic bread, cheeseburger, and french fries. There is some good food,” mentioned Shamila Sanchez, a senior.
Even though some students enjoy the food others don’t, there must be a change in the school where there is a variety of food options to choose from that include freshly cooked food.
Blanca Ayala said ,” Darles mejor comida a los niños,cosas que les gustan”.
By Celina Perez, Staff Writer