Disclaimer: I want to preface this by saying how much I, along with the rest of Littleton Public Schools, immensely appreciate the work our lunch staff do. They are responsible for feeding hundreds of children nutritious, full meals every day and do always do so cheerfully. This column is not intended to berate them for their work but instead commentate on the products they are given by our government and are forced to make appetizing. We must also understand we are still getting meals for free this year so they are not expected to be the best quality in the world.
To celebrate the end of Mary’s Menu, this edition strays from the usual format and covers some different dishes from the past few months.
Friday April 14th - JetBlue International Flight Dinner (Tofu, Kale Salad, Green Beans)
For anyone unaware, a handful of LHS Drama students (including myself) went on a trip to London over April break. We had to endure a 6-hour overnight plane flight to get there, but they were oh-so gracious enough to serve us dinner. There were many options to choose from, and I chose the Spiced Tofu & Rice, chilled Kale Salad, and Green Beans.This meal was honestly a lot better than I expected from airplane food. The tofu didn’t taste like much but the rice was good. The seasoning on the Kale salad was good but the whole thing was very mushy. The green beans yielded a very similar result. Overall, I’d rate it a 4.5/10.
Saturday April 29th - Prom Food
For the tickets to be worth $80 freaking dollars, I expected the food at prom to blow me away. It did not. Don’t get me wrong, it was not bad by any means. All of the dishes tasted pretty good and I appreciated the options we had with the buffet. But it wasn’t anything special. All of the food had the vibe and quality of Costco catering, or those pre-made meals on the shelves of Market Basket. Also, the actual process of getting food at prom was a nightmare. Tables on one half of the room were ready to get seconds while other tables, like mine >:(, still hadn’t gotten any. Also, they didn’t even have enough of the bread they served before the actual meal (I’m serious- we ran out of pieces at my table and we only had like 10 people). The dessert was also disappointing, I liked the cheesecake last year wayyyy more. Overall, food itself gets a 7/10, experience gets a 3/10.
May 4th - Salad Bar
In my whole two years of running this column, I have shockingly never reviewed our school’s salad bar, and that is a CRIME. I am a self-proclaimed salad girlie, and always have been; 8-year-old me even once embarrassed my parents by ordering a salad instead of pizza at a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party. As a salad connoisseur, I can confidently claim that Littleton High School’s salad bar HITS every. time. The options are phenomenal, there’s always a wide array of colorful vegetables, animal & vegetarian proteins (whenever there’s bacon in the salad bar my day gets 10x better), healthy fats, even tons of different dressings. And, besides the occasional squishy tomato, everything is always crisp, fresh, and fully in stock. When I say I LOVE our salad bar I mean it- I get salads usually at least 3x a week. And as somebody with a host of dietary restrictions, it’s nice to have more customizable options beyond the basic pizza or bean burger. Also, the addition of compostable containers for salad is an awesome step towards sustainability and deserves to be applauded. Overall, I will always rate the salad bar 10/10. I will miss it dearly.
P.S. - If anyone is looking for a good salad combo to try, I always go spinach, chicken, hard-boiled egg, bacon, if it’s there, green pepper, feta, and honey dijon dressing.