Disgusting
dining discourages dorm dwellers
Jenna McDaniel
With Halloween fast approaching many people are preparing to be spooked. Some
plan to go to Six Flags or Knotts Berry Farm, but there is a place a lot closer
then one might think that is just as frightening: the dorm dining halls. Dinning
hall food here at Cal State Long Beach can quickly become a nightmare on a daily
basis.
One can pick up a chicken salad sandwich only to find it is not just chicken,
celery and mayonnaise, but also grapes and leftover pasta, two things that should
not be in chicken salad. It is disheartening to see the vegetables on the plate
are no longer green because they have been cooked to a pulp.
Dishes with names
such as Beef Porcupine show up at dinnertime. If I knew what it was I would tell
you. Please, I beg you, dining hall management, if it is porcupine, please don’t
serve it, and if it isn’t, please don’t call it that. It would be
much appreciated.
Food tends to reappear several days in a row. Last year, the green St. Patrick’s
Day cake was seen at lunch and dinner for the following two days. You would think
they would get the hint if we didn’t eat it the first time. We sure as
heck aren’t going to eat it the second or third time.
Then you get the special “surprise” dishes. I have no need to be
surprised by what my meal is, thank you very much. I like to know what is in
it and it better not be moving when I get it on my plate.
I am not discounting the amount of hard work that goes into preparing large quantities
of food. I would, however, like to point out that I pay for these meals and I
would like to feel satisfied with what I am eating.
There are two popular days in the dining hall: pizza day and chicken strips day
and they are few and far between. And let’s face it, pizza and chicken
strips are not the healthiest meals.
Everybody has heard about the freshman 15, and in some cases it can be the freshman
30. Nobody wants it, but when you eat at the dining hall it is almost unavoidable.
In every meal there seems to be some dish with layers of grease.
The Frisco burgers,
patty melts and tater tots all leave you reaching for napkin after napkin to
wipe the fat from your fingers. With deep-fried foods being a staple on the menu
it is no wonder we all gain weight. To solve the problem, some created their
own diets, avoiding what is in the kitchen area.
Eating strictly salad seems to be a popular solution to the problem. It is the
only food in the dinning hall where you can get any sort of fresh vegetable.
But how long can one stick to rabbit food without cracking? There is the taco
bar, the sandwich bar and, when all else fails, some cereal.
It sounds as though the dining hall offers a variety of foods, right? But does
it still count as a variety if it is the same variety everyday?
I am not blaming all of the extra poundage on the dining hall, because let’s
face it, we are college students, which means we are lazy.
This would be why
we go to the dining hall to begin with, rather than cook our own meal or buy
fast food. It would, however, be easier to stay healthy if we were not bombarded
with grease at every meal.
The dining hall does provide a few healthy foods. As I mentioned before, there
is the salad bar. For those who are lactose intolerant they supply soy milk.
There is a basket of fruit, apples, bananas and the occasional pear. For toast
and sandwiches there is whole wheat bread. The rest is slim pickings. In fact,
most appealing meals are slim pickings.
We have all been there, starving and shuffling our way into the dining hall only
to feel our appetite disappear as we face dishes such as beef porcupine, meatloaf
and deep- fried macaroni and cheese.
For most people who live in the dorms, the
dining hall is where they get their meals for the day. If I had a dollar for
every groan I heard regarding the dining hall, I would be a millionaire. No doubt
about it, there are some meals the dining hall offers that make your stomach
lurch.
I mean no disrespect to the employees of the dinning hall, it is not your fault
we are so picky, but the dining hall would benefit from a little upgrade.
Everybody
has ideas for dining hall improvement, and the suggestion box at the ID swipe
stations isn’t there to look pretty. Luckily they give us the opportunity
to voice our opinion, so fill out a card. Maybe if we all speak up we can make
a difference and our meals will be less frightening.
Jenna McDaniel is a sophomore art major.
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