More students now choose to eat lunch from the school cafeteria over bringing meals from home, since Amador launched its first free lunch program last year. A new designated menu is available to check on the Amador website, which includes numerous changes made to the program.

Everyday, students rush to check the meal options on the daily rotating menu. Aside from the cheese burger, spicy chicken sandwich, chicken nuggets and pizza, which are provided everyday, the large senior cafeteria presents special dishes each day.

Compared to the menu options offered before the pandemic, the current school lunch menu has been reduced. For example, the old menu has both fruit soda and milk offered, but the new one only contains milk. Some students miss the original meal options before the pandemic. 

“My old time favorites are the chicken salad and the turkey sandwich, which are not offered anymore since the lunch is free. I recommended that the school lunch offer other kinds of food [like before],” said Karry Zheng (‘23).

Amador’s lunch menu changed after the return from online school; some students believe the overall food quality has decreased and miss the lunches provided before the pandemic. 

“Sometimes [the food] is good, but sometimes I just want to throw my food away because it was just made improperly,” said Avital Belau (‘25). 

The pandemic has brought the closure of many food companies and the worker shortage in food production which resulted in the sharp decrease in food supply. According to a study from University of California Irvine, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated many nutrition-related health disparities. 

While some students are unsatisfied with the quality of their meals, others approach the lunch line with a more appreciative mindset. 

“I think [the school lunch] is great. I really like the pizza. A lot of the people say that the pizza is bad because it’s really oily, but I like it,” said Rhidaya Bhat (‘25).