Every school day, hundreds of students stroll through the cafeteria line and pick up their lunch. Pizza slices, salads, fruit cups, and sandwiches appear neatly arranged, ready to eat.
Behind every tray is a journey that begins long before the food reaches our school, and even though many students and families care about having good nutrition, most do not know where the food we consume everyday comes from or what happens behind the kitchen door.
According to Director of Food and Nutrition for WSSD, Ms. Kate Rittler, the district’s main food vendor is a company called Performance Food Services.
This company, according to its website, is one of the largest food service distributors in the nation. The district gets all their dry food products from here, including rice, pasta, beans, and snacks.
For other fresh products, such as bread, fruits, and vegetables, the district relies on more local sources.
“We get all of our bread from Morabito Baking Company,” Ritter said. “They are located in Norristown. So we get that three times a week. It’s all fresh, made, and delivered around 5:00 a.m. We use Gentile’s Produce for all of your fresh produce. This is a grocery store that is also right down the road.”
Morabito Baking Company is a fourth-generation family-run business that has been servicing the area since 1932. Their website highlights: “Bread is baked fresh daily, with each product’s formulations tailored specifically to our customers’ requirements. We take great pride in our unsurpassed quality products and great customer service.”
Gentile’s Produce is also a local, family-owned and operated market. Located in Newtown Square, it has been servicing the tri-state area for over 50 years. The market provides a complete line of fresh fruits and vegetables.
“Gentile’s allows the customer to pick the freshest produce brought in from local, national, and international farms,” Rittler said. “Gentile’s Market receives daily deliveries to ensure that they are providing customers with the freshest hand-selected fruits and vegetables.”
Using ingredients from these sources, Rittler designs the menu for the entire school district. She explains that, when putting together the monthly menu, she has a lot of elements to consider.
“I try to balance chicken versus beef, pork, or fish,” Rittler said. “I try to make sure that we also have different proteins for our main dish versus our alternates. I also think about student favorites. So, in our breakfast for lunch, we always have tater tots.”
Having a varied diet with fresh products for students is very important for maintaining good health and well-being. Beyond the cafeteria’s efforts to offer a menu with fresh and local products, Haven is invested in promoting good, balanced nutrition among students.
Family and Consumer Sciences teacher Ms. Markell Reid developed a new elective course on Nutrition and Food Science that launched in the 2024-2025 school year.
Reid, who studied nutrition in college, is a registered dietitian nutritionist with experience working with young children in clinical pediatric hospitals. Now, as a high school teacher, she wants to help teens learn more about nutrition.
“It is important to have a positive relationship with food, which I think a lot of teens struggle with, especially since social media is such a big thing,” Reid said. “Having a basic knowledge of nutrition is good to move forward in life, and a good relationship means considering everything in moderation.”
In addition to considering the general nutritional requirements and offering a balanced diet for the entire school, Rittler explains that she also has to consider the special dietary needs and restrictions of some students.
Rather than offering a variety of menus for everybody, such as vegan or vegetarian, she needs to evaluate students’ needs individually, in accordance with USDA requirements. If a student has a certain restriction, they need to fill out a form approved by a doctor.
“For these students, I make a specialty menu every single month, based on their needs, and then they basically order through that,” Rittler said. “We make sure we have it ready for them when our lunch comes around.”
But what is the perspective from the student body at Haven? Despite the school’s and district’s efforts to create balanced menus with fresh products, many students are not familiar with how the food is chosen or the origin of what they eat.
Freshman Ari Danovitch recognizes the healthy options the cafeteria provides, but still finds limitations in the options..
“I don’t really think the school offers a completely balanced diet. There are limited fruit options in comparison to the amount of snacks they offer,” Danovitch said.
While the everyday menu cannot accommodate everybody’s preferences, it is important to recognize that students have options and can strive to make better choices regarding health
“I think you guys have more options now. You have a salad bar, which is fresh food, and all other options. Ten years ago, I think we had only two areas we could choose from,” Reid said.
