School lunches are very important when considering the quality of a school. Today, I will see the quality of Groves High School lunches and determine what the public truly thinks about them.
The first thing to consider when looking at school lunches is their appearance— how appetizing do they look? When asked this question, the general consensus was that the food does not look that good at all. One sophomore, Parker Mingus, went as far as to say that half the food doesn’t even look edible.

“Typically like half of the options look edible, but they don’t necessarily look appetizing. I’d say about half the stuff is edible, and half the time the edible stuff is appetizing,” said Mingus.

This is a pretty extreme judgment. Is calling the food inedible a bit over the top? Some may say this is too far, however, many other students also had similar criticisms.

Secondly, it’s time to ask about the options for lunch. A good school should have a variety of well-made lunches. We asked another group of students what they thought of the selection. When interviewed, most students said the school has a good range of choices. Multiple students mentioned the deli and grill menu, the grill menu being very popular among students. However, there are some criticisms about the availability of these choices. A large number of students mentioned that there isn’t enough food. Many students also claim that the food they want runs out by the time they enter the cafeteria.

Lastly, it’s time for the taste and quality of the lunches. As somebody who brings my own lunch most days, I don’t know the answer to this question all that well. Luckily for me, many Groves freshman and sophomore students in being B lunch (My current lunch), buy lunch. So we asked one final group of students if they thought the lunches were high quality and tasty. Multiple students said that the food wasn’t terrible, some even said the food was pretty good. On the contrary, a decently sized portion of students said the food was in the low-middle range of quality. One freshman student was very critical of the lunches.

“The eggrolls suck. The fried rice sucks. The sandwiches suck. It all sucks,” said freshman Jeremiah Che.

This reply was shocking. This is another very harsh opinion. Is our food really that bad? Some students also noted that lunches were way too expensive for the quality of food, and it was much more worth it to get food somewhere else. One junior, Bryce Lattimore, states: “I usually go out to eat because the food here is trash for its price.” This could explain why so many juniors and seniors leave campus for lunch.

As for my opinion? Although I don’t buy lunch too often, I have seen my friends buy from the cafeteria numerous times and I have a few critiques. I agree with the general consensus— a lot of the food seems extremely rushed and not that good quality. I’ve even seen some meat that’s undercooked! But there are also meals that aren’t bad at all; some of them even look quite tasty, such as macaroni and cheese with bacon bits. It honestly doesn’t look good, but it’s very creamy and tastes really good.

In the end, it seems like there could be lots of room for improvement. Whether that’s on the chefs themselves, or the school board, only time will tell— but what matters is we’re still being fed, and that’s something to be grateful for.