NOE DE SANTIAGO: For this episode of our podcast we decided to do a tier list in regards to our school lunch. A tier list is a ranking system used for many objects, activities, games, and it can basically be used for anything like in our case, school food. Over the course of two weeks we will be eating a school lunch and ranking it according to our liking. The ranking is as follows, from highest to lowest; Chef’s kiss, great, good, ok, worse than WWI rations, and never touch. We will each say where we think it belongs and then come to a compromise. We will also provide a visual of the tier list so that you gain a better grip on how it works. Thank you, I hope you enjoy. 

JUAN ALVARADO: On the first day for lunch, Brandon had the chicken dumplings, Noe had the cheeseburger, Juan had the spicy chicken sandwich, and Daniel had the Swiss cheese sandwich.

BRANDON RUBALCAVA: The texture for the dumpling, it’s like, it’s stiff for absolutely no reason. 

DANIEL CABRAL: Bro, just eat it.

ALVARADO: Bros, Gordon Ramsay for today. Om nom nom.

SANTIAGO: What flavor is it? 

RUBALCAVA: It’s chicken.

ALVARADO What would you rate it right now? As of right now, you’ve never tried it before. Right? What would you rate it?

SANTIAGO: He doesn’t try school lunch.

RUBALCAVA: I don’t eat school lunch by the way. So I’m gonna be like very harsh on the right now. Out of how much is it? The texture is like an F because once again, it’s stiff for no reason. Honestly, the flavor is like A, to be honest. They actually taste good. 

SANTIAGO: You know what? Imma try it now. 

ALVARADO: My spicy chicken sandwich is an S tier. It’s common, but it’s so good. And then you, like, prepare it yourself. Like, you add the tomatoes, you add the lettuce to finish, and then add some ketchup on top. And it’s like a whole McDonald’s spicy chicken sandwich you can get for free. For free. Exactly for free. Try your cheeseburger. 

SANTIAGO: I’m gonna try my cheeseburger. It’s just a plain cheeseburger with no toppings. 

ALVARADO: Krabby Patty? Let the flavor become one with you.

SANTIAGO: No. I think this is an A tier, only because it doesn’t have any condiments, like, no ketchup or anything like that. But I feel like, with condiments, it’d easily be also an S tier, but just a plain simple one. I’d give it an A tier.

CABRAL: And then do I have to go on a rant about the sandwich? Yeah. I feel like the sandwich is like the Swiss Army Knife of food. It’s like, there’s a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. There’s Subway sandwich. There’s so many sandwiches, but this one, it’s ham and swiss cheese. I think I prefer the tuna sandwich over this one. This one will be, shoot. I think I’ll put it like low A tier.

ALVARADO: Low A. It was better than broccoli at the end of it. 

SANTIAGO – On the second day Juan had the spicy marinara penne pasta, Brandon got the plant-based chicken nuggets, Noe got regular nuggets, and Daniel got a Swiss cheese sandwich again.

SANTIAGO: They are not even spicy; why would I eat it and give it a rank? These are not even spicy; they taste like vegan. Ok they are very, the texture is weird; it doesn’t even taste like chicken. It’s crunchy but it’s just, it’s very underwhelming.

ALVARADO: It’s depressing?

SANTIAGO: It’s depressing.

ALVARADO: Just one bite. Om. How’d you rate that?

SANTIAGO: Oh yeah, I didn’t give mine a rating.

CABRAL: Oh yeah, you didn’t give yours a rating.

SANTIAGO: An F. If you guys want to try some you can.

CABRAL: Nah we don’t. We believe you.

RUBALCAVA: I don’t think I can swallow this.

CABRAL: D is like worse than war rations, and F is like the worst.

ALVARADO: It dissolves when I stick my fork in it.

SANTIAGO: Yeah, but it looks good. It’s like one of those things that doesn’t look appetizing, but tastes good. Is that a leaf?

ALVARADO: Yes, I don’t know why there is a leaf in the middle. 

SANTIAGO: It looks melted.

ALVARADO: It is melted, look at it. It looks better than what it tastes like. It’s so soggy; I put it in my mouth and it just like, wet bread. Wet bread; that’s what it tasted like in my mouth. You can’t taste the sauce at all. They said spicy marinara; I just taste the noodles. I’m not trying it with the leaf.

SANTIAGO: You have to.

ALVARADO: Nah.

SANTIAGO: What if it makes it better.

CABRAL: You have to talk about its aesthetics.

RUBALCAVA: No, no, no, don’t try the leaf.

ALVARADO: I was about to put it in my mouth.

RUBALCAVA: No, it’s not bad, it’s just really strong. If it’s what I think it is, I think it’s a bay leaf, it’s going to taste really strong.

ALVARADO: They’re all soggy, I don’t know if it’s because of the sauce, but yeah it still tastes like wet bread to me. It’s not spicy at all; so false advertisement right there and then I’m not going to try the leaf because according to Brandon, it might be a dangerous leaf.

RUBALCAVA: It’s not dangerous. 

SANTIAGO: *sneezes*

ALVARADO: Bless you.

SANTIAGO: Thank you.

ALVARADO: But yeah I’ll rate this a C.

SANTIAGO: continues sneezing

EVERYONE: Bless you.

ALVARADO: I won’t get it again, I won’t be getting this again but yeah I’ll give it a C just to be nice.

CABRAL: You didn’t like it? Wow.

ALVARADO: No, it just has no flavor to it.

RUBALCAVA- On the third and final day, Daniel and Juan both had parfaits; peach and strawberry respectively. Noe ate the “Spicy” nuggets, while Brandon had the hamburger and Doritos.

SANTIAGO: These are spicy chicken tenders and presentation wise they look appetizing enough.

ALVARADO: Do they draw you in?

SANTIAGO: Taste wise, it’s actually very good and this is just without condiments right?

ALVARADO: There’s ketchup.

SANTIAGO: People put ketchup. 

CABRAL: Can you describe the flavor?

ALVARADO: How does it feel when you put it in your mouth?

SANTIAGO: It kinda like melts, a good melts; of course you take a bite, but like it doesn’t take that much effort, and then you get the kick of the spice towards the end, which is like very good. I think this easily makes it to A tier. That’s just me though you guys.

ALVARADO: Okay we’ll move onto the parfaits.

CABRAL: This is really good.

ALVARADO: So, we’re going to start with the peach one.

CABRAL: I’m going to be honest, I like the peach one more than the… something about the strawberries. You know what it feels like? It feels like they were frozen, and they were dumped in there. So whenever you chew on them, it’s like the inside is like really like mushy, not soft. 

ALVARADO: Oh.

CABRAL: And I don’t like that. You get me? It’s still good, but I don’t like the texture. You want to start first?

ALVARADO: You can just eat, rate it without the granola and then with it.

CABRAL: Yeah, yeah, So you know how parfaits, like the fruits at the top and then yogurts at the bottom? Peaches are already like one of my favorite foods. Like fruits, I’m the kind of guy to eat canned peaches. They’re just so good. I love them. But these peaches are just in the best condition. And it mixes so well with the yogurt. Like the moisture of the yogurt seeps into the peaches. It makes it even more juicier. Yeah.

ALVARADO: So, right now how would you rate it?

CABRAL: Man, this is like a high A.

ALVARADO: A high A?

SANTIAGO: Really?

CABRAL: Do I rate it with the granola now?

ALVARADO: Mh-hmm.

CABRAL: Alright you rate it and then.

ALVARADO: While you add it, yeah. So I just tried the strawberry parfait. And I can see what you meant. Like it’s mushy inside. It’s like it’s melted. And then on the outside, you just, the strawberry, once you touch it with the fork, it just like blobs out. So aside from that, I like strawberries personally. So like I like it. So I’d rate it right now an A. Because it looks, I think it should be healthy. It should be healthy for you. And then it just mixes so well. And it’s refreshing too with the yogurt. So if it’s like hot like right now, it’s like a good cool down for you. Yeah. And with granola too. I like the crunch from the granola. It helps with the sogginess of the strawberries.

CABRAL: I like that.

ALVARADO: Yeah, that’s it.

CABRAL: So what do you rate it?

ALVARADO: An A, I’ll rate it an A as well.

SANTIAGO: Would you rate it higher than the peach one or lower?

ALVARADO: I feel like it’d even out with the peach one because I love them both.

CABRAL: Thank you for listening to our first tier list and last podcast of the year. We did our best to get a variety of food and encourage you all to give your opinion on the foods we ranked along with what else we should have included. With that being said, we had lots of fun doing this and hope for the best for the future podcasting team. This is the three-and-a-half villagers signing out. Bye!