By Erin Eagle ’17, Features staff writer

It’s 11:30 on a typical weekday. You know what that means…

This time represents the dreaded fifteen minutes of the day when you yearn for even the most miniscule crumb of something edible: literally anything that will satisfy your empty stomach.

We have all been there, counting the minutes until we can safely walk into the cafeteria and grab a filling meal.

This happened in 2015, and trust me, this still happens in 2016. Nothing is going to change, except for the hope that you will have a perfectly tasty meal once you walk into that room.

Fortunately for you, having great meals is truly possible with the cafeteria’s amazing new recipes for success in 2016.

Not only does the kitchen staff hope to make 2016 an even better year, but they are going the extra distance to make it tastier too! As always, you can expect all the usual favorites, such as muffins in the morning, breakfast for lunch, and fro-yo surprises, but now the food will go above and beyond.

Here are some of the new additions to look forward to this year, as proposed by Mr. and Mrs. Brower:

1) Freshly Made Pizza
Get your very own individual pizza pie for $5 after school from 2:30-5. Not only can you order pizza any day of the week, you can preorder it in the morning so it will be ready right on time.

2) Fresh Salad Ingredients
As you probably can tell, the kitchen staff works hard to implement healthy options for salad lovers. You can now find many different kinds of grains mixed with the freshest vegetables every day at the salad bar.

3) New Theme Days
Just like the classic “NApotle” and other special days in the NA cafeteria, the kitchen staff has planned more for 2016! While the details cannot be shared just yet, get excited for more theme days in the future!

While the majority of the school seems pretty satisfied with the current cafeteria’s array of options, these new additions for 2016 are definitely going to add an extra touch. As a “lifer” at Newark Academy, Mark Berger ‘17 has experienced just about everything in the cafeteria from the transition to colorful plates to the addition of a fro-yo machine. As Mark said, “the food has improved every year so I definitely have high hopes for 2016. I already have noticed some small changes like more high-quality fruit and some more creative recipes.”

The best part is, you never know what to expect next! Get ready for many delicious surprises in 2016.