Day 2 Cafeteria Comments

The Cafeteria Challenge is underway, and as promised we have some comments for you from the participants. The instructions were to eat all three meals in the cafeteria and nothing else... as a student should be able (and is expected) to do. If participants find themselves eating extra food once they return home, or purchasing food from Mojo's and other venues, they need to make a note of that, as that is extra money that a student would be paying for food throughout the week.

The goal of this project is to create awareness about the realities of relying on the Cafeteria for nutrition and energy.

Here are some comments from Day 2. 






Post 1:

Well, some things improved this morning.  There was a fresh pot of regular coffee when we walked in.  There were apples and bananas in the fruit basket. 

But some things did not improve.  The doors still did not open until about 7:19 a.m. (even after Allen Wedel started pounding on them much earlier).  There were still no spigots on the juice machine when we arrived.  And the fruit was really quite pathetic.  The oranges were a disaster.  Of the five apples, only two were even slightly attractive.  And the bananas?  They were perfect—for making banana bread.  Definitely NOT for eating.

The eggs and potatoes, on the other hand, were really VERY good!

Post 2:

 I ate all three meals on Monday in the cafeteria.  The food at breakfast was good; however, Aladdin did not open on time.  A student had to knock on the door to get them to open up at 7:18.  This makes it difficult for the students that are student teaching to have time to eat breakfast.  There was also no coffee, and the juice machines were not working.  Dale Schrag and I had to tell them that the juice machines were not working—Aladdin management was not aware of it.

I had the tuna casserole for lunch.  I thought it was very good.  They ran out of desserts, though.  Terry put more out after I complained.  Since I eat lunch in the cafeteria almost everyday, I’ve noticed that they run out of desserts frequently.  Not a good thing!

The evening meal of noodles and meatballs was okay.  But my wife and I thought it was funny that the server counted out three meatballs for each of us.  Food rationing!  I had the mixed vegetables with it, which I thought were undercooked.  Pudding for dessert.  I thought the meal was average.  But I’m a meat and potatoes kind of a guy.

Ate breakfast again Tuesday morning in the cafeteria.  They had a good selection—biscuits and gravy, eggs and bacon, potatoes, etc.  Breakfasts seem to have the most selection, and it’s serve yourself!

The food that is being served in the cafeteria is okay.  Breakfasts are really good.  The biggest problems that I have noticed so far are not opening on time in the morning for breakfast, and the flies.  Time to get the fly swatter out!

Post 3:

Breakfast:  I came in for breakfast at around 8:20am and was in a hurry.  I went for the blueberry yogurt and granola and sat for a quick conversation with a couple of students.  It was good conversation, and their only comment on the food was that the biscuits and gravy were good, but maybe a little crispy on the bottom.  My granola and yogurt was delicious.  Had to run!

Lunch:  For lunch I had a meeting, so I came in to grab some food before heading to Seminar A.  I love Thai food, so I picked up a Thai Peanut Wrap prepared by Chef Trint, with everything on it.  I asked if there was any “red rooster sauce” (it’s really called Sririacha) as I like my Thai food spicy.  Well…not “Thai-hot”, but American-Thai-hot.  Chef said they did have some still, and Terry went to the back to get it.  My wrap was delicious, so I went back for another without the tortilla and had a tasty Thai salad!

Dinner:  Jody (my beautiful and amazing wife) was ill today, so she wasn’t able to come to the cafeteria for supper.  So, I had the kids for some family chaos in the caf!  It was an adventure, and they seemed to enjoy it.  Gracie and Jada took the chicken alfredo (without noodles) and some corn and then helped themselves to some salad bar fixins.  They seemed to just pick at the food and didn’t eat too much.  Trey enjoyed some ham chunks and chick peas from the salad bar, and got really excited when the pickles were set out.  In the line I asked for a little bit of noodles and corn for him, and we must have had some misunderstanding as I received a heaping plateful!  He didn’t really like either, so I ate as much of this as I could so it wouldn’t be wasted.  Jada continues to eat her weight in olives at each meal.  All three had a few slices of salami from the deli bar.  I had the BBQ chicken sandwich, without the bun, and some corn.  It was okay.  Not my favorite, but I almost went back for seconds because I’m a glut.  This was probably my least favorite meal of the week so far, but I don’t eat pasta and don’t know how it was.  On a positive note, the fruit basket looked great today.  Our family shared two bananas.