By Charlotte Mikos / Columnist and News Reporter
It wasn’t until October of my freshman year when I first experienced–yes experienced, not just tasted–Harpeth Hall’s General Tso’s Chicken. I had heard the constant conversations in the hallways as the anticipation of this delicacy grew. I had felt the excitement pulsing through the classrooms. I knew today was going to be special.
Today was the day I would truly become a Harpeth Hall Honeybear.
I’ve heard that trying General Tso’s for the first time is a momentous occasion that is almost as significant as graduation, step singing and Convocation combined. Being a huge fan of Panda Express’s orange chicken, I have to say that I was incredibly excited. As I walk towards the cafeteria, I notice that there’s a line, filled with hundreds of people, snaking out the door and up the stairs and finally ending in front of Souby Hall. After waiting, mouth drooling and fiddling my thumbs in anticipation, I reach the front of the line and see the General Tso’s in its full glory.
I stare at it. Are you kidding me? It’s just the chicken nuggets we ate yesterday coated in some honey sauce! Knowing that judging a book (or in this case, a piece of chicken?) by its cover is wrong, I fill my plate with the nuggets. I grab my fork, sit down, and take a bite.
Wow!
This tastes… exactly like chicken nuggets covered in sauce! I will admit, the taste isn’t bad, but it’s definitely not worth wasting half of lunch waiting in line for. Panda Express’s orange chicken is so much more tender and the sauce is tastier.
Obviously, many people do not share my opinion, as the line for General Tso’s is still as long as it was two years ago. Junior Kelty Jones says that General Tso’s is one of her favorite school lunches, but she acknowledges that “it causes such long lines and people take way too much food that they can’t finish.”
I do agree that people temporarily become rabid animals while in the lunch line, packing as many nuggets as they can until their plates are full. The constant need for more, more, more chicken nuggets contributes heavily to the line, as it is physically impossible to restock the chicken at the speed necessary to move the line faster.
So, what should be done about this beloved lunch? In my humble opinion, providing grab and go options for those of us who aren’t enamored with the chicken would trim the line, and so would limiting the number of nuggets per person, while ensuring that seconds will be available. While I don’t have a clue why these fancy chicken nuggets are so popular, I see their value as a Harpeth Hall tradition, that, while random, still deserves to exist (just like that terrifying “Warm Harpeth Hall Welcome!”).
My final words of advice: just head over to Panda Express.
