Wolf bite

It's 5Th period and my stomach has been whispering to me all day.The minute hand slowly treks around the clock allowing for the hunger to settle in. As the bell rings and the mad dash to the cafeteria begins, a wave of energy crashes my body's nervous system, allowing for a semi-instantaneous transmission to the front of the lunch line. I enter my ID number and pick up a tray. I'm greeted by a sloppily assembled sandwich, suffocating in a plastic wrap prison. I sit down, disappointed by the meal I am forced to consume. Putting my better judgement aside, I take a bite and allow my dignity to slide down my esophagus.

In the decade that I've maneuvered through the public school system I've had my fair share of both good and bad experiences with school food. In elementary, pizza and tater tots were the epitome of gourmet dining. In Middle School the black cloud of embarrassment would hang over my head if I dared step foot in the lunch room. When I arrived to Food and Fiance i was surprised to see that the premiere culinary arts High School in NYC served their students sloppy Joes. I mean for crying out loud the Stuyvesant kids get a bridge couldn't we at least get Emeril Lagasse inspired pastas? After a while, I just stopped venturing into the cafeteria, finding it more filling to hang out in the library or the hallways.
One day I was short on cash and my hunger and discomfort were doing a weird tango in my stomach. I stood on line vaguely recalling my validation code issued in freshman year. I picked up my tray and was served a grilled chicken sandwich I added a generous portion of salad from the salad bar and grabbed a tangerine.Then it hit me, why not create my own grilled chicken salad? I had all the ingredients in front of me, why not experiment? And since then, I've been transforming the daily blah school menu into something exciting and fresh, simple gourmet.

Breakfast
School breakfast usually doesn't have that many defects. It's fairly simple; you get eggs AND bacon, cereal, the occasional pancakes or a bagel. This was the easiest to spruce up because it generally doesn't require any outside ingredients. With cereal you can get a serving of dairy grains and fruit by adding banana slices to your cereal. If you bring nuts from home, like walnuts, you can get protein as well. If you have a few dollars to spare, you can buy some fresh strawberries to substitute the banana. You could also go for a cream cheese bagel and add slices of strawberries to it and have a whole new experience.

Lunch
With the left over strawberries and nuts, you can take a boring grilled chicken and salad bar combo and make a fresh spring salad. Slice the berries and roughly crush the walnuts (or almonds) toss them into the salad and shred the chicken on top. If you have time at home and if you don't mind carrying it around with you, make a raspberry vinaigrette. Most schools always have a salad bar, so its less of a guess and check and a little goes a long way.
With the omnipresent hamburger and fries you can concoct your own special sauce with the packaged condiments that they offer or like the vinaigrette, bring a small container of a homemade version.

All it take is a little creativity, initiative and resourcefulness and you can chef up a delicious meal with the ingredients offered to you in the cafeteria. Now only if we can get our own bridge....