School and district work to improve variety and nutrition in the cafeteria

INFOGRAPHIC: Some DHS students are dissatisfied with the current food options in the cafeteria.

By Ayisi Ni,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Davis High’s cafeteria serves limited vegetarian meals and no vegan options. In addition, students say that the available cafeteria options are not healthy or large enough for high school students.

The cafeteria serves lunch to between 300-400 meals each day. Due to state and federal funding, all student meals are fully reimbursed by the government through 2022-23—meaning DHS students can eat free breakfast and lunch.

The menu at lunch at DHS always includes cheese and pepperoni pizza. Quesadillas, burgers and chicken sandwiches are regulars as well.

Sometimes, specialty items will be available. All students partaking in school lunch are required to take a fruit or vegetable. Common options include apples, oranges and bananas.

There are also boxed salads and snacks (such as chocolate-chip cookies or chips) for sale at the checkout counters.

Junior Ellen Ferguson eats vegan food at home. However, she has trouble eating school lunches as they predominantly offer meat and dairy products.

“I usually end up getting a bag of chips, which you actually have to pay for … it’s just frustrating that they don’t have options for people with different diets,” Ferguson said. Ferguson says that some of her friends would consider eating school lunch if it had more options.

Mark Powell, the director of nutrition for the Davis Joint Unified school district, says that it is very difficult to get vegan menu items, such as beans and rice, approved as a protein replacement for meat or cheese.

“There are five big categories (fruits, vegetables, dairy, whole grain and meat or meat-replacement.) … Typically, school districts are relatively reliant on cheese and cheese products,” Powell said.

Junior Hanni Yu, who sometimes eats at the cafeteria, recently distributed a survey for her Race and Social Justice class on school lunch. Her survey collected a total of 140 responses, with 47 people saying they did not eat at the cafeteria.

“Around 27 students said they asked for food from a friend … 17 said they didn’t like the food options,” Yu said.

Senior Maddie Gonzalez eats school lunch regularly. She says that she has previously suffered damage to her braces when eating a cheeseburger.

“When I bit into it I had to literally shake my head like a dog to try and pull a piece off and then I heard a pop and it broke my bracket off,” Gonzalez said.

Yu also wants more variety in fruits and vegetables.

“I think they could stand to have more variety in the fruits and vegetables that’s not just like a couple of raw carrots and a piece of lettuce. That’s kind of sad and I don’t really like eating those vegetables anyway,” Yu said.

Ferguson agrees that there must be more healthy options. “The whole reason my family is vegan is for health reasons. It’s never healthy stuff. It’s like greasy pizza or a burger,” Ferguson said.

According to Rita Popoca-Harvey, the kitchen manager for the DHS cafeteria, many of the fruits served at lunch are sourced from local producers and the pizza stays on the menu consistently due to its popularity among students.

Powell says similar things regarding food quality but adds that there will be more made-from-scratch menu items next school year.

Due to pandemic-related supply chain issues, the district was not able to secure stable contracts for many food sources this year.
“I think you will be able to see a noticeable improvement and a noticeable shift in how we do things next year. I really see great potential for the cafeteria there,” Powell said.