Lunch is a time most Haverford students look forward to: to socialize with their friends, relax, and most importantly, fuel up for the rest of their day.
The Dining Hall’s Sodexo professionals have a huge task of providing food to over a thousand students, faculty, and staff every day.
“The staff starts as early as 6 a.m. to have breakfast finished by 9 a.m. and lunch ready by 11 a.m.,” Catering Manager Ms. Maria Faracchio said.
It is clear that the kitchen team works extremely hard to prepare the students’ food and are here at the campus before most students even wake up. Still, some community members question the meals’ quality and nutritional aspects.
Sixth Former Pranav Dixit said, “The food is sometimes stale, but it is sometimes very good.”
Third Former Devin Carpenter said, “Haverford’s food is pretty good.”
Additionally, science teacher Mr. Adam Myers said, “The food is fine and is better than most schools.”
These diners share mostly positive reactions to the food’s taste. How about the quality?
Sysco’s website says one of their goals is to “deliver exceptional produce, custom cuts of meat, high-quality seafood, and imported foods offering global flavors.”
According to Ms. Farrachio, Sysco, a popular food product distributor, supplies the food to the Dining Hall. Sysco’s website says one of their goals is to “deliver exceptional produce, custom cuts of meat, high-quality seafood, and imported foods offering global flavors.”
Haverford’s lunch menu consists of a variety of foods: pizza, chicken parmesan sandwich, tacos, and the famous blackjack chicken. These foods are constantly on rotation at Haverford, but what are we truly eating? The chicken parmesan sandwich, according to Ms. Farrachio, has 430 Calories, 10 grams of fat, and 80 milligrams of cholesterol. According to the University of San Francisco Health, the recommended amount of cholesterol is less than 300 milligrams a day. Therefore, the sandwich is not necessarily the most unhealthy option out there.
The amount of dietary options a school has to offer is also crucial in determining the quality of lunch because after all, what meets the dietary standards of one student may not meet the standards of another student who may have dietary restrictions.
“We always have a vegetarian option daily on the hotline and of course, there’s always the salad and deli stations which have gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian choices,” Ms. Farrachio said. “When menu planning we also try to balance the menu out. For example, if the action station is breaded, we like to have a non-breaded option on the hotline. We also try to make the action station have a vegan or vegetarian choice when able.”
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