Coquitlam Needs Opinions: A vegetarian s perspective on college eating

Julia Adam, OP Contributor

ost students know of the clas-

sic mid-term semester study

days at school. Up early in the morning, no time to make a lunch (or you have been so busy that grocery shopping has been pushed over to the back burner), you get to school and start familiarizing your nose with your books. All it takes is the faintest grumble in your stomach to convince you that a study break is neces- sary and you head towards the cafeteria.

Now, if you are spending your long study days at the New Westminster cam- pus, the cafeteria is one of many options to choose from. There is also the deli on the first floor, sushi restaurants galore down on 8th Street, Subway, another lunch deli by the courts...the list goes on. For those of you who spend your long study days at the Coquitlam campus, and for all of the employees who aren’t always equipped with your brown-paper bag lunches, your list of eating options is, well, short.

If it is between 9am and 3pm, you do have the exciting option of moseying across to Pinetree Secondary to take advantage of the Subway and different cafeteria options, but lunch at a high school isn’t a lot of people’s definition of a good time. Even high-school students don’t want to have lunch there. That’s why they come over to Douglas! The college cafeteria is the only other nearby food option available for needy stomachs at the Coquitlam campus. This would not be reason enough to write into the OP if the cafeteria provided a variety of options

8 | www.theotherpress.ca

v 9 8 Oo 3 i

balancing between healthy and unhealthy, non-vegetarian and vegetarian.

As a vegetarian who enjoys eating healthy, I have found myself on several occasions standing in the middle of the cafeteria thinking, “What the hell am I going to eat?” If I am free during the lunch rush, my options increase a bit (sandwich deli and salad bar), but other- wise it can be quite a challenge. There is a full list of burger-and-fries options, hot meals that are often meat dishes, plastic- wrapped sandwiches in the cooler that, in my opinion, pass as stomach fillers, and then there are the pastries, doughnuts, and muffins. Once again, stomach fillers, not healthy and balanced meal options. Definitely not the brainpower food that we book worms need, that’s for sure!

Aside from dissecting the innards of the Coquitlam DC cafeteria, I am getting somewhere with this. March was Nutrition Month in Canada, implying that healthy eating is now recognized as important enough to have a whole month dedicated to its promotion. There was once a time (when children walked to school up hill both ways, barefoot, in the snow) when nutritional eating was the norm. Eating options in schools weren’t privatized for companies to capitalize on students’ need for food during the day. Healthy food options were not being jeopardized by a company’s drive to get a high return of profit from sales. Schools did not sign contracts with corporate giants like Coca-Cola and, therefore, were not lined with vending machines and

coolers packed with pop.

Now, with media influence continually on the rise, people are often reaching for the packaged, processed, or fried options replacing the healthy options that once dominated schools. Healthy eating is cru- cial for a healthy body and mind (the two key things that people rely on to live), and now nutrition requires enough attention and awareness that it has its very own month. Ontario elementary schools are not the only educational institutions that need examining if healthy eating is to be a priority in Canada.

I am not suggesting that Douglas replace all of the unhealthy and tasty options with tofu dogs and spinach (although they are tasty too!). I just think that there needs to be a greater promotion

of healthy eating in an educational envi- ronment. It is the and responsibility of individuals to decide what they will consume, but a wider vari- ety of food options may help pull people out of the “fast-food” corner they often walk into.

choice

This is my last semester at Douglas, so my days of wandering aimlessly through the Coquitlam campus cafeteria are limit- ed, but for all of those who will spend future semesters studying and working at the campus, I hope they witness a day when the food options available resemble that of the New Westminster campus. If others hope for the same thing, let the Coquitlam campus cafeteria know either by filling out a comment card or telling an employee.

You are not alone

The Students’ Union’s Pride Collective provides resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students at the college. The Collective meets Thursdays at 3:00 in room 328 in the students’ union building at the New Westminster Campus. All lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered, questioning and allied students are welcome.

Douglas Students’ Union

Canadian Federation of Students Local 18

April 6/2005