A crowd of students rush down the halls at lunchtime, eager to reach their destination: the vending machines.
The vending machines are a beloved aspect of Coppell High School, with students buying snacks and drinks to fulfill their hunger throughout the day. However, some students may rely on inexpensive and convenient snacks, overlooking the options in the cafeteria.
“I don’t necessarily think that the cafeteria food is healthy,” senior Sarvani Tadimeti said. I think something homemade is healthier but I just don’t have enough time.”
The convenience of the vending machines over cafeteria food may have influenced students’ lunch meals.
“They don’t accept cards when I have to buy cafeteria food and meals cost like $7,” Tadimeti said. “I just think that going to the vending machine is more efficient.”
Despite this mindset, Coppell ISD coordinator of child nutrition Haley Tobias shares insight into the process of selecting health food options.
According to Tobias, the two traditional lunch lines in the cafeteria follow the national school lunch program as a basis to provide healthy meals to students. They offer whole grains, lean proteins, two different vegetable options, two fruit options, low fat chocolate and 1% white milks for students.
These options allow students their own autonomy and to practice making healthy choices through the lunch lines.
Although some students prefer to buy food from vending machines, they also have healthy options to choose from.
“They want to have time with their friends so going to the vending machines may be more efficient than the lunch line,” Tobias said. “But I know that there are some decent choices that you can get out of the vending machines like peanuts or cheese and crackers.”
Another concern for students is the costs of healthy food options.
“I remember a time when I didn’t eat lunch because I didn’t think there were any healthy options at school,” senior Arya Koreth said. “Most of the food is tasteless and at unnecessarily high prices.”
This bias towards meal pricing may have underlying reasoning.
“Our meals are based off of pricing of inflation and food in general,” Tobias said. “I feel that if you’re only getting one slice of pizza and you’re paying the more expensive price versus getting your salad with milk, that’s where you might think it’s more expensive because you got one item versus getting all five components.”
Tobias advises students to maintain a healthy balance of food.
“I’m a girl that loves Oreo cookies and I believe that all foods fit with consideration,” Tobias said. “Just choose the little places where you can be more mindful, but I think whenever you say you can’t have those things is when you start to obsess over it and want more of it. So allow yourself food freedom and everything in moderation because there’s a time and place for everything.”
At CHS, student opinions and food suggestions are heard in the cafeteria.
“We had four or five students reach out at the end of last year saying that they wanted a chicken shawarma wrap,” Tobias said. “So Coppell ISD culinary trainer Anthony Brasberger and I worked on a recipe this summer that fit our program and how we could implement it in the cafeteria.”
Through their efforts, the nutrition and dietary team at CISD are eager to enhance the diets of students.
“We offer wonderful options for our students with a wide range of foods that all different types of people are seeking out like vegetarian, different cultural type items, spicy foods and student favorites,” Tobias said. “We want to cater to what our students need, but also be mindful of what we can get from our vendors and the cost of ingredients.”
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