Thinking outside the lunch box: How Baltimore City is trying to make school meals appeal to students

Kamiara West positioned her plate to take advantage of the midday light streaming through the windows, angling her phone to capture an artful view of her chicken Caesar salad with a garlic knot on the side. She took a few photos, then turned her phone to show them off. The snaps could easily be those of a food influencer-in-the-making. But the subject wasn’t a trendy new Baltimore restaurant. Instead, West, 18, was photographing one of the meals of the day in the cafeteria at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School.