Should students’ lunch menus offer more variety?

Pizza, french fries, hamburgers, tuna fish sandwiches and the like have always been a staple of school cafeterias.

Then along came dietary restrictions and considerations for healthy alternatives – and school administrators were given more to think about when it came to planning school lunch menus.

Now there’s a new wrinkle – the Legislature wants to get involved in allowing students to set up advisory committees on what should be on their menus.

So should some students prefer vegetarian alternatives, they’d be considered – along with other alternatives taking into account a school’s ethnic makeup?

This is all the brainchild of Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt (D-Camden), the sponsor of bill that would not mandate, but strongly encourage schools to set up advisory committees.

According to her plan on NJ.com, vegetarian options would be considered; as well as considering that:

...every school has a diverse population, and there should be representation on an advisory committee on such.”

Frankly I can’t see why there’d be a need to set up committees to discuss individual needs when all you’d have to do would be to brown-bag it from home.

Which is exactly what I did.

Bring lunch in from home. And it was always a treat to see all the Irish kids from Belle Harbor look in wonder at the sandwiches I’d have on, say, Mondays - when I’d eat leftover meatballs in an Italian roll.

Or on Fridays when my mother would make me peppers and egg sandwiches.

They’d always wonder what that smell was coming from my locker.
I never even realized that I’d passed the tradition down to my daughter.

She recently wrote of her days in Manalapan HS when she brought cavatelli and broccoli to school for lunch, and the aroma was just too much for the “medigone” kids who’d only bring in PBandJ on American bread. (White bread for those of you who don’t know the terminology!)

So, were these advisory panels to be set up, kids like my daughter, who might have a yen for the aforementioned “cavatelli and broccoli” would be accommodated – as would the kids who’d prefer the flavors of India, China, Russia, Greece, Italy – you name it.

True, variety is the spice of life – but if you can’t get it from school – bring it from home!

Problem solved!