■ Stentorian
vol. XXXIV, issue 5
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
January 2015
stentorianl23@gmail.com
Behind the scenes of the PFM
Cheryl Wang
staff Writer
If the old saying “we are
what we eat” is true, then
we would have some serious
problems. While Science
and Math offers some of the
best courses and activities
in the STEM field for high
school students, the science of
cooking is certainly not one of
its specialties.
Residents on campus are
limited to cafeteria food from
the PFM. So in an effort to
understand what we really
are at this critical juncture in
our lives, we must understand
what the PFM really is.
PFM stands for Professional
Food Management, a company
who ran the cafeteria a long
time ago but the acronym
stuck around a lot longer
than the company. Currently,
the cafeteria is managed by
Perkins Management Services.
As stated on its, website,
Perkins is a food service
management company
committed to delivering food
of the highest quality since
2005.
While students might hold
differing opinions on Perkins
food, many do not know
that Perkins employs over
400 workers, and operations
currently span across 10 states.
Besides high schools,
Perkins also serves universities,
the military, and commercial
clients. The Millennium
Cafe “designed to excite the
customers” aims to “transform
any cafeteria into a state-of-
the-art food court” while the
Full Food and Dining Facility
tends to the Department of
Defense across 6 states along
Southern Cuisine, in Charlotte,
bringing diversity to the food
PMS serves.
Perkins is indeed very
successful, but it is still
important to remember that the
food in any food management
sausages for breakfast, fried
chicken, salads, and burgers
for lunch, and pastas, pizzas,
and lasagnas for dinner.
However, the ambiguity
surrounding what exactly is in
the lasagna or burger patties
Students take their PFM food to the dining area during common lunch. The quality of PFM food
has been the subject of many SG campaign promises and has even spurred the creation of a PFM
the East coast.
Furthermore, Perkins even
caters to the US President with
“elegance and flair in mind”.
Perkins even operated its very
own restaurant, Laurene’s
service is arguably the most
crucial component.
At NCSSM, the PFM
serves breakfast, lunch, and
dinner. Common menu items
include biscuits, eggs, and
after countless days of having
questionable hotdogs and
barbeque for dinner, prompts
students to ask, “Where does
the food come from?”
To answer the question
regarding the origin of our
daily meals, we must look
behind the closed doors of the
PFM.
Every day, fresh boxes of
frozen entrees arrive at the
cafeteria, waiting to be heated
before meals. Common
desserts such as cakes and
brownies arc also bought in
bulk then sliced.
However, sliced cakes and
frozen entrees are not usually
served the day of their arrival,
rather many items such as
fries and vegetables are frozen
again or half-prepared then
frozen for the rest of the week.
Additionally, last night’s
dinner rolls are also often
transformed into the next
day’s croutons to further
increase efficiency.
3 Although many foods
N are not the freshest produce,
^ the PFM does perform some
g actual cooking besides the
•g heating of frozen items. For
>> example, many vegetables are
§ steamed and rice is cooked
o right before the start of meals,
o Meat is also cut and
o prepared immediately before
“■ being served. Although the
vegetables are frozen, the grill
also occasionally serves stir-
fry cooked to order. In the end,
if students don’t especially
prefer the taste of PFM foods,
the frozen food companies
should share at least half the
blame.
Continued on Page 7
Nigerians hopeless against Islamist attacks
By Sierra Dunne
Editor-in-Chief
The story of the Charlie
Hebdo attacks, where 17
French citizens were killed at
the headquarters of the satirical
magazine in Paris, sparked
outrage against the attackers
and solidarity with the victims
throughout the world.
However, in the same week
over 2,000 Nigerian eitizens
were murdered in a brutal
attack by the Boko Haram
militants, yet there was almost
no coverage on the event,
causing many to question the
reliability and motives of the
mainstream media.
The Islamist militant group
Boko Haram stormed into the
city of Baga in northern Nigeria
earlier this month, firing guns
at fleeing civilians and burning
down buildings along the way.
The attacks were so deadly.
District leader Musa Alhaji
Bukar that Baga was now
“virtually nonexistent.”
This is not the first time
the group has inflieted terror
on this region: Over 10,000
people were killed in related
attacks last year alone.
“Dead bodies litter the
bushes in the area and it is still
not safe to go and pick them
(up) for burial,” said Musa
Bukar, the chairman of the
local government where Baga
is located.
Many were forced to flee,
and over 30,000 people were
displaced from their homes.
A number of survivors fled
to lake Chad, where “some
drowned and where others
remain marooned on small
islands, menaced by hippos,”
said a local government
offieial.
On Saturday, Jan. 10 a girl
no older than 10 walked into a
crowded marketplace in the city
of Maiduguri and detonated
an explosive strapped to her
chest. As people rushed to aid
the injured, another girl set off
another bomb, leaving about
20 dead and several severely
injured.
Attacks like these hitve
become common in the
Northern Nigerian region, and
Boko Haram has expanded its
insurgency to other countries
such as Chad and Cameroon.
Almost 70 schools in
Cameroon’s Far North Region
were forcefully closed since
students and teachers had to
flee their villages.
Many of these ongoing
events have failed to be
reported on by the mainstream
media. While the situation is
France prompted a worldwide
response and the “Je suis
Charlie” campaign, the world
has remained silent on the
massacres still going on in
multiple African countries.
Human rights activist
Aminu Gamawa believes
Continued on page 3
Mr. Gibson
brings youth
and style to
NCSSM Math
Department
Pg- 6
Who is Nicolas Cage and what
does he want? We weigh in. pg. 8