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Students Boycott Chicago School Lunch That Is 'Worse Than Prison Food'

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Dec 03, 2015 02:22 PM EST

Students at Roosevelt High School in Chicago are on a rebellion. They are protesting their school lunches that are provided by Aramark, calling them "disgusting" and "no better than prison food". They are boycotting the lunch totally.

In November, the students launched "The School Lunch Project: Culinary Denial, in order to spread awareness against the food. All the 1,400 students at Roosevelt were asked to support better nutrition, according to TakePart.

"I think it's especially important for young people in Chicago - where we see so much corruption, cronyism, and nepotism - that they learn how to make change within large organizations," said Tim Meegan, a social studies teacher at Roosevelt. "This is just one of many diverse tactics that we are trying to teach young people so they are fully equipped to participate as citizens in a democratic society."

The students made a telling point in their website . They said that the food at Roosevelt High is "no better than that served at prisons." Interestingly, Aramark is the food service provider for the school as well as the Cook County prison nearby

"Today, our lunch at Roosevelt is no better than the ones in Cook County prison. In fact Aramark is the food service provider for both institutions," student activists said. "Prisons only care about one thing when it comes down to meals - that it has enough nutrients for what the human body needs, it doesn't matter if it tastes or smells bad. One online review of the prison food shows that prisoners get better food from Aramark than we do. For example they have corn muffins, steamed carrots, green beans, also mac and cheese. They also drink Kool-Aid."

Food should be healthier and tastier, with bigger portions, said the students.

Their MoveOn  petition calls for the principal, the Chicago Board of Education and Aramark to allow them to "open the lunchroom kiosk, have vending machines, off campus lunch, food delivery, and increased options, portion sizes, and quality in our school lunch."

Said the Chicago Public Schools: "the health and wellness of our students is among our top priorities, and we will look into the students' questions about their meals."

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