Ranking School Lunches

From Uncrustables to Pupusas, the type and quality of food vary drastically between each lunch offered at Blair. But which of these options do students like the most? We polled almost 70 students from all four grades to find out. 

In order to quantify the students’ pick for “best school lunch,” students were asked to provide their five favorite school lunches, in addition to selecting their least-favorite lunch option. 

A lunch’s score is calculated from the number of times it was ranked in students’ top five: a first-place vote is worth five points, second is worth four, and so on, with a last-place vote causing a point to be subtracted from the food’s score. The results of the poll are below.

One of the most interesting results was the round pizza, which came away with the top score in the ranking points category, making it the “best school lunch” according to this poll. Surprisingly, this item received just three first-place votes, yet still scored 159 rank points. This is because of the 68 top five rankings we received, round pizza made an appearance in 58 of them. Round pizza is a rare example of a lunch that is consistently one of people’s favorites, yet seldom their number one pick. 

Shockingly, the chicken leg, the item that received the most first-place votes (11), earned just seventh place in rank points. It was very polarizing among students, also receiving the most last-place votes (13). Out of the 30 times it appeared in someone’s ranking, it was in first or last place in 24 of them. The pupusas also fall into the polarizing category, receiving nine first-place votes (2nd) and 11 last-place votes (2nd).

Another big winner from the poll was the Uncrustable, which accumulated 129 rank points (4th) and seven first-place votes (5th). The Uncrustable was a standout on this list, among other things, because it is the only item not cooked in the school kitchen. Instead, they are mass-produced, frozen, and defrosted before consumption. 

The lowest-rated lunches were the ham

with mashed potatoes and garlic bread pizza, which both received negative rank points. The ham with mashed potatoes performed especially poorly, being ranked as the worst option six times and making zero people’s top five lists. This earned it -6 rank points, 165 points below the top-rated round pizza. 

Behind each lunch are dozens of cafeteria workers who spend their day making them for students, and it is important to recognize that when criticizing the lunch options. 

Delicious or not, school lunches are a critical aspect of the MCPS school system and something that thousands of students across the county rely on every day.