Wicked Local Cambridge: What’s on the menu is more important than ever as Cambridge school lunches diversify

9/13/2019

In Cambridge, where many students speak a home language other than English, school lunches have grown to be a far more complex, yet exciting challenge for food services.

At Cambridge Public Schools breakfast is free, and, for lunch, 43 percent of the student body qualified for free or reduced-price meals last year. Now, with help from the city, students who previously qualified for reduced-price meals now get them for free. This means what’s on the cafeteria menu is more important than ever.

But this is a common challenge across the state as a high number of students partake in their school lunch programs. Food service departments have the challenging task of designing menus that meet an ever-growing diverse student population, while also remaining vigilant when it comes to allergies and food restrictions. The pressure is high to offer newer and healthier choices, while also increasing participation rates (read: more revenue), and federal food guidelines that are changing under the current presidential administration…

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