6 Smells That Take Millennials Back to the School Cafeteria

There is nothing quite like the blend of aromas that made up the school cafeteria in the '90s.

Even now, at parent-teacher conferences or when the office provides cheap pizzas in the break room, certain scents trigger memories of schooltime meals. Not all of the smells are pleasant, but the nostalgia they induce brings a sense of comfort.

Millennials are all about the nostalgia, and so those school cafeteria smells remind us of simpler times. The good, the bad, and the rancid scents were all just a part of our childhood, and if we sniff any of them again, we're transported back to the lunch lines and school food.

These are some of the familiar scents that take millennials right back to the school cafeteria.

1. Floor Wax
2. Diluted Disinfectant/Cleaner
3. Dirty Mop Water
4. School Pizza
5. Milk in Cartons
6. Tater Tots

Floor Wax

The words "floor wax" bring both the sound of sneakers squeaking and the tangy, citrusy scent to our minds. The smell of the floor wax also had a hint of heated plastic or rubber underneath the lemon or pine. It wasn't a bad scent, just a bit jarring when you were expecting the aroma of freshly-cooked food to be your introduction to the cafeteria.

Diluted Disinfectant/Cleaner

If you ever got put on lunchroom duty as one of the older grades in elementary school, you'll easily remember spraying down the tables with the cleaning spray. What might have been a harsh chemical smell was diluted with enough water that the sharpness was dulled. It was almost a softer version of Windex's scent, and the smell stuck to your hands long after lunch ended. But getting out of class to help the lunch ladies was cool enough that you didn't mind.

Dirty Mop Water

Kids are messy, and it makes sense to have a mop and bucket readily available in the cafeteria. Food spills were just a given. But the water in the bucket was never a color other than deep grayish brown, and it had the sickly sweet scent of mildew mixed with wet dog. It made you wonder when the last time the bucket itself had been rinsed out, and if you were smart, you chose a table furthest from the custodial closet.

School Pizza

The pizza that came from school had a different smell than any pizza from a store or restaurant. It was a yeasty, slightly old-cheese smell that came from being reheated in the industrial ovens/warmers. There were plenty of rumors that the schools just took the leftover pieces, added another layer of cheese, and then served them again the next week. That probably wasn't true, but there was enough grease on the slices that some students patted their pizza down with a napkin before eating.

Milk in Cartons

The distinct smell of milk from a paperboard carton is sure to bring back memories of school lunches. Thanks to the dairy industry and the "got milk?" campaign, schools were eager to push a carton of milk onto every K-12 student. Whether the campaign to make milk seem cool worked or not, we drank the school-provided milk often. If you got to the lunchroom early enough, you could even get chocolate milk instead.

Tater Tots

Maybe you didn't love tater tots enough to keep some in your pocket like Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder), but one sniff of the uniquely formed potato hash will definitely remind you of the school cafeteria. Most people only know tater tots from their school days, but you can, in fact, buy some from the store and make them at home. If you need a nostalgic snack to reminisce about the peak of your life, like Uncle Rico (Jon Gries), that is.

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