Lunch time: The time of the day where a student can be with their friends and not have to complete work. A time to talk about classes, meet new people and play around.

Most important, this is the time to eat.

“This year we are offering the school more of a variety of food,” Oxford High School Cafeteria Manager Claudia Goliday said. “We have more choices, and have changed the spices for more flavorful food.”

“We offer wheat bread, as well as regular for kids that are diabetic, and more choices for kids that are allergic to certain things.”

America wastes 30 to 40 percent of its food, according to World Food Day USA. That includes restaurants and school cafeterias.

“I do not feel the school is wasting food,” Goliday said. “The staff making students get food that they know that the students are not going to eat is something that I am not aware of, and that is something that should not be going on.”

“The food we serve now is already prepared so that the students do not have to get a certain thing.”

And what are some of the go-to delicacies on the everyday menu?

“The only thing that we are required to give is a fruit or vegetable – we are required by the state to give them that,” Goliday said. “That goes for breakfast and lunch, but most of the time we don’t have a vegetable so they have to pick up a fruit. That is the only requirement they have to have.”

Whether those items go uneaten, remains to be the same.

“I feel like the cafeteria wastes their food,” said sophomore Reginetta Mixon, “such as unsugared rice and the grilled meat sandwiches.”

Said Oxford High sophomore Jefferson Davis, “In some cases, yes, I do think the school is wasting food. In the mornings when I get breakfast, they’ll force me to get a fruit, and I’m not in the mood for a fruit and neither are my friends at my table.”

“However, at the same time, there’s students wasting food as well. This afternoon (on Oct. 16), I was taking my tray to the cleaner, and I saw a full pizza at the top of the garbage can. In my mind, I was thinking, ‘These kids are wasting food.’”