Chicago school lunches are constantly changing to stay on top of new dietary information. With new discoveries on nutrition, school lunch requirements have expanded vastly since the National School Lunch Act of 1946. Over the years, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) have regularly shifted lunch standards, with the biggest shift being in the early 2010s.

In the 2010-2011 school year, CPS released a new breakfast and lunch menu that became one of the healthiest school meals in the United States, according to Making the Grade: Chicago Public Schools Aim for High Scores on Healthy Meals. Before then, school meals often consisted of high-fat, fried foods based on USDA standards. 

Now, as stated by the CPS School Meals and Nutrition page, “Chicago Public Schools offers free, nutritionally balanced breakfast, lunch, and snacks to all students.” The district sets meal requirements, such as: five different fruit options each week, 80% of grains must be whole grain rich, no MSG or trans fats. For more information on the CPS nutrition Guideline, follow this link: CPS Nutrition Guidelines. 

Northside’s Cafeteria Manager provided insight into how Northside’s Cafeteria operates. The process of making school breakfasts and lunches is carefully planned out, with staff arriving at school at 6 a.m. every morning. Northside’s cafeteria workers receive a meal plan and recipes for each week of breakfast and lunches from a CPS dietitian and work hard to make meals for up to 400 students every day. CPS makes sure that every student can have a meal by including food options for every dietary restriction.

To make sure that students enjoy school lunches, Northside’s Cafeteria Manager has meetings with administrators regularly to discuss what foods students like. For example, syrup is only given during breakfast now instead of during lunch as well. Some lunches, such as the spicy chicken sandwich, are very popular, so the lunchroom tries to include it regularly. By making meals that they know a lot of students will eat, the lunchroom staff can assure that more students are getting proper daily nutrition.

Every year at Northside, Community Outreach Registered Dietitian Ms. Annie Scott teaches the underclassman how to balance nutrition in the Freshman Health class. Ms. Scott says that school lunches are “important to supply [students] with the nutrients that are needed. Sometimes they do not get all these nutrients at home, so school is a place that can offer it.” 

According to Ms. Scott, high school students are growing teenagers, and “[s]chool lunch provides students with foods that parents might not be able to afford in their own house, helping the child still get proper nutrition to grow while at school.” Lunchroom meals offer students healthy food options to assist teen growth and development.

School meals are also essential for academic success. Ms. Scott states that school lunches “provide students with energy to focus and learn during the day. If school lunch wasn’t offered…[it] could negatively impact their ability to focus, think and provide the essential vitamins and nutrients that are needed.”

It is important to stay on top of your nutrition at home as well. Here are a few steps Ms. Scott suggests you can take to ensure you are eating the proper foods and staying healthy:

• Go home and share the information you learned in Health class with your parents or guardians who purchase groceries – this guidance may influence shopping practices.
• Create a healthier routine. Along with eating healthily comes preventing many chronic diseases, so it is important to make this a habit.
• Ask your parents to be involved in meal prepping, ensuring that the foods you have learned about in class, such as ‘superfoods,’ are included in your weekly meals. 

Eating healthy is a first step to a healthier lifestyle. But what does a healthy lifestyle look like? Check out this New York Times article with 24 Simple Secrets to a Healthier Life.

According to The Healthy Community Study, “School meals can contribute over half of a child’s daily caloric intake.” School lunches are essential to student health, and lunchroom staff work hard every day to assure proper nutrition. Northside continues to provide our community with healthy meals inspired by a balanced diet.