College students stand in a line that extends outside the cafeteria and into infinity. Slowly, the line of students moves forward, one step at a time. Before they hold plates, they hold their stomachs, and whine about starvation. Finally, when they reach the stack of plates, and then the deep trays of food, they fill every single millimeter of the plate surface with food. After sitting down and eating, ear to ear smiles turn into frowns. Whining fills the cafeteria and tears from the student’s eyes splatter against the floor. They complain that the food is not like mom makes. The first big, fat strike against college.
Food is Important
Food is essential for our survival because it provides people with vitamins and nutrients; however, too much of one fatty food can lead to thunder thighs or a rolls of fat that drape down to the knees, but that is in the case of morbid obesity. There are times when we eat fatty food just because it tastes great, there are times when we eat nutritional food because we are watching how much sugar and calories we consume, and there are times when we need to eat food that does not meet our standards. According to Randy Rabideau, the Executive Chef, when students do complain, the chefs are able to “take a lot of negativity.” Rabideau went on to say that the food industry “chews you up and spits you out,” so chefs do develop a thick skin.
The chefs that cook for Southern Vermont College (SVC) work for Sodexo. According to Sodexo’s website, they are a “…world leader in Quality of Daily Life Solutions in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, serving 10 million consumers in 6,000 locations every day.” The website went on to say that Sodexo is dedicated to providing “… excellent service, corporate citizenship, and fighting hunger…” The chefs may not meet the students’ standards, as far as preparing food, but they meet the standards Sodexo is held to, for instance, making sure their cooking methods are sanitary. Sometimes, the food can be a little greasy and sometimes it can be bland, but the chefs meet those standards and according to Kelli Cressy-Gassaway, the General Manager, the chefs “give it their all.”
There are students that might feel the chefs do not “give it their all” just by the way they complain, however, there are students that have some positive thoughts about the food.
According to Kenny Poteat, a freshman at SVC, there are days when the cafeteria food “…can be good, while some days it can be off.” A home cooked meal is great, but there are times when the home cooked meal does not taste the way we want it to, and so, we are not satisfied. There are times when those hot trays in the cafeteria have food on them that does satisfy the students. For instance, Poteat loves to see the hot trays filled with white rice and General Tso’s Chicken.
According to Victor Velazquez, a sophomore at SVC, the food is “average quality,” however, he recognizes that he does not “…have to wash the dishes or cook the food…” which is “…the best part…”
Being Innovative
When the cafeteria food becomes monotonous, walk downtown to check out the various restaurants, and eat out. Plan a morning to get breakfast with your friends, or get lunch, or get dinner. Sprinkle in these trips, now and again, to spice up your eating experience.
If you love to cook, make sure to reserve your time slot at the Hunter kitchen with Corie Steinke, and then buy groceries over at Price Chopper or Wal-Mart. If you do not know anyone with a vehicle, go to Campus Safety after five o’clock and they will take you to any of those food stores. Many students eat in the cafeteria because it is convenient and they just want to eat, but, it is good to try different things.
If all our food was flavored with one particular spice, and we tasted that spice every time we ate, we would eventually get sick of it. This is why it is good to have a cupboard full of spices, many different options to enhance our dining experiences.
Written by Cameron Curtiss