By Vicki Li ’18, Staff Writer

Each day, students stroll in and out of the dining hall to grab lunch or a little snack to take to class. We check the scrolling red letters atop the doorways to see if crispy chicken or pizza is on the menu, comment on the innovative fro-yo flavors, and pour some cereal into cups to save for later. Each day the kitchen staff thinks of new ideas to satisfy our taste buds, whether it’s having dumplings or just seasoning the chicken at the salad bar a little more. But do we ever really ponder about how these foods are made, who sets them out, and how much time it takes?

I asked Jenn Huo ’18, a current junior, for her thoughts on what goes in the kitchen. “They cook our food?” she answered.

Well, Jenn’s absolutely right about that, but I’m about to delve a little deeper into what our kitchen staff does for the whole NA community. I was given the pleasure of interviewing Mr. and Mrs. Brower, the two leaders of the kitchen staff.

Although there’s only a two-hour time frame where students and faculty eat lunch, there’s a lot more time that goes into preparing it. Mr. Brower wakes up at 5:00 AM every day and arrives at school at 5:15 AM, about three hours before our own morning meeting starts. His first task is to make sure the kitchen is ready for the day, which has already been prepped from the day before. Then, he starts making the muffins at 7:00 and brings in the bagels and bread. Every day, food at Newark Academy is made from scratch. Everything is fresh, including the vegetables in the salad bar which are selected and washed in the morning.

“The menu is mainly driven by student decision,” said Mrs. Brower. “We want to make sure students are happy and nourished. We’re aware that every student isn’t going to like everything we make, so we make a huge variety of food so everyone’s happy!”

Then comes the most stressful part of the day for Mr. Brower: lunch hour. With so many meals to prepare, there’s only so much time before the middle school comes in to eat lunch.

“It’s hard to ensure that all our courses are ready by lunchtime because there’s just so much food. We have to decide whether to make another batch of a certain food depending on how quickly the food goes out and how much the students like it,” Mr. Brower said.

Even if waiting in the lunch line seems like an eternity to us students, according to Mrs. Brower, the huge line in the beginning of fourth period only lasts for a max of about five minutes. Not only is the kitchen staff quick and efficient about serving us our food, but they also keep the dining room spotless and clean our dirty dishes.

However, the work doesn’t stop with the end of lunch. The kitchen staff starts preparing for the next day as soon as possible, and if there’s a special event afterschool, Mr. Brower makes sure that’s taken care of.

You might be wondering, where does all that extra food go? As much as 600 students can consume, there is always going to be extra food.

“We never, ever throw out the extra food,” said Mrs. Brower. “Everything we have left over can be used for another purpose. For example, green beans can be made into a green bean salad for the salad bar.” Mr. and Mrs. Brower always make sure their staff is well-fed, and gladly let them take the leftovers home.

The last of the leftover food gets given to the homeless on the streets of Newark or to soup kitchens, which is incredibly kind of the kitchen staff.

Mr. and Mrs. Brower are extremely in tune with the needs of the students. Their favorite part of the day is interacting with the students and watching them eat the food. Each time Mrs. Brower asks you how your food is, your input is being taken seriously and used to modify the lunch menu.

For example, Mrs. Brower asked a group of girls at the fro-yo machine about what flavors they liked. They wanted strawberry and cookies and cream, and the next week, they got what they wanted. In the end, the kitchen staff’s main goal is to make us feel comfortable and happy.

“In my mind, I want to create a place where you can relax because we know how hard you guys work,” Mrs. Brower said. “We sympathize with you.”

“Seeing you happy and eating makes me realize that my goal is achieved. You’re the next generation, and we want to keep you healthy,” Mr. Brower added.

The kitchen staff isn’t only there to serve us food, but also to help us relax. So next time, when you’re eating your food and you feel happy, know that the kitchen staff has done their job.