Mount Vernon High School has a serious problem with the declining lunch quality. It has been noticed by many students that I have asked. The main problem that stands out to me is the fry and potato wedge quality.

To those who say that these fries are decent or even good, I ask: did COVID-19 take away your sense of taste for life? 

My freshman and sophomore years at Mount Vernon High School were the best years for fries, but starting last year, the students saw the crispy, seasoned potato wedges and fries be replaced with the mushy and tasteless fries that I wouldn’t even feed to my nonexistent dog.

Connor Spencer, a senior at Mount Vernon High School, had the following to say about the fry quality, “They are tasteless and mushy. The best thing for them would be salt, then they would be edible,” Spencer said.

Recently, I have watched a lot of Kitchen Nightmares starring Gordan Ramsay, and do you know what he would say if he tasted these pieces of garbage? He would say something along the lines of ‘I am shocked, these are absolutely dreadful’.

First, I like the taste of the sweet potato fries served at Mount Vernon, but “mushy” doesn’t even begin to describe the sweet potato fries I have received in the lunch line. They are floppy and borderline soggy fries that are inedible without a gag. The only fries I eat in the small basket I am served are the ones that have been burnt by the oven because they are the only ones that aren’t moist.

Performance is semi-dependent on caloric intake and when I don’t get the calories I need from my lunch I can’t perform with excellence in the arena, which is one of four foundations of the Mustang Nation.

My fight for fries wouldn’t be as big of a deal if they weren’t as prevalent as they are in the lunch line. For the upcoming lunch menu for October 2021 sweet potato fries, potato wedges, and regular fries show up 9 out of the twenty lunch days. 

Nine out of twenty doesn’t sound like a big deal but this means that you are being served these inedible, sad excuses for fries almost every other day. I know I will be sure to pack a snack on all of these days because when they come I know I won’t get the full stomach I need to fuel my brain and body.

I don’t want to come off as too confident, but I believe that I have a guaranteed solution to this school’s potato problem. Return to the old style of fries and potato wedges. If those are not available for purchase anymore I would recommend the school to buy better quality fries. A little extra money would go a long way for the betterment of the school’s lunch. As for the sweet potato fries, I would recommend that they be baked for longer so they are not as soggy.

I know that the problem I have brought up isn’t the number one problem for Mount Vernon High School, but this whole situation could be solved so easily. Whether the solution is to go back to the old potatoes or upgrade to new ones, I don’t care. I just want it done.