Bento boxes set to replace hot lunch New lunch format starts next fall

Maya Nieves

With Park beginning to plan school-wide construction, the question of how students would still have a healthy and full lunch remains. Administration decided the best way to still have healthy meals for students was to introduce bento boxes. Bento boxes are non-reusable boxes that hold cold food in different compartments.

Having the bento boxes would mean that Park will no longer serve hot lunch.

Sophomore Miles Johnson said that this could be a struggle for students who mainly get food at school.

“Some students are not as privileged as others and can’t afford to bring their own lunch,” Johnson said. “Those students will have to eat a cold and less filling lunch everyday, when at home they might not be getting nutritious hot foods either.”

Sophomore Adam Rosvold said that he is concerned about the bento boxes not holding enough food for Parks’ hard-working students.

“Everyone's eating habits are different, some kids will get enough but others won’t think it’s enough. That will decrease the amount of kids that get lunch from school,” Rosvold said. “Kids who are not getting enough food will struggle because they won’t have enough energy to go the rest of the day at school.”

Assistant Principal Derek Wennerberg said when the middle school underwent construction in the fall of 2020, bento boxes were used.

“The middle school went through a cafeteria remodel a few years ago and the food service staff did an amazing job,” Wennerberg said. “They did an amazing job at mixing up the offerings to make sure it wasn't just going to be a ham and cheese sandwich and a turkey sandwich the next day. (There was) a wide variety and very creative options.”

Assistant principal Alyssa Gardner said that while the ideal goal was to have a way for students to continue to have hot lunch, with the construction it wouldn’t be possible.

“There wasn't a reasonable way to ensure students still had hot lunch,” Gardner said. “The bento box was the next best option to ensure that everybody will still have healthy and full meals while the cafeteria undergoes construction.”

Johnson said the bento box option will allow lunch to take a shorter amount of time.

“Bento boxes will definitely make lunch faster,” Johnson said. “It'll give us way more time to eat and talk if we can just grab a box of food and sit down.”

Bento boxes will start being used during the fall of the 2023-24 school year as Park continues with renovations that begin at the end of the school year.