(Feb. 9, 2012)– “Food that’s bad for you tastes better. Everyone knows that,” said sophomore Mark Miller about the cafeteria food sold at Clark. Miller says that ever since former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill in 2005 that banned soft drinks and set nutritional standards for snacks and meal items, the taste of cafeteria food has gone down. “It’s healthier now; they have whole wheat bread. I mean, who has whole wheat?” said Miller. The cafeteria staff at Clark is serving healthier meals for students and teachers during snack and lunch. “Bread is whole wheat, milk is low fat, lots of vegetables. We cook some food, like turkey. We have lots of healthy foods. Everything is baked or steamed,” said Jasmine Avedian, the cafeteria cook/baker at Clark. “Obesity is the biggest problem in the United States, and some people are blaming cafeteria food.” “What you think may have a lot of sugar or calories really has much less than whole fat foods, or non-sugar free foods,” said Avedian. “We follow guidelines and recipes for our food. The health department sends it to us from the district and it tells us the calories and the serving amounts and all the nutrition information for the food that we make,” said Avedisian. Students are also encouraged to talk to the cafeteria staff. “We want to know what they eat, what they like, so we can order it and provide it to them. Many of the healthy foods that we serve now are foods that students chose to eat last year.” The USDA Spending Bill Proposal, signed into law in Nov. 2011, states that one-eighth of a cup of tomato paste is equal to one serving of vegetables. “I don’t believe that,” said sophomore Mariam Tritiyan. “I think there is a lot of calories in the food here, probably 200 or more. A lot of people say the food is disgusting, but I think It’s good. It’s healthy.” Although she doesn’t eat at school every day, Tritiyan says that when she does she likes to get the pizza or yogurt parfait. “I think it tastes really good, I like it.” Although healthier options are offered, such as whole wheat and sugar-free foods, according to junior Daniel Mejia, the freshness level may not be what you always think it is. “I got a carton of milk once, and it was way past its expiration date.” Senior Eric Hakopian doesn’t eat cafeteria food at all. “I try to stay away from the food as much as possible; I want to be healthy,” Hakopian said. “If I do eat at school, I try to pick something that looks healthy enough to eat.” Junior Jaytanut Yongpairojwong said that the cafeteria food tastes “terrible and processed.” Yongpairojwong thinks that schools should grow their own produce locally. “It would taste much better and it would be a lot healthier,” said Yongpairojwong. “If I was preparing the food for students to eat, I would use fresh ingredients and make it in the healthiest way,” Yongpairojwong said. “I would wash my hands before touching the food, and not use fatty foods.” Although many students have said that fresher ingredients would be better tasting, the District’s budget doesn’t allow much space for spending more per meal. According to the director of the GUSD food services department, Jennifer Chin, the maximum spending amount per meal for the District comes from the money the students pay for their food—$2.50. “It’s really hard to get what the students want all the time,” said Chin. “We use the money we get for a lot of things including the forks and spoons, ingredients for the meals, and everyone’s paychecks, so it stretches really thin.”