Posted on 02/05/2019
In February, students at FHHS were treated to an updated lunch room and brand new meal options as Sodexo rolled out Taste4. Taste4 brings global tastes into the spotlight, along with shakable flavors and specialty sauces. Students can select meal options from monitors displaying that day’s menu and are given a variety of healthier options.
Sodexo interviewed over 300 students from 15 different states to create the menus for the new Taste4 program. These students shared that they wanted their food to be fresh, filled with flavor, wanted to be able to enjoy it with friends, and wanted lunch to be fun. “This menu is designed with that in mind and offers new and exciting options for students to choose from with plenty of variety in both dishes and flavors,” said Food Service Manager and District Chef Karin Mann.
Students at FHHS will be able to choose from a much larger variety of options than were previously offered. A full deli line will allow students to build their own sandwich on house baked bread topped with hummus or giardiniera. A sweet Thai chili chicken pizza is now available alongside the usual cheese and pepperoni. Students can build their own taco salad, nachos or burritos and top it with spicy ranch dressing. “It gives them a nice new variety to choose from, full of flavor, with more fresh/scratch cooked foods,” said Mann.
Voting for future meal options will also be introduced. “The Taste4 Adventure station will rotate based on popular demand,” said Carl Ventimiglia, On-Site Service Solutions with Sodexo. “There will be a voting text service used that allows students to vote for the food being offered on the Adventure line, one month ahead. One week it could be Beale Street BBQ, next week Fiesta, another week it could be Tater Temptation.”
Overall, student reception was very positive. “I love it. It’s going to be good for the school,” said freshman Joey Peterson, who tried a spicy Italian sandwich from the deli line. Sophomore Mia Biermann said she’d probably branch out a little bit for tomorrow’s lunch. “A lot of the stuff looks good. The subs look pretty cool and so do the caesar wraps.
“I had a chance to talk with several students and some staff about the new lunch options,” said FHHS Assistant Principal Brian Thompson. “They said they loved the new food and it tastes really good. Everyone is looking forward to trying something different.”
FHHS was chosen to be the test location for the Taste4 program in FHSD high schools. FHC and FHN will also adopt the program, but those dates have not yet been determined.