Tuesday over 1,000 local students, and school administrators form 50 different school districts converged on the Beaumont Civic Center to taste some great food, and hopefully make menu choices for the next school year at the 18th annual Region 5 FSC Food Show
“They’ll ask the kids, well what about this do you not like,” said Amanda Calk, Student Nutrition Director for Lufkin ISD. “So there's really great feedback just from here that they take back to their manufacturer and say hey this is what we are hearing from these kids.”
Kids like 16-year-old Benjamin Hernandez from the Bob Hope School. He knows that the feedback given can help his classmates get the food they like.
“It lets us choose what we’re going to get next year, and we know what the kids want so it’s actually a good way to see what we get.”
Students were encouraged to vote “yes” or “no” on a ballot if they liked or disliked the food they sampled. But can someone who doesn’t love school lunches be persuaded to help their fellow students? Reggie Adams, a senior at Kirbyville High school, is hoping to give the underclassman better choices after he leaves regardless of how he feels about the current state of his school’s food.
“Yeah I’m trying to give them some good tasting food, cause the cafeteria food is nasty,” laughed Adams.
After finding a jalapeno tortilla wrap that he enjoyed, Adams felt the need to put down a yes.
“I give that a nine (out of a possible ten),” said Adams.