Lunch is a time for socializing, a time to take a break from the drag of class and a time to fill yourself with a healthy, midday meal. Or is it?

As a sophomore at Beaufort High School, I have become aware that the school district's supposedly "healthy" food is quite lacking in the health department.

The meals have hardly any substance. When I can come out of a lunch line and have only a burned hamburger of questionable origin, frozen milk and a bruised apple, there is a problem. Back in the days when mass-produced, microwavable food didn't exist, children ate handmade burgers with lettuce, tomato and ketchup, even a good helping of fries heaped on the side. And that wasn't all -- salad, fruits, whole white milk. The politically correct people who run the school district would say such a meal is unhealthy and far too expensive.

Why, then, is our "healthy" school food helping create the largest generation of obese youth ever recorded?

It's simple -- cheaper and faster is not always better. Throw away the microwaves, and turn on the stoves.

Destiny Vande Burgt

Beaufort