By Adam Albrecht
A special message in the form of marinara sauce arrived at Branford High School this month, giving students some say in adding new and healthy options to the school lunch menu.
During all lunch waves on the 13, Massaro Community Farm brought their marinara sauce for students and faculty alike to try. Chef John Turenne and farmer Steve Munno from Massaro have been working with Chartwells, which serves food at BHS, to bring some of their food items to the school.
“Our goal is to bring healthy food to schools across Connecticut and give them better food to eat.” said Turenne.
Many students have complained about the quality of the school food in the past and said that something needed to be done.
“I haven’t gotten food from the school in a long time,” said senior Ty Jaruchaiyakul.
“I feel like the quality of the food has really gone down in the last few years,” said senior Ian MacDougall.
Massaro Farm has done events like this in the past with the high school which they call Student Choice. These are times where the students get to taste and decide on whether or not the food item should be added to the lunch menu or not.
At BHS, students voted on several options . Whichever sauce gets the most votes will be added to the BHS menu for a few months. The marinara sauce will be added for the next few months of this school year.
Chaves Bakery, located in Bridgeport, CT, is where the farm gets all their bread for tastings and other great events. They also have help from Chartwells, whose message is “serving healthy and nutritious food provides a foundation for lifelong learning.”
Farmer Munno says that many people that go to their farm love their products and always buy them in large quantities. However, he wants to change that.
“When people come to our farm and buy our products, they buy them after we have already put them in their packages and jars,” he said. “They don’t get a chance to see all the great stuff that goes into making those items. By doing these kinds of events at the high school, we can bring the product straight to the people and make it fresh, allowing the student and teachers to get a first hand experience of what the food really tastes like and see how it is made.”
“I really liked it. It was a nice change.” said junior Derek Slater.
There were lots of positive reviews of the sauce from both students and faculty.
“Overall, I thought it was pretty good,” senior Nick Miller said. “I would definitely have it again. 9/10.”
“I love the idea and hope to see more in the future.” said junior Nirvan Paudyal.
Chartwells and Massaro Farm both hope to have more events like this in the near future. They want students to get the best food possible and the high school can really benefit from these, officials said.
And students and faculty would not complain for more free and delicious food.
