Between the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., the Parker cafeteria is often jam packed with hungry students, waiting in clustered lines for lunch. Students aren’t afraid to get aggressive and push and shove their way through crowds to get a meal. Within the past year, Parker students have expressed desires for a solution. The newly instated food council works to address these concerns. 

The food council is a student-led group that meets a few times per year. It is currently run by Executive Chef Zac Maness, with about 16 representatives signed up. So far, one meeting has been held, and about eight representatives showed up. 

“The food council is something we’ve done on and off for the last 10 years,” Maness said. “The purpose is to have a direct line of communication from the student body to the kitchen to make sure that we’re supplying everything that we can and need to in addressing issues if and when they arrive.”

On December 3, sophomore Davu Hempill-Smith took the stage at plenary to present the proposal that reintroduced the council. Once voting procedure commenced, the proposal received 96% approval from the student-body. The proposal was based on the food council mandate by Quest, Parker’s culinary provider. After it was discussed in Cabinet, Hempill-Smith decided to create an official internal proposal.

“Lunch is an important part of a student’s day at Parker,” Hempill-Smith said. “Being able to hear what students want to make the lunch experience better can lead to a positive improvement of student life.”

The student-led food council is not something new to Parker but in years past meetings have only been held inconsistently. Hempill-Smith believes the council was under-prioritized because it was not officially a part of Student Government. As such, there were not any regulations or requirements for it to follow.

“Now that it does have bylaws, a clear purpose, and its head will be elected during the Student Government election season, it can be a strong part of our democracy and won’t be forgotten due to having no real place in the Constitution,” Hempill-Smith said.

The meetings serve as an open forum for students to bring questions, concerns, and ideas regarding culinary services at Parker.

“I run the meetings, field questions, answer questions, and bring ideas either to the administration or into my kitchen to fix any issues that may arise and also explain things,” Maness said.

Meetings are intended to discuss ideas from the entire student body. Representatives are supposed to have conversations with the Parker community and bring back concerns to discuss as a council.

 “In meetings we have been discussing three main topics: the use of to-go boxes, supply chain issues, and the cafeteria as a space,” food council representative and junior Roque Lipford said. “We also talked about the menu, but we decided we need student data for our next meeting before we really discuss that in detail.”

Changes have already been made to the cafeteria environment. Previously, the cafeteria offered large plastic water bottles. The council decided to replace those with smaller plastic water bottles due to the high amounts of plastic being wasted and unfinished bottles after school days. 

A lot of discussion is also focused on cafeteria lines. The council has been unable to come up with a solution because the crowded environment is a problem with the cafeteria design and schedule.

“A lot of it is a matter of being able to understand each other and know that we’re doing everything we can for the lines,” Maness said. “There are long lines but they go very fast.”

When distributing hot lunch, the majority of  students use disposable to-go boxes, which are not environmentally-friendly, especially when large numbers of containers are being used. The council has tried to implement environmentally safe solutions, but nothing worked particularly well. 

“To-go boxes are extremely convenient for upper school students, and while attempts have been made to get people to use plates, there has not been a great option for students that is more appealing than to-go boxes,” Lipford said.

To communicate a cafeteria concern, idea, or question, students and teachers should speak with a food council representative to get the issue discussed in council.

“We want to please folks and make sure they’re happy with the service, happy with the food, happy with the selections, and the best way to do that is to get a representation of the students,” Maness said.