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FEATURED ARTICLES           Thursday, September 09, 2010                                Email to a Friend

How to Survive Daily Campus Food

Andrew Chapman

Ah, the sweet smell of grease and who-knows-what! Mmmm, nothing has that aroma quite like the campus cafeteria.

We’re all familiar with the legends and old wives’ tales about cafeteria food. Old bed sheets are used as napkins. Shoelace spaghetti, fingers in the soup, and everything is at least pre-World War 2. Of course these are just rumours and fibs, but to every lie there is some truth.

It’s true that cafeteria food has had a bad rap for years. Recently, however, there have been advances. Many campus cafeterias serve vegetarian meals and are very conscious of each individual’s dietary needs. For the most part though, there are better solutions.

The one main complaint I’ve heard about campus cafeterias, especially from students living in residence, is that they’re forced to eat there. They pay a fee at the beginning of the year and that goes towards their food cost. This fee goes on their meal card and every time they use it, the amount of their purchase is taken off. One problem with this is the food in the cafeteria is expensive and some students have to recharge their card before the year is over.

Another way cafeterias run in certain campuses is they allot the students 15 meals a week which averages out to around 2 meals per day. The problem here is that the cafeteria is only open at certain times during each of these days. Usually the times allow students to eat before and after classes, but not all students have the same schedule. Some miss out on meals and have to resort to things like bags of chips. Even worse -- if you miss a meal it doesn’t get added to your next week; you simply start with 15 again.

One way to solve these cafeteria and food issues is to buy food from the grocery store for the week and keep it in your room. Most rooms come with a small fridge for personal food items. This way a student can have food any time he or she wants, and does not have to wait for the cafeteria to open. The problem with this is you are buying food elsewhere and still paying for a meal plan that you aren’t using.

One solution for this dilemma is to eat the cafeteria foods you feel are the healthiest. Cafeterias usually have a salad bar with many vegetables and choices of light dressings. They also provide a stir fry bar, where you can get pasta and steamed vegetables. Fruit is usually available as well, and juice or water is a much healthier choice than cola.

There are many alternatives to the regular cafeteria food we are used to. You don’t have to be stuck eating hamburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches and coke. There are healthy alternatives if that is your concern. Unfortunately, if the money situation is more of your concern, then I’m afraid it’ll have to remain a worry of yours. If you live in residence you have to be on their food plan for safety and health reasons, so make the best of the situation and try to get the most out of the money on your meal card. If you don’t live on residence and have the choice of either using the cafeteria or not, then I suggest the old fashioned way of brown-bagging it.

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