The bell rings and lunch begins. Groups of students saunter across the cafeteria, people are talking, food is being eaten and a steady stream of students are trickling into the commons from the kitchen, carrying plates of food.
Making all that food takes a lot of work according to Trinity Dutton, who runs the kitchens at Lincoln.
“It probably takes a couple hours,” said Dutton. “We make a burrito bar every day, pizza every day and some other items, like a rice dish or orange chicken.”
All the food made in the kitchens is made to Portland Public Schools (PPS) standards, aiming to reduce artificial coloring, preservatives and sweeteners, as well as prioritizing local businesses as ingredients providers instead of huge companies, according to Nutrition Services on the PPS website (https://www.pps.net/Page/111).
In addition to meeting nutrition standards, the food needs to be prepared to fit the strict schedule of lunch as well as to provide a variety of dietary options.
“[The hot-lunch] is not necessarily healthy, but if you grab vegetables or salad, then it kinda is,” says freshman Micheal Jankovic. “It’s a lot better than my lunch last year.”
Dutton can’t do all the work serving lunch with only herself and her assistant. The lunch helpers system helps her with preparing and serving the huge amount of food needed for all the students who rely on it. For their service, lunch helpers get free lunch on the days they help out.
“When we don’t have lunch helpers it’s really stressful.” says Dutton. “There are so many kids wanting lunch, and it’s only the two of us.”
If you want to sign up to be a lunch helper, you can go to Trinity Dutton before school starts, she’ll likely be at the checkout area of the kitchen and you can ask her if you can help out.
