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Oct 29, 2021 - News

Lentil mystery at CPS solved

Monica Eng

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A meatloaf burger served by CPS last week. — More than one Chicago Public School served this meatloaf burger during last week's "Plant Forward Thursday" when no meat is supposed to be served. Photo: Monica Eng/Axios

👋 Monica here. Yesterday I shared the mysterious accounts of Chicago Public School students being served meat during CPS' "Plant Forward Thursdays."

I also shared my own story of going to a high school where CPS had been arranging a taste test of its new meatless lentil Joe and then finding I couldn't go in.
The mysteries were solved when I got this note from CPS spokesman Evan Moore:

"The school cafeteria manager ...had [vegetarian] items on site to meet the menu requirements but chose not to prepare the [lentil] Joes as students did not choose to eat that item the last time it was offered. When it was posted on the menu again, a meatloaf cheeseburger was prepared instead... There are isolated instances where managers make changes unbeknownst to officials to appease students' taste at the site."

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