The school lunch at North Central has changed since the pandemic put a halt to in person schooling last year. The food used to be decent, nothing special, but not very good. 

There were originally six lines to choose from including items such as pizza, chicken, homestyle, fiesta, panther favorites and fresh garden. Certain lines were more popular than others, but there was never really a bad option at each line. It more or less came down to if you felt like waiting. 

Once students reached the end of the line an assortment of chips, cookies and a wide variety of drinks could be purchased. When students came back last year for in person learning they would soon discover that the lunch items were not the same as when they left.

Everything, and I mean everything came out of a plastic bag, making most food items moist and soggy. “The only thing to stay the same is the calzone; everything else isn’t good anymore,” senior Ryan Burch said. 

The changes in food made were obviously not good and the students are not satisfied with it. At the start of this year, with everyone being back in school, lunch is somewhat going back to normal because the prison columns from last year are gone. Surely the food was going to go back to normal too right?

Wrong, what I discovered going through that was horrifying. The pizza was still in a plastic bag sitting under the warmer, not looking appetizing at all.

When I sat back down at my table I was a little annoyed that we were still being served the bagged food. When I opened my bag of pizza a strong stench exited the bag. The smell was so horrible my friend sitting next to me asked if he could throw it away to get rid of it. The food was not what it once was and it seems it will stay that way.