Schools should serve more cultural foods

Beef+tapa%2C+a+Filipino+dish+that+could+be+offered+on+school+menus.+

Beef tapa, a Filipino dish that could be offered on school menus.

Waipahu High School is a diverse high school with many different cultures. As a diverse high school, it is important to represent and respect our different cultures. Being able to have cultural foods served at school would be a great way to do so.

Imagine being able to eat different cultural foods that you’ve always wanted to try. I would want to try different Hawaiian dishes other than kalua pork and cabbage, or the more recently popular Korean cheesy corn dogs. I would like to have Filipino breakfast options at school like corned beef, tocino, longanisa, and garlic rice. 

Students would want to eat cultural foods at school because there would be more options to choose from. Being able to have more diverse options for food would be a great because we would get to explore different foods, and sometimes we just don’t want to have the same thing for breakfast or lunch every time it repeats on the lunch menu. This would draw more attention to school meals so that people could start eating them more. Since cultural foods would also likely have to be made from scratch, it would also be healthier than processed options that are reheated. 

Although the expenses of cultural meals and knowing how to make them may be challenges, students would still feel happy to see cultural foods on the school menu.