The Revolting Nature of Our Cafeteria Food

Liberty’s cafeteria food is in a very sorry state

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Kay Copeland

It felt like the Sahara in my mouth, with only ketchup present to save me.

Abbiegail Luker, Reporter

This story has been a long time coming. I would like to speak on behalf of every student lunch buyer and say that our school’s food is at best, questionable, and at worst, atrocious. It is stomach-curdling, stomach-churning, and an offense to the eyes and mouth. An eye sore, to be frank; a bellyache waiting to happen.

The time has come to, albeit dramatically, report on this crisis. I have documented my lunch for a couple days to give real examples of what our food is like (for the unknowing). I am sorry to subject you all to this disagreeable sight, but alas, I must. 

Abbiegail Luker

The sandwich was fairly hard to hold, given that it was kind of falling apart. The juice(?) on the side is something I get often, (because it’s the only side I will voluntarily consume) and is strangely always partially frozen. I usually eat it like a slushie, although I don’t think it’s actually meant to be eaten that way. Somehow the taste changes each time, even when it’s the same flavor and is clearly unopened.

The bun on the sandwich was hard as a doorknob, eliciting gasps of horror from my dear lunch group. The cheese on the nachos is the kind that you would find on macaroni and cheese, which I find quite funny considering that lately whenever I have purchased macaroni and cheese, it has been covered in nacho cheese.

Abbiegail Luker

I usually don’t get chicken since the last time I got a chicken sandwich for lunch it was not fully cooked, but I decided to chance it and got one. While it was, thankfully, fully cooked, it was actually rather dry. You can see I grabbed a fair amount of ketchup, which has become a natural habit to ensure I can tolerate the food I purchase.

Now I’d like to make clear I do not hold the lunch ladies at fault, they’ve all been very kind to me, (especially Kathy). I would not blame them for the vile state of our lunches, I think it’s more of a vendor problem than anything. While they are the ones preparing the food, there’s not much you can do when the quality of what you receive is subpar. 

Which raises many questions; why is our food so awful? We’re constantly lacking warm sides, most people I know wouldn’t touch the fruit, and the good foods that I enjoyed last year are nowhere to be found (I personally think we have pretty good chili and alfredo noodles).

I have had Timberland’s food quite recently (as my mother works there), and it is significantly better than ours. They even have a salad bar! With onions, banana peppers, and such. How does a school in the same district have such a different lunch experience than us?

While I jest, this is something I do seriously think should be brought to adults’ attention. We’re already doing a lot while at school, at the very least we’d like to enjoy the food we eat.