Morton East Students tend to like 4th hour lunch — it’s a nice middle of the day break, and there are still a lot of favorite food choices.  

According to “Just fun facts” about lunch, historically, the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century helped to shape lunch as we know it today. In addition, the middle- and lower-class eating patterns were defined by working hours. Many of the people were working long hours in factories and to sustain them a noon-time meal was essential. Currently, the most important meal of the day in many countries is the second meal of the day, after breakfast and before dinner.  In a random survey of a hundred Morton East students, 85 students agree that having 4th period lunch (12 to 1pm) is the best time to eat lunch. 

According to the foodservice department, Morton East is having some trouble meeting food delivery demands; supply chain challenges are affecting the way they are currently offering food. In Morton East kids have realized that lunch has been changing during the periods. There are few complaints during period 3 and period 4 lunches, but students in period 5 complain about fewer of their favorite food options.  

“They run out of food and supplies,” Morton East student Edwin Barajas said.  

Surely, he has not been the only one who noticed this.

“These are unusual times for food service in schools…While we are still able to offer different interests at each of our concept stations, the offerings may vary daily and be different from the menu because we cannot rely on our vendors to supply us with the foods, we need to fulfill our menu and projection requirements.  This is not a local issue.  Getting food and finding employees is a nation-wide problem with schools at this time,” Food Service Consultant Elvira Michalek said.  

According to food service director Betty Tinken, each lunch serves over 500 students, but not all students participate.  The cafeteria averages 1900 meals per day.    

“Between dairy, bread, produce and other food we spend at least $65,000 and sometimes more,” food service director Betty Tinken said.  

Besides this issue, they still must order and find food for students.  

 “Here is the breakdown of students in the lunch hours: 3A (has) 583, 3B(has) 564, 4A(has) 562, 4B(has) 526, 5A(has) 553, 5B(has) 526,” Dr. Michael Parrie Assistant Principal of Operations said.