Colleges are not known for first-rate food, and when I came to Loyola, I certainly did not expect to be given anything close to gourmet.
I was, however, hoping for some healthy choices.
With the rise of obesity and weight-related health problems and the dreaded “Freshman 15” that plagues undergrads, it seems Loyola would want to provide students with food that is not just empty calories and deep-fried cholesterol.
As someone born in Alabama but raised in Connecticut by parents who love butter beans and cornbread, I have experienced food from both the South and the North for much of my life. There are definitely positive aspects to both types – I love fried okra, but also find it torturous to live without any good Maine lobster. New Orleans brings an entirely different genre of food into the mix, one that I enjoy just as much as the other two. In reality, I love food of any kind but also like variety, and I expect my food to provide me with nutritional value.
With that said, I do not feel that Loyola has provided me with ample choices of healthy food. The Orleans Room, while offering several healthy choices during each meal, usually offers an equal number of unhealthy options. You can count on the vegan entrée and the sandwiches to be fairly nutritious, but these choices become tiresome after a week or so. Students are expected to eat dinner in the OR for the entire year.
True, the dining hall offers a salad bar as well, but the choices of what to eat on your salad are limited.
Of course, there are other places to eat on campus. There’s Java Coast, but it isn’t meant to offer healthy food. They do have bagels, which can be considered sort of healthy, if you have the light cream cheese.
Sandella’s is one place on campus that actually offers several nutritious choices. However, since most of its food falls into a pretty similar category, eating there can become rather monotonous.
On weekends, the choices for healthy eating become even slimmer since the OR and the C-Store are the only places open. If you miss the 11 a.m.-2 p.m. or 5-7 p.m. dining hours for the OR, then the C-Store becomes your only option if you don’t have money other than Wolfbucks to spend on food.
I’ve made far more trips there than I can count and probably collected seven or eight pounds. Aside from a small section of sandwiches, and every so often (but not nearly often enough) some fruit or vegetables in plastic containers, I’m not sure that I could call any food that is sold in the C-Store even passably healthy. There’s Pizza Hut, potato chips, cookies, candy … all very tasty, and all very much classified under the genre of “junk food.” Couldn’t the C-Store at least sell something at least resembling fruit and vegetables?
What do students do if they want a healthy snack after 7 p.m.? The fact that students are unable to find healthy snacks on campus often leads to trips to Whole Foods or ordering take-out. Essentially, the lack of healthy eating choices on campus leads to students spending more money at places off campus.
By promising to feed us and then not providing us with an adequate amount of nourishing options, Loyola is doing a disservice to all students who pay for a meal plan, especially to those who are given no choice but to buy one.
Hayden Dumas is a history freshman from Wallingford, Conn.
