Jackson Maurino
Panther Tales
Lunch Ladies
In a recent interview, Panther Tales went behind the cash register in order to dig deep into Babylon High School’s lunches and the faces behind them. A task that is often overlooked – cooking, preparing, and presenting school lunches – is a necessary part of our school communities. Between breakfast, snacks, drinks, and lunch these ladies serve every student in the school, sometimes multiple times a day.
This couldn’t be done without Babylon’s incredible lunch ladies who are dedicated to doing the best with what they get. When asked the two questions about their favorite foods to make and the students’ favorite foods, the answers were practically identical. They love putting out mozzarella sticks, French toast, and chicken poppers, not because it’s the easiest, but because it is what students enjoy the most. When asked the question of what is in the famous school cookies, we got the response that they are simply “made with love.”
Their impact goes beyond providing kids with a full stomach. They truly love their job and even cook every night at their own homes. Besides the great hours, they enjoy coming to work because of “most kids” and the appreciation they show for being provided with a school lunch. They are well aware that they often provide students with their only hot meal a day and hope to make an impact on these students. Being in a 7-12 school, they love seeing the students enter the hallways as rebellious 7th graders and grow into mature, well behaved, and respectful high school students. In the end, they claim that “everyone remembers their lunch lady,” inspiring them to build those beloved relationship with students.
Despite all the love they have for their job, it also comes with many struggles. Firstly, they are heavily restrained by government guidelines and regulations. They wish they didn’t have these regulations so they could present their lunches without being held back. When we took a look into the back freezer and storage, we saw firsthand the strictness and intensity of these regulations, with food being stored extremely cautiously. An example being the strict allergy rules. If one person in the school is extremely sensitive to a food, they must stop using that ingredient entirely, such as sesame. Another thing they dislike is the shipping delays, explaining that they would make whatever the students wanted every day if it weren’t for the limited quantity of materials they are provided with and always waiting on. Both this and the rising prices are both largely due to the recent COVID-19 virus they say. “It really screwed up everything.”
With all this, the Babylon lunch ladies are not to be overlooked in our community. They support students’ emotions, fuel, and overall well-being. They truly love their job and what they do. “Seeing the students smile makes it all worth it in the end of the day.”
Written by Jackson Maurino
