The Emporia Gazette

May 28, 2012

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A story in the online version of the New York Times caught my eye recently. The headline: “Schools restore fresh cooking to the cafeteria.”

The article tells about a trend toward making school lunches healthier, which means making meals from scratch instead of relying on frozen chicken nuggets. Additives and preservatives, a constant in packaged and processed foods, will be greatly reduced.

Schools in Greeley, Colo., are the focus of the article which states, “Greeley’s schools will be cooking from scratch about 75 percent of the time on opening day, with a goal of reaching 100 percent by this time next year.”

In the ‘60s and early ‘70s, the school cooks at Pawnee Rock made our lunches from scratch. That was before other options were available; nevertheless, we were blessed with a skilled and friendly lunchroom staff. Three of the cooks who served over a number of years were Ruby Wilson (wife of Willard the welder), Wynona Unruh (who attended my church), and Carole Bowman (the mother of a classmate). In a small community, adult residents play a variety of roles in a child’s life.

Those Pawnee Rock cooks did a great job and our lunches were satisfying. We had goulash, lasagna, homemade pizza and open-faced hot roast beef sandwiches. Fridays were predictable – the entrée was either fish or macaroni and cheese.

As the clock swooped toward 11 a.m., the aroma of dinner rolls began to drift down the hallways and into our classrooms, disrupting our ability to do long division.

My friend Amy told me, “I loved the smell of those warm delicious rolls. Smelling them in the morning made them taste all that much better.”

Steam rose from rectangular serving pans as one cook spooned the entrée and placed it on a stainless steel compartment tray. Vegetables and dessert came next and the last cook in line tore off a roll from a rectangular baking sheet of homemade goodness. The rolls had rounded brown tops and soft white centers.

Lunch was a time when we were allowed to visit quietly with classmates, but not if it caused us to dawdle. We were expected to eat everything, or most of everything, and before heading to the trash cans and dishwasher, we had to get the nod from our teacher.

Now in our class, dear Darla was a slow eater and the rest of us were often excused to recess while the teacher waited on her to finish. Darla reported learning the hard way about trying to hide food in her milk carton. (OK, we all tried that and we all got caught.)

Overall, meals were really good but each of us had several foods that the tender taste buds of a third-grader just couldn’t handle. No one liked the spinach (Oh wait, Amy did.) Only a few could stomach the sauerkraut. Peas were too mushy for many kids.

When I requested lunchroom reviews the other day from my Pawnee Rock friends, Sarah said, “I remember the icky lima beans, those weird apple things, spinach – canned and slimy.” Sarah also said, “I really remember the bread and can smell it now.”

If we couldn’t eat all of something, we had to at least make a serious effort. Donna told me, “My least favorite food was rhubarb pie. In fifth grade, I had to sit through recess and spelling because I wouldn’t eat the pie. Mrs. White finally let me scrape; I guess she was convinced I wasn’t going to eat it.”

Donna added, “My favorites were the homemade rolls, cinnamon rolls and the chicken and noodles.”

“I think one of my favorite foods was pizza,” Jeanette said. “My least favorite was the stuff that was made with potatoes and hamburger. I can’t remember what it was called – cook’s special?”

Marilyn remembered the spiced apple rings. “I think they were meant to be dessert. I loved the fresh bread and the pizza.”

Every day we went through the lunch line and we trusted the cooks’ smiling eyes. We may not have thought about it at the time, but we knew we were in good hands. Forty years down the road, we remember the tasty meals, the awkward vegetables, and especially the dinner rolls. We will never forget those rolls.

“Flyover People” is online at www.flyoverpeople.net. Cheryl Unruh can be reached at cheryl@flyoverpeople.net.