UACHS’ vegetarian struggles

We all have complained about our lunch period at some point. Whether it was the people you had lunch with or the period you had it, everyone has had something to say about it. On the other hand, there are some individuals at UACHS who have bigger issues during lunch besides not sharing lunch with friends or not having it at their desired time. 

For the most part, lunch time is a place where students have time to enjoy their food 

and interact with their peers. However, there are some students at school who can’t enjoy their food during lunch time because they can’t eat what the school provides. This is due to religious reasons. Senior, Bilal Mazhar, says that vegetarian meals at school would make his lunch experience easier.

“If they served vegetarian options, it would just make my life so much easier,” said Mazhar. “I wouldn’t always have to go out of my way to get food; I could save money and eat the food the school offers.” 

Halal food precisely is the way the animal is prepared and killed before it is served.

 Most students that don’t eat the lunch that the school serves do not eat pork, and for some other meats, the animal has to be killed a certain way and prayed on in order for them to eat it.

Malak Sayed, a sophomore at UACHS, explains that serving halal or vegetarian options, would just be overall beneficial. 

“Knowing that there’s food that they could eat would make muslim kids more 

interested in eating school lunch,” said Sayed. “There’s kids that just wait until they go home to eat.”

Vice Principal Sean Sawyer, explains that there could be a possibility for better options, however, the food options are mostly “need based.”

“It would be difficult, in terms that we may have to retrofit the kitchen,” Sawyer said. 

“If someone wanted halal food or more options, we could incorporate that but multiple kids would have to come to me and give me those ideas.”

With the school being more lenient with letting kids out due to COVID-19, UACHS

might not see vegetarian options anytime soon. However there is a possibility that it could be on UACHS’ menu sometime in the future.