ISABELLA YAN || ARTS EDITOR
Behind the serving counter, the kitchen has been buzzing with energy since the early morning hours. Cafeteria workers have been busy preparing around 1,200 lunches––pasta, salads, sandwiches, pizzas, smoothies, fresh fruits and vegetables. The crunch of lettuce, the slosh of soups, the hum of the ovens, and the sizzle from stovetops form the symphony that is the daily routine in the kitchen.
In the offices tucked inside the kitchen, Assistant Food Service Director and registered dietitian Taylor Pirog is crafting the lunch menu for the students across Andover Public Schools (APS)––a menu that requires a delicate balance of nutrition, budgeting, and taste. Soon, Pirog will take on an even larger role, succeeding as Food Service Director following the retirement of longtime director Gail Koutroubas in May.
According to Pirog, the government provides $4.10 for each student meal. The money is not only allocated for the entrees, sides, and drinks but also for trays, utensils, and labor costs. All of those expenses must be under the four-dollar budget to allow money to be set aside to pay fees, fix equipment, and buy new products for the kitchen.
Planning school meals brings a range of challenges from budgeting constraints to fulfilling national standards and accommodating student needs.
Recent changes in budgeting have required adaptability in the menus. In early March, Massachusetts lost over $12 million in federal funding for school meals. According to Mass.gov, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education received a termination from the United States Department of Agriculture for the second round of the Local Foods for School (LFD) funding. The notice of termination claimed that the funding was canceled because it “no longer effectuates agency priorities.” The funding provided by LFD was used to provide local and healthy food for schools. Prior to the cut, APS Food Services had been working with local farmers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. However, the new financial constraints will limit the purchase of those farm products.
“I don’t want our menus to change, so we’ll still have workarounds around that,” said Pirog. “It might be more limited with [the] local grass-fed burgers [and] the chickens––things that just cost more money.”
At its core, APS follows the National School Lunch Program, which requires that student lunches adhere to a certain meal pattern with specific components and dietary specifications according to grade level. This includes a certain amount of fruit, vegetable, grain, and meat components, as well as requirements for calories, saturated fats, and sodium.
While there is no requirement for providing vegetarian options in schools, Pirog is aware that there is a student need for it. When there are meat options on the menu, she tries to provide vegetarian alternatives. However, she added, “Part of what can make it challenging [to provide alternatives] is federal guidelines require you to have a serving of protein with every meal.” She prefers to purchase products from MorningStar Farms, a food brand that uses plant-based protein in their vegetarian meat products.
Despite these efforts to provide options for vegetarian students, limitations remain. Junior and vegetarian Ishani Singh-Joglekar shared that while vegetarian options are often available on the menu, the unpredictability has led her to develop strategies to navigate the lunch options. Singh-Joglekar shared, “If you a) check out the menu ahead of time, b) plan what you’ll eat that day, and c) order a wrap ahead of time if you want to get a wrap, there is a variety of food you eat every day.” She added, “Otherwise, you may have to resort to pizza or salad a lot of times.”
Singh-Joglekar noticed that sometimes when there are alternatives to the meat options provided on the menu, it is not stated on the whiteboard or the online menu, making it difficult to plan ahead.
In addition to catering to dietary restrictions, the menu options also aim to reflect the growing diversity within Andover with a new range of cultural foods provided during lunch. When looking into Andover’s population data, Pirog noted significant changes in the demographics of the student population. According to mass.edu, in the last 12 years, the percentage of white students in the Andover student population has decreased by 15%, while the Asian population has increased by around 7% and the population of Black and Hispanic students has doubled. “It…felt like we needed to [have] menus that represented [the student diversity],” said Pirog. “I don’t know that we’re always cooking it as authentically as someone might have at home, but I think it’s really awesome that our staff are making that effort.”
Singh-Joglekar echoed this sentiment, and shared, “The cultural food, specifically the Indian food, is usually inauthentic, but I do appreciate the effort.”
Pirog is always looking for student suggestions through surveys that she sends out through email. “I really honor those surveys,” she said. “My whole thought process is, ‘You are the ones eating the food. So we want to give you what you want to eat.’ And as long as we can make it happen, we try to do that.” When Pirog received 20 student requests for gyros with chicken and tzatziki, she immediately added it to the menu despite the busy preparation it demanded.
As Pirog prepares to step into her new role as Food Service Director, she remains committed to her passion for providing students with equitable access to nutritious meals. The offices tucked inside the kitchen will continue to remain a space where thoughtful planning provides for versatile meals and honors student voices.
