Vegetarians got beef with cafeteria
SBCC doesn't cater to non-meat appetite
Travis Pastori
Issue date: 9/2/09 Section: Opinion
City College is almost a student utopia. There are beautiful girls everywhere, it's always summer, teachers are great, and the environment is laid back. It's like a vacation resort with a good education.
But there's no edible food, so actually it's more like a mirage than an oasis. Especially for fellow vegetarians, SBCC is not a hunger- or health-friendly place to study.
Take the East Campus cafeteria, for example, where you can either overdose on high fructose corn syrup or clog your brain with hormone-injected processed meat chunks. You can drown yourself with a variety of sodas and chemical-flavored waters. Shelves are lined with cheap, sugary pastries, potato chips and candy. Eating here is passive-aggressive suicide at it's best, and it's just as expensive as hard drugs. Why bother?
Vegetarians stand anxiously, trying to pick their poison. Others have teary eyes; there's nothing to eat. We've already had the all-bean veggie burrito to death, and we're still a little ill from our last helping of the overcooked vegetable melody. We could over-pay for a bland iceberg lettuce garden salad, but I usually opt out for Doritos and Mountain Dew. God help me if I make it through a week.
If you're a lucky-enough vegetarian and have time during the one minute that the sandwich place is open in the dining room, then you can get a decent price on a veggie sandwich that's good enough to survive on for a while. Thankfully, you can always drink a Naked Juice or grab a banana, if you're in a hurry. There's watermelon, and occasionally an orange in the salad bar. Once and a while there is broccoli for $1.25 or potatoes for the same price. On the blue moon, there's macaroni with butter and some kind of spice lathered on it; it's almost worth buying.
But mostly, you'd be a lot better off bringing a picnic to school. However, most of us don't have the time to prepare our own food.
The rest of the campus is more of the same. The snack place in front of East Campus is just greasy fried food that's been sitting for hours under a heat lamp. It's inedible.
But there's no edible food, so actually it's more like a mirage than an oasis. Especially for fellow vegetarians, SBCC is not a hunger- or health-friendly place to study.
Take the East Campus cafeteria, for example, where you can either overdose on high fructose corn syrup or clog your brain with hormone-injected processed meat chunks. You can drown yourself with a variety of sodas and chemical-flavored waters. Shelves are lined with cheap, sugary pastries, potato chips and candy. Eating here is passive-aggressive suicide at it's best, and it's just as expensive as hard drugs. Why bother?
Vegetarians stand anxiously, trying to pick their poison. Others have teary eyes; there's nothing to eat. We've already had the all-bean veggie burrito to death, and we're still a little ill from our last helping of the overcooked vegetable melody. We could over-pay for a bland iceberg lettuce garden salad, but I usually opt out for Doritos and Mountain Dew. God help me if I make it through a week.
If you're a lucky-enough vegetarian and have time during the one minute that the sandwich place is open in the dining room, then you can get a decent price on a veggie sandwich that's good enough to survive on for a while. Thankfully, you can always drink a Naked Juice or grab a banana, if you're in a hurry. There's watermelon, and occasionally an orange in the salad bar. Once and a while there is broccoli for $1.25 or potatoes for the same price. On the blue moon, there's macaroni with butter and some kind of spice lathered on it; it's almost worth buying.
But mostly, you'd be a lot better off bringing a picnic to school. However, most of us don't have the time to prepare our own food.
The rest of the campus is more of the same. The snack place in front of East Campus is just greasy fried food that's been sitting for hours under a heat lamp. It's inedible.
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 8
r.l.
posted 9/02/09 @ 10:43 AM PST
The food has always been pretty gross on campus, it's not just something that vegetarians have a problem with. If you're a picky eater (which I am), it's always just easier to find ways to accomodate your dietary issues because the more specialized your diet, the less likely something like a cafeteria will be able to cater to your particular needs. (Continued…)
Stephanie Green, RD
posted 9/08/09 @ 7:07 PM PST
As a registered dietitian I agree that vegetarians often have very limited options in some food service operations. However, in reference to your comment about HFCS --most foods contain only small amounts of high fructose corn syrup – for example, you'd have to eat 87 bowls of bran cereal or 39 slices of bread in one day to reach the daily allowance for added sugars. (Continued…)
Yassi Eskandari
posted 9/15/09 @ 9:30 PM PST
BRAVO MR. PASTORI! I too was subjected to the SBCC cafeteria and other food establishments, for three years actually. I am a competent vegetarian and feel that my overall academic and physical performance depend on proper nutrition. (Continued…)
Ima Student
posted 9/16/09 @ 11:25 PM PST
Are the enzymes in the CHEESE: animal enzymes (rennet); or MICROBIAL or vegetable enzymes (suitable for a lacto-ovo-vegetarian)?
Also, the food and drinks are WAY overpriced! I always bring my own! West Campus Snack Shop---$5. (Continued…)
Write Research Papers
posted 11/25/09 @ 5:29 AM PST
If you're a picky eater (which I am), it's always just easier to find ways to accommodate your dietary issues because the more specialized your diet, the less likely something like a cafeteria will be able to cater to your particular needs. (Continued…)
bromsgrove
posted 12/16/09 @ 11:12 AM PST
I always find the more specialised your eating requirement the less likely your are to find wht you want from any type of public cafe.
common sense
posted 12/30/09 @ 6:28 PM PST
I was looking over a menu in a restaurant the other day when I saw a section for vegetarians; I thought to myself "boy, I sure am glad that I'm not a meat-hating fascist" and I skipped on to the steak section (because I'll be damned if I'm going to pay $15 for an alfalfa sandwich, slice of cucumber and a scoop of cold cottage cheese), but before I turned the page something caught my eye. (Continued…)
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