Students at Lincoln High School get their lunches from different sources. They eat in talkative groups, sitting in the hallways, the gym or sometimes in classrooms. On nice days, some can be found sitting outside.

While a large majority bring lunch from home, some go out to nearby restaurants or food carts, but relatively few of the school’s 1,700-plus students  eat in what might seem the most obvious place; the cafeteria.

Why is that?

The Cardinal Times recently decided to examine the reasons why so few students use the facility that was actually designed for lunch. We also wanted to find out what might make the cafeteria a more inviting place, especially as plans for a new school building emerge.

One big reason students do not go to the cafeteria?

Simple. The food.

“Cafeteria food is notorious for being not tasty, not very good,” said one senior who requested anonymity.

They instead choose to lunch outside.

“Having a couple extra dollars a day, because I have a job that I balance with school, has allowed me to buy food that fills me up, and that I like.”

A junior put it even more simply.

“Ugh,” she said, clearly disgusted, when asked about cafeteria food.

Still, not everyone avoids the cafeteria. On a daily basis, around 65 to 75 students walk through the lunch line. There seems to be a correlation between this low number of students and the number who receive free lunch. Data from the 2016-17 school year (as taken from the Portland Public Schools Free and Reduced-Price Meal Eligibility report) shows that 157 students are on the free lunch program (whether or not they actually use it is unknown).

For those who do come to the cafeteria, it’s a place where a group of friends who like to eat together can gather around a table and spend time together.

For example, on a recent visit to the cafeteria, the Times found members of the Lincoln softball team sitting in a group. They said it was a way for the team to bond. The team eats lunch together almost everyday that there is a game for the entire three month season.

“It really depends on if the parents are going to bring food [for lunch] or not,” said senior Nichole Neupert.

“We eat in the cafeteria because of space. Sometimes we’ll eat at the end of senior hall,” she added.

But most Lincoln students avoid the cafeteria if at all possible.

Some say it’s the location. Lincoln’s cafeteria is on the school’s lowest level, away from much of the activity and vitality that can be found in the hallways and elsewhere.

Then there are those who previously ate at the cafeteria, but encountered some of its obstacles.

“I used to have lunch in the cafeteria my freshman year,” said senior Leah Steindorf, but “I could never find anybody to have lunch with because they all wanted to go out and they didn’t want to wait in line.

“And by the time I was through the line everyone had already made plans. So sometimes I just wouldn’t eat, ‘cause I wanted to be with my friends or go out to eat in the sun.”

That points to another problem.

PPS schools provide just 33 fleeting minutes for a lunch break, so if a student wants to socialize while eating lunch, waiting in line for cafeteria food can seriously impact their lunch choices.

The situation at Lincoln is in marked contrast to the one presented in the 2016 film, Where to Invade Next? by documentarian Michael Moore. In the film, Moore takes a trip to a small town in Normandy, France, where some of the best food in town is being made right in the elementary school cafeteria.

“A three-, maybe a four-star kitchen … definitely the best place to eat in town” Moore narrates. “They don’t stand in a long line waiting for a bunch of slop on their plastic or styrofoam tray. The chefs bring the food to them” and everyone eats school lunch.

The lunches are nutritious, balanced, and healthy. They are attractive to the students, and they give students the time to eat and be with their friends through a single choice in where to get their food.

In response to his questioning the involvement of the mayor’s office in what goes on in the school cafeteria, a woman says “because the children will learn over time what a balanced diet is and to pay attention to what they eat.”

What is the impact of the current situation at Lincoln?

One problem is that it appears to contribute to a form of social division that keeps groups apart based on income.

Those with money or other resources leave campus for lunch or bring meals from home and eat in the halls. Some treat going out as a special occasion, while others see it as the norm.

Others have a less economic issue with eating in the school and are more concerned with finding a comfortable place to eat.

A sophomore on the softball team shared her story. “Sophomores and freshmen can’t eat up in their hallways so there’s limited space on where we can eat, and the cafeteria gets crowded, then the gym gets crowded” she said.

“Last year I found myself going out a lot just because I was like ‘Ahhh, I don’t know where to eat’ I don’t want to eat in Senior hall because I’m not a Senior so I guess I’ll just go and buy something at a store and just walk back.”

Those without extra money or whose parents don’t have time to prepare them a home lunch are often left downstairs, in the cafeteria, where they end up eating less appealing food in a less appealing atmosphere.

What can be done about this?

As plans take shape for a new Lincoln High School, based on whether the May school bond passes, administrators may want to consider a couple of things:

One, if the cafeteria were a more appealing place to eat, more students might be likely to use it. And two, if a system similar to the one Michael Moore found in France were in place — if the food were better and the lines shorter — students might not only be eating healthier meals but the form of class hierarchy that now exists may begin to fade.