CPS students issue the grades in cafeteria taste test

The South Chicago elementary school was buzzing with students who, in a rare turn, were not taking a test but issuing the grades.

It was Chicago Public Schools’ periodic student taste test of the cafeteria menu.

One item, the green bean casserole, was topped with crunchy breading to make it more appealing to students.

But incoming fourth grader Arianna Curry couldn’t overcome her aversion to green beans, which she left untouched.

“I didn’t try them. I just knew I wouldn’t like them,” Arianna said.

She and several other grade schoolers offered mixed reactions — some contorting their faces — while testing potential school menu items Wednesday in the cafeteria of Arnold Mireles Academy, 9000 S. Exchange Ave., in South Chicago.

The tastings, held as often as four times a month, help CPS figure out which items to include on the next season’s menu, said Ariana Luster, school nutrition specialist at Chicago Public Schools. Luster also uses the feedback to improve dishes or determine which should be cut from the menu.

“Notoriously, school food isn’t seen in the most positive light. So we try to do whatever we can to be responsive to the feedback, give them the things they like but also meet the standards that we must meet,” Luster said.

CPS provides free school breakfasts and lunches to all enrolled students.

The students filled out paper surveys Wednesday, selecting their feedback in the form of faces ranging from smiles to frowns. While they’re tasting, Luster presses the students for more feedback.

“What are you liking? What do you not like about this? I see you put a frown. What’s not doing it for you?” Luster asks.

The students can be “hilariously critical but also pretty positive,” she said.

Students were testing five items, including a “comforting side” of green bean casserole, Luster said. “You might see that for Thanksgiving, before fall break,” she said.

The other dishes were desserts: a blueberry crisp, fruit dessert parfait, jollof rice and cinnamon peaches.

CPS doesn’t always serve sweeter items, she said.

“But it’s a different take on how we can present both fruit and grains in a way that still meets nutritional requirements,” she said.

Crafting a school menu has other, not-so-obvious logistical challenges. Menus on Mondays and Fridays may be simpler than other weekdays, in anticipation of lighter staffing because of call-offs, Luster said. The beginning and end of the week is also a time when students are coming from or entering a break.

“So we also have to make those items familiar, and comforting or reliable,” she said.

A recent school survey found CPS’s most popular dishes are pizza, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, nachos and hamburgers, Luster said.

But Wednesday’s taste test aimed “to add a little bit more excitement,” she said.

Luster said her favorite is the jollof rice, a popular dish from West Africa made with tomatoes, chilies, onions and spices.

Ziyonna Wheeler, who is entering the third grade, did not share that opinion.

“Kind of spicy,” she said.

Sixth grader Jacques Simmons said the rice was his favorite. Though he barely touched his green beans.