One of the most iconic parts of school, next to learning, is lunch. School lunch is iconic to everyone, no matter how good or questionable it is, and whether you like it or not. The food from school remains one of the top topics of conversation. Jokes often circle about how bad school lunches are, but just how bad are they? Are there hidden gems? What do students think? That’s what we’re getting to the bottom of in this article.

The rules?

Before we begin, how will we do this? How will we measure this? What are the rules? Well, for our rules, to start, we’ll establish here the kind of foods we aren’t counting. NO cold foods, sides, snacks, or anything that’s not the traditional main meal/entree. We’re also not considering modifications, meaning no adding sauce, no spices, no reheating, or anything like that. Finally, before we begin, it’s important to mention that these are preferences and opinions, albeit correct opinions. Also, we made pizza exempt from this list due to the many variations of pizza the school serves. It would be unfair if all the votes went to the different kinds of pizza. With this, we can move on to our foods!

The food war!

Here we are… The food war! A brutal war between all the foods, and only one can come out on top.

• Chicken parm! This one’s a solid choice, as well as having quality cheese, the chicken is still warm, sometimes undercooked, and surprisingly soggy, which helps! 
• Pizza bites! An alright choice (totally not biased), decently packaged with cheese and some bread; however, it can be a bit oily, and you usually only get three or four.
• Cheeseburger! Okay… NOW we’re talking. An amazing choice with soft meat but flavorful, okay bread to complement, as well as cheese for a lil’ flare.
• Chicken tenders! Biggest hit or miss. They can be either breaded slightly (good) OR be made of bread (bad), which can mess with the texture and turn it into a solid rock of crumbs.
• Spicy chicken sandwich! Tuff? You bet! A great choice for a great day. Not too many things can mess this meal up, besides eating it too fast.
• Chicken teriyaki! Tasty, warm, and it’s got some good sauce too! Some parts can be a bit chewy, but overall, pretty good!
• Pasta with sauce! A standard pasta meal–no meatballs, but does it need it? That’s for you to decide.
• Beef nachos! Crunchy and soggy, what more could you want? And the cheese is great too! Not a bad choice at all.
• Turkey hot dogs! Certainly a meal, but not a bad one when made right!

With this, we have our contestants! Who will win? What are people’s opinions? Let’s find out!

RESULTS!!

The results reveal that kids these days like our school cheeseburgers better than the rest! A solid pick that we agree with. Cheeseburgers are an iconic lunch food; nothing too bold or crazy about it. It’s not spicy or too flavorful, perfect for picky eaters and casual eaters alike. Although pizza bites and turkey hot dogs tied for second, they just can’t beat the burger.