For many, high school cafeteria food is not something to be looked back upon fondly. But a group of high school students at Newton North and Newton South see potential in the daily meals that their schools serve.
This fall, Newton North student and leader of the school’s “Green Team” sustainability club Alicia Qiu hosted a plant-based food taste-testing event through a collaboration with Chartwells, the food service provider that serves the Newton Public Schools. Students had the opportunity to sample two different meals — General Tso’s Tofu, a vegan dish; and eggplant zucchini casserole, a vegetarian dish — and vote for the one that they would want to see added to the regular rotating menu.
Qiu said that given the looming threat of climate change, it is important to make an effort to shift to a more plant-based diet. She organized the event in hope of informing students about the eco-friendly food options available to them.
“When we’re growing older, we’re becoming naturally more independent from what our parents make us eat,” she said. “Now that we can choose, like at lunch, what we eat … we have the opportunity to choose plant-based options at school, and that would be more empowering for youth.”
Qiu said that student response to the event was positive, an outcome that felt rewarding.
“My favorite part was seeing all the students being able to enjoy the food,” she said. “It made me really happy to see all these other students just coming, not necessarily because they’re vegan … which is awesome, because that should be the entire point of having a taste-testing event — highlighting that plant-based food can also be tasty.”
On December 18, Newton South will hold a similar taste-testing event in collaboration with Chartwells. Newton South student and member of the school’s “Sustainability Squad” club Sydney Hanley, who organized the event, said that educating her peers about the importance of a plant-based diet is important to her.
“[It’s about] telling people, ‘yeah, there’s free food here,” but also, ‘Why is this type of food impacting the environment? Why is eating less meat good for the environment?’” she said. “I’m hoping the education part will really take off as well.”
Hanley said that events like these can help show her classmates the ways that they can make a meaningful difference when it comes to fighting climate change.
“[It’s] especially empowering young people, because a lot of us, I think, are nervous about climate change and want to find ways to make a positive impact, but don’t always know how,” she said.
During the planning processes for their events, Qiu and Hanley worked with global nonprofit Plant Based Treaty, an organization that aims to promote plant-based food systems. Brookline Public Schools educator and Plant Based Treaty volunteer Mary Fitzgerald, who assisted in organizing the events, said that she believes education and student activism are crucial to tackling climate change.
“Students are worried and feel deeply the challenges we are facing and will continue to face in the coming decades regarding our environmental crises,” she said. “The science is clear. Moving towards a plant-based food system has mitigating effects on climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, sustainability, social justice, animal welfare, and human health. This is something we can all do that will have a measurable and collective impact on all of these issues.”
Fitzgerald said that seeing the events come together has been an enriching experience for her.
“As a teacher, there is nothing more rewarding than watching students’ passion for change turn into meaningful action, and that’s exactly what’s happening with Alicia and Sydney,” she said. “I’ve watched and listened to them as they advocate for more plant-based meals in their schools, and it’s a real honor to be a small part of that journey with them.”
Theo Younkin is a Fig City News student reporter, a senior at Newton South High School, and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the NSHS Lion’s Roar.
