College food
I just got back from a three-day, five-college tour with my daughter. All were in Southern California … and all had completely distinct personalities (the one thing they shared was glorious, perfect weather). I could go on and on about the settings and students, but let me just focus on one thing: the food. Frankly, I was amazed at the range of quality;
some student dining halls were great (special kudos to Occidental College), with fresh, made-to-order options like pasta and deli sandwiches (even gluten-free choices), organic salad greens, Naked Juice smoothies, and such. But some places, sadly, were really lame: anemic-looking pizza, very limited fresh produce (aside from the requisite bowl of bananas and apples), shrink-wrapped sandwiches, soda everywhere. Even though we’ve come a long way and students have more healthy options than ever before, along with the education to make good food choices, I sort of forget that not everyone has jumped on the healthy-food bandwagon just yet.
Related Topics: Food, From the Editors
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:52 am
Don’t get lulled into a false sense of security even at the colleges that do seem to have great dining halls. The college that my son finally decided to attend appeared to have a wonderful spread of healthy, nutritious foods when we were there for college visitation and again at the parent’s orientation. But, he has been there for two years now and he’s found that more often than not the most there is to select from is pre-wrapped sandwiches, greasy burgers and a somewhat questionable salad bar. I agree that colleges have a long way to go in providing students with healthy and balanced diets. This is so important especially for those students that are living on campus since their funds are usually limited so they’re pretty much forced to pick from the dining halls or ordering pizza delivery.
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:09 am
I agree, we had a similar experience when we dropped off our son at college two years ago; the food was fantastic, but later he told me that the quality didn’t exactly stay the same after parents left! But I will say that my daughter and I visited Oxy on a “regular”(e.g., not scheduled visitation or orientation) day, with classes in session, etc … and the food was terrific.