The Story
Real Food on Campus?
A walk down the average grocery store aisle has become something so far removed from its past that our great-grandmothers would hardly recognize what they saw.
Bright, flashy colors. Anthropomorphic, cutesy mascots. Claims of “all natural” and “lite” that bear little meaning.
We are losing touch with food. Not with edible chemistry projects - the partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, the high fructose corn syrup, the artificial colors - those, we are far too familiar with.
It has come to a point where children have tasted artificial cherry flavoring before they’ve tasted fresh cherries bursting with juice more succulent than any candy, where children think that “sour blue raspberries” and “tropical apple-berries” can be found growing in the wild, where children can justify French fries and ketchup as their main vegetable intakes.
We’re in a dangerous place, susceptible to completely losing the wonderful alimentary diversity that is waiting just beyond our fingertips.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service reported in 2002 that only 19 cents of every dollar spent on American-grown food goes to farmers.
Back in 1950, farmers received over 40 percent of the revenue.
When we open up that box of Froot Loops (it’s a bad sign when a company avoids the word “fruit” by using a cute spelling error), part of the three dollars we spend goes to paying for Kellogg’s advertising companies, truck drivers to transport the cereal from the main plant in Michigan to our grocery store and everyone’s salaries along the way.
Food produced far away with products grown even further away has a damaging impact both on the environment and on local agro-economies, but many of the choices made by food manufacturing companies have a damaging effect on our personal health, too.
Often, when products are marketed as “healthier,” the shortcuts taken to decrease calories or fat lead to bigger problems.
This is most clearly exemplified in the recent craze over trans fats, the majority of which come from hydrogenated vegetable oils (most commonly from soybeans or corn). Food companies started using these oils as a replacement for butter and lard because of the then stigma of using animal fats.
Butter has since made a comeback, especially in finer dining, but I can clearly recall just a few years ago reaching into the refrigerator for that ubiquitous yellow tub instead of the stick of butter my mother preferred. Something about butter seemed so old-fashioned and obsolete.
We have, of course, since learned that trans fats are detrimental to human health in many ways: lowering good cholesterol, raising bad cholesterol, putting us at risk for heart disease.
But what can we do, especially in our current predicament as college students?
Surely no one expects us to come into contact with local farmers and use their produce and dairy to make our own natural applesauce and yogurt.
But there are several ways to combat this overarching sameness that has found its way into all of our daily meals.
First, and most obviously, use local produce. We have two weekly farmers’ markets within a few miles of the College - Saturday mornings in Merchant’s Square and Thursday afternoons at New Town - that can give students easy access to fresh, locally grown produce.
The first time at a farmers’ market can be rather daunting. The beautifully plump and perfectly round fruits found at hypermarkets have no place there; rather, you will find asymmetrical, lumpy, ugly produce. But as is often true with first impressions, with a look beyond you will find delicious and affordable produce fit for snacking and cooking.
A second way to broaden your notions of food is to actually try cooking it. Cooking dinner at least once every month will not only give you a much-needed break from the over-produced food often found in the dining halls and at Wawa, but it can also allow you to spend time cooking, eating and talking with friends.
An informal dinner can be the perfect excuse to spend time with people you appreciate. From experience, it seems that few people on this campus will turn down free food.
Nothing fancy is necessary. With one pot and a handful of ingredients, you can make a dinner that rivals even the Caf.
For example, heat up a pan with some butter or vegetable oil and pan-fry whatever vegetables you have. Mix it with cooked spaghetti. That’s all it takes.
Finally, and most importantly, it is important to really taste and savor everything you eat. I realize that it’s hard when you only have a few minutes between classes to grab take-out from the Sadler Center, but eating food should never be a chore.
So if you’re eating a hamburger or an apple from a dining hall and realize that the food in your hand tastes like murky water, put it down! Go back to your great-grandmother’s recipe book and opt instead for pierogies and babka. (My family is Polish.)
At least you’ll be eating real food.
Jake Nelson is opinions editor for The DSJ. His views do not necessarily represent those of the entire staff.
This piece originally appeared in the November 2008 issue issue of The DoG Street Journal.