Everyday, whether students bring their lunch from home or buy it at school, they have a lunch of what they can and want to eat. What if they ran out of time at home to pack a lunch and had to buy their lunch at school and found that they couldn’t eat any of the food options? Luckily at Riverside Brookfield High School, we have a wide range of food to accommodate most diets and allergies.

However, some students still cannot find a suitable lunch in the cafeteria. I spoke with Dawn Ives, the food manager for RB who has worked at the school for 9 years. Sometimes the main issue for kids is how much the lunches cost.

“Every year food prices go up. Not everything across the board, but just a couple things here and there. We never raise everything in one year,” said Ives.

According to Ives, the rising food prices in the lunchroom are not abnormal and although rising prices are not good for students, it is reassuring to know that not everything rises in price every year.

Another problem that some students at RB face is dietary restrictions, but Ives said this is no problem at all because students can request ahead of time for a special lunch that fits their diet.

“If I had a student come up to me that was vegan or vegetarian and they want black bean burgers (then) my chef offered to make black bean burgers from scratch. So it depends on their diet restriction and I would give them choices like what it is that they want to eat and let them make the choice,” said Ives.

“I would have to cost (the food) out by the ingredients,” said Ives when asked about how much a special lunch will cost. 

So, the answer to the question then is: you never know until you try. There are many diet choices and allergies to food out there in the world and although the cafeteria may not have what you are looking for right now, maybe they will have it next year.

“I think we improve on (our food) every year to be honest. I have two chefs now and a kitchen manager, so I think everything improves throughout the year. We learn by doing,” said Ives.