By Benjamin Dibb
Before my senior year of high school, dietary restrictions were abstract to me — I understood that they posed a problem for other students, but I grasped neither the scope of the problem nor the student experience. That ignorance was shattered by my transition to a vegetarian diet just before that year began.
I, like so many other students across the U.S., discovered an entirely unsurprising truth: that hunger makes school (and life) harder. I lost weight, I couldn’t focus, and my academics suffered. Thinking back on my school cafeteria’s options, it would have been nearly impossible to follow a plant-based diet, as I do now. Fortunately, bringing lunch from home daily was an option for me, unlike for many others.
Several other fellows from this year’s cohort have shared how their religious dietary restrictions, particularly halal restrictions, have made eating school lunch a challenge. One fellow has struggled to fuel his athletic pursuits with a lack of nutritious and accommodating options, while another fellow was forced to stop eating school lunch entirely despite relying on it due to the unhealthy nature of the halal options offered…