By What started as an attempt to celebrate Black History Month at Hopewell Valley Central High School in Pennington, NJ, has turned into something they never
expected.
The school served a lunch menu that included fried chicken, cornbread,
sweet potato casserole, sautéed spinach, mac and cheese, and peach
and apple crisps — a menu that many are calling racially insensitive.
The school has 1,200 students, most of whom are white, and sophomore Caroline
Herbert said the menu was the talk of the school last Thursday.
Herbert said the menu was the talk of the school last Thursday.
“They were saying the lunch menu was showing some stereotypically black food
choices on the menu,” she said.
choices on the menu,” she said.
The school also received many complaints from residents in the district.
Student Ben Morreale, however, had no problem with the menu and says the uproar
was an overreaction.
was an overreaction.
“What I thought of is if it was Italian-American Month and you wanted to celebrate with
food, you’d have sausage and nobody would have a problem with that,” he said.
food, you’d have sausage and nobody would have a problem with that,” he said.
In a statement, District Superintendent Thomas A. Smith apologized, saying that the menu was chosen by the district's food service vendor.
The vendor’s vice president Cathy Penna wrote to NJ.com that one of the directors worked with the high school to create a menu that would celebrate Black History Month, and that the company tries to offer diverse menus in respect of different cultures.
“The suggestion was to do something to celebrate soul food,” Penna wrote. “The director at this location never intended to do anything that would offend anyone and deeply regrets the decision and understands that it could have been taken out of context.”
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