New changes have been implemented in the 2017-18 lunch menu.

Focusing on reaching student customers with foods they want, the Coppell ISD nutrition department has updated the menu at CHS in order to better cater to students.

“Students vote with their feet,” CISD culinary nutrition trainer Helen Duran said, referring to the length of lunch lines per station. “It’s quite obvious if one day, the line is longer at one station than the other. We listen to their feedback that way and respond to it.”

The menus are rewritten each year, as student tastes and preferences are prone to change from class to class.

“There are completely different palettes,” Duran said. “The market changes drastically year to year.”

Many students are dependent on school meals for lunch due to their busy schedules.

“I generally eat pizza or go to the school store because I don’t have a lot of time to pack food in the morning,” CHS junior Rishi Lekkala said. “I get home late from band practice and have homework, so in the mornings I want to sleep in.”

The updated menu specifically targets healthier meal options. The salad bar is receiving renovations in order to “pump up” its current selections, including specialized days where salad options will reflect a certain cultural theme. “Mediterranean Day”, for example, will have items such as hummus, tabbouleh and pita available.

There have also been efforts to use more organic ingredients.

“Pizza’s pretty bad for me to be eating on the regular, I know that,” CHS junior Danni Murtha said. “I’m glad, for that reason, that the lunch menus are going to strive to have more nutritional value this year.”

At the heart of the changes taking place in the nutrition department, there is a desire for students to feel they have delicious, healthy and wanted meals available each day.

“We want everybody to know we’re doing it,” Duran said. “It’s not the same menu every year.”

A complete list of the updated menu is available below.

Elena Gillis