Have an opinion? Contact us at opinions @theotherpress.ca @ Opinions OFF CAMPUS CUISINE By Allie Davison, Staff Writer Does cafeteria food fail to cater to your taste buds? Not digging the Dougout? Then grab your finest bib and try to avoid drooling on the person next to you, because we're here to offer salvation for you students looking to humble your hunger, without having to wear your shoes out getting there. e all remember the cringe- worthy 57 Below, yes? It was dark, dank, and could always be counted on to hold the creepiest of creepers. Personally, although I am a known bar lover, I was far from sad to see it close its doors last year. Understandably, I was apprehensive when I noticed a new bar going in under the New Westminster SkyTrain station, right next door to where the 57 Below used to lurk. Sure, the exterior of the building received a much needed makeover—much less grubby, for one thing—but even though 57 Below had been gutted, I was convinced that all the bleach in the world couldn’t wipe that building’s soul clean. Hops opened in late January, and for those unfortunate students who have yet to check it out, I strongly recommend it. I’ve been The sweet solution to sugar Is taxation really the answer? By Caitlin Van Den Brink Contributor ecently, the scientific journal Rove: released an article called “The Toxic Truth About Sugar” and, admittedly, it makes some pretty drastic claims. According to the article’s researchers, eating sugar in excess can cause things like diabetes, high blood pressure, and—here’s something new—it can also cause obesity. The researchers also mention that sugar is linked to cognitive diseases and certain types of cancer. To make things even more dramatic, the study claims that sugar should be regulated because it has many of the same characteristics as alcohol: it’s everywhere in our society, it’s toxic (who knew?), it has a negative impact on society, and it apparently has a potential for abuse. 16 Hops Make like a rabbit and check out Hops to the bar a few times now since its opening and I’m happy to report that it is—for the most part—a huge success. This particular instance | went down for some lunch with my brother. We were greeted by a very friendly waitress, and chose a nice booth (with its own individual TV!) near the front of the pub. The atmosphere of the place easily out-classes its predecessor by about a million points. It’s furnished with some dark wood and granite tables and leather chairs/ booths. The walls and bar are made up of more dark wood, and stone. This combination makes you feel like you’re in a much more sophisticated location than underneath a SkyTrain station. The food and drinks are a little Vancouver—something I sincerely hope will stop spreading. The menu is impressively extensive, with a variety of appy’s (both conventional, potato skins, and unconventional, giant pretzels!) and “Sure, the exterior of the building received a much needed makeover— much less grubby, for one thing—but even though 57 Below had been gutted, | was convinced that all the bleach in the world couldn’t wipe that building's soul clean.’ pricier then I would have liked, around $12-$14 for a burger and $5 for a pint. And, much to my dismay, Hops has opted not to serve pitchers of beer! Travesty! This is, however, a trend I’ve been seeing more and more of around all the pub standards like burgers, wings, etc. But hey, let’s also throw in some delicious Mac and Cheese to mix it up a little. I’m confident that almost anyone could find at least something on the menu that catches their eye. I settled for the mac ‘n’ cheese, with prime rib baked in and served with a house salad and garlic bread ($14.99) while my brother decided on the Bacon Bacon Cheeseburger ($12.99). That’s right, TWO BACONS. This badass burger is not only topped with bacon, but also has bacon cooked right into the beef patty and has bacon chipotle mayo on top. So good—or at least my brother assured me it was. All in all, I think I’ll be making Hops a semi-regular stomping ground of mine. The prices were a little too high to make it an honorary steady regular, but the food was too delicious to cut it out completely. I recommend it to all with a few extra dollars in their food budget. Conveniently though, they provide us with a solution: tax sugar like there’s no tomorrow and impose a legal buying age on the stuff. This might sound like a decent proposal, considering that added sugar is found in everything from cough syrups to salad dressing these days; the penny-an-ounce sugar tax would generate another source of income for the government, and children and broke college students would be encouraged to buy cheaper, healthier alternatives. Ata larger scale, imposing these measures would undermine Canada’s $5 billion-a-year beverage industry, which would inevitably affect a number of jobs in our already frail economy. But it wouldn’t only affect the pops and juices that line the shelves of grocery chains, because the added sugars that the report claims are the major culprits—high fructose corn syrup and sucrose—are pretty much ubiquitous in everything we eat. Frankly, jobs are hard enough to come by without something else out there to slow down consumerism and discourage potential employers from hiring. Don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing wrong with eating healthy. Everyone knows that eating a real egg will benefit you a lot more than eating some Cadbury Mini Eggs. What the writers behind the sugar article and, indeed, a lot of people out there, don’t seem to understand is that it’s all about this great word called “moderation.” Almost anything in excess is dangerous to a person’s health: vitamin C can cause kidney stones, vitamin A can cause osteoporosis, and iron can cause heart failure. It makes sense that, if someone consumes too much of any one thing, they’re going to suffer from side effects. That’s not the fault of the commodity, though; it’s the fault of the person who claims to be a sugar addict (though research has yet to prove that this even exists). Instead of punishing those who have already succumbed to the world of excessive sugary-goodness, why not instil preventative measures against those who haven’t yet fallen into that trap? Focus on teaching health and fitness in elementary schools and maybe introduce tax subsidies for businesses that follow certain fitness protocols. There are dozens of solutions out there, and few of them include telling a high school athlete that he’s too young to buy a bottle of Powerade.