By Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:
Pawnee Rock School
THE AROMA OF DINNER ROLLS
A story in the online version of the New York Times caught my eye recently. The headline: “Schools restore fresh cooking to the cafeteria.”
The article tells about a trend toward making school lunches healthier, which means making meals from scratch instead of relying on frozen chicken nuggets. Additives and preservatives, a constant in packaged and processed foods, will be greatly reduced.
Schools in Greeley, Colo., are the focus of the article which states, “Greeley’s schools will be cooking from scratch about 75 percent of the time on opening day, with a goal of reaching 100 percent by this time next year.”
In the ‘60s and early ‘70s, the school cooks at Pawnee Rock made our lunches from scratch. That was before other options were available; nevertheless, we were blessed with a skilled and friendly lunchroom staff. Three of the cooks who served over a number of years were Ruby Wilson (wife of Willard the welder), Wynona Unruh (who attended my church), and Carole Bowman (the mother of a classmate). In a small community, adult residents play a variety of roles in a child’s life.
Those Pawnee Rock cooks did a great job and our lunches were satisfying. We had goulash, lasagna, homemade pizza and open-faced hot roast beef sandwiches. Fridays were predictable – the entrée was either fish or macaroni and cheese.
As the clock swooped toward 11 a.m., the aroma of dinner rolls began to drift down the hallways and into our classrooms, disrupting our ability to do long division.
My friend Amy told me, “I loved the smell of those warm delicious rolls. Smelling them in the morning made them taste all that much better.”
Steam rose from rectangular serving pans as one cook spooned the entrée and placed it on a stainless steel compartment tray. Vegetables and dessert came next and the last cook in line tore off a roll from a rectangular baking sheet of homemade goodness. The rolls had rounded brown tops and soft white centers.
Lunch was a time when we were allowed to visit quietly with classmates, but not if it caused us to dawdle. We were expected to eat everything, or most of everything, and before heading to the trash cans and dishwasher, we had to get the nod from our teacher.
Now in our class, dear Darla was a slow eater and the rest of us were often excused to recess while the teacher waited on her to finish. Darla reported learning the hard way about trying to hide food in her milk carton. (OK, we all tried that and we all got caught.)
Overall, meals were really good but each of us had several foods that the tender taste buds of a third-grader just couldn’t handle. No one liked the spinach (Oh wait, Amy did.) Only a few could stomach the sauerkraut. Peas were too mushy for many kids.
When I requested lunchroom reviews the other day from my Pawnee Rock friends, Sarah said, “I remember the icky lima beans, those weird apple things, spinach – canned and slimy.” Sarah also said, “I really remember the bread and can smell it now.”
If we couldn’t eat all of something, we had to at least make a serious effort. Donna told me, “My least favorite food was rhubarb pie. In fifth grade, I had to sit through recess and spelling because I wouldn’t eat the pie. Mrs. White finally let me scrape; I guess she was convinced I wasn’t going to eat it.”
Donna added, “My favorites were the homemade rolls, cinnamon rolls and the chicken and noodles.”
“I think one of my favorite foods was pizza,” Jeanette said. “My least favorite was the stuff that was made with potatoes and hamburger. I can’t remember what it was called – cook’s special?”
Marilyn remembered the spiced apple rings. “I think they were meant to be dessert. I loved the fresh bread and the pizza.”
Every day we went through the lunch line and we trusted the cooks’ smiling eyes. We may not have thought about it at the time, but we knew we were in good hands. Forty years down the road, we remember the tasty meals, the awkward vegetables, and especially the dinner rolls. We will never forget those rolls.
Copyright 2011 ~ Cheryl Unruh
OMG, Cheryl, I love this! I clearly remember the aroma of rising cinnamon rolls and how we would all almost run down the long corridor to grab our trays and get one of those! (this was in Jr. High….I always walked home for lunch in elementary school). Loved reading about your experience. Thanks!
My husband and I were just talking about school lunches last night, and how when we were kids, the meals were all cooked from scratch (with the exception of the #10 cans of corn, beans, etc). The main course was always from scratch. We poked fun at hot lunch, but truth was that most of us really liked the food. Pizza was always a treat, and they would also, when serving canned peaches or pears, fill little 3oz dixie cups with the juice and have that at the end of the serving table as a treat.
Yesterday, my daughter mentioned her school lunch for the day: cheese stuffed bread, fries, chocolate milk, pear slices…and for a treat, raw cookie dough. I was appalled. She said “I like hot lunch – I just don’t think the food tastes good.”
They made homemade cream puffs in Junior High and lemon merainge pie. The merainge stuck to everyones fork and kids played with that. Thanks for reminding me about the rolls. What a great scent.
Hands down, cinnamon rolls was my favorite part of lunch. But since it all was from scratch, most of it was good. We had something called Chicken ala King that was served w/dinner rolls. The worst was the mushy vegetables and the greasy fried chicken. Oh also loved the peanut butter bars and chili.
Today, I see the lunches as warmed up frozen food mostly:chicken nuggets, fish poppers, and nachos. But I have seen more fresh fruit now and everyday yougurt and fruit is offered. Or a chef salad w/a roll. But even the home lunches can be a mess. I saw a child recently with a slice of chocolate cake and a pudding cup. Of course, he went right for dessert first. I would have done the same thing if I had that in my lunch.
But the cinnamon rolls still fill the school with a great aroma. Thanks bringing up some good memories.
The cinnamon rolls in our school were awesome, too. I can’t say the same for what we called “porcupine balls,” though. Meatballs with rice in them, and the rice stuck out the sides like a porcupine’s quills. 😀
I was a weird kid who liked all those vegetables nobody else would eat, like beets and spinach and lima beans. I was happy, if we could get away with it, to take a serving of veggies off another kid’s plate. And I still love my vegetables.
The one thing I could not stand, and still won’t eat, were slimy canned apricots. I once sat clear through recess and part of the next class too, before they gave up trying to make me eat them. After that they didn’t try.
Ah, the memories these things bring. Isn’t it wonderful how a few words can conjure up a whole set of shades of the past?
Unlike me, you all have been spoiled at school, we had to walk home.
Farmers do eat warm at lunch, what about people at the Kansan countryside?
I don’t remember too much about my school cafeteria meals, except for their rolls. They made good spaghetti too, which I think was served on Wednesdays. Something for us to look forward to in the middle of the week. 🙂
I had a real problem with green peas, and at one point tried eating them with chocolate cake. Still, I about gagged.