Kylie Grunsfeld, Staff Columnist
A few months ago I decided to go to Ram’s Coop for dinner.
I was in the mood for something that would make me feel good, so I ordered a chicken caesar salad — pretty much the only item on the menu with a vegetable of any kind, not including a potato. When the man working at the counter looked at what the kitchen had passed forward, he said, and I quote:
“There’s no way you’re giving this to her.”
But they did indeed give it to me. What I received for the price of one whole meal swipe — the rough equivalent of up to $10 — was a few pieces of wilted lettuce, a sprinkle of cheese and one cold chicken tender cut into pieces.
Pissed off and hungry, I went home and dug something out of the back of my freezer.
I live in Cary and Belvidere, which provides apartments with decently sized kitchens, so I have the facilities to cook my own meals. But any student knows it is simply unrealistic to expect all of your meals to be home-cooked, let alone consistently made from whole ingredients.
There are numerous factors that lead a student to rely on a meal plan, such as a lack of grocery funds, time, space, access and even ability. Not to mention that freshmen are required to purchase a meal plan, and unless they want thousands of dollars to go unspent, they have no choice but to make use of it.
VCU used to boast two campus dining halls, but as of this year they have reduced the selection down to one — good ol’ Shafer Dining Court Center. Shafer is great if you have the time to wait in lines and take a seat. Though the food itself is not always good quality, Shafer has the largest selection of any on-campus dining spot.
Many students have valid complaints about the quality of Shafer’s food, noting that it has gone down significantly over the past few years. I personally have found it to be satisfying enough, but I tend to avoid Shafer like the plague. When I go I find myself incentivized to eat as much as possible, leaving me feeling overly-stuffed.
That leaves the other on-campus locations that take VCU’s meal plan: Panda Express, Chick-Fil-A, Starbucks, Wingstop and Subway — to name a few.
Those are almost all fast-food restaurants. Any fresh items they do have are few and far between, and often out of stock. Chick-Fil-A, which actually has a few salads on its menu, has a line upwards of an hour long constantly. Besides, Chick-Fil-A is not exactly known for its salads, just as Wingstop is not exactly known for its side of celery and carrots.
To be fair, there are some slightly more health-conscious options: Choolah, P.O.D. Market and Shake Smart are decent choices. But even they still lack good quality, fresh items.
Shake Smart, for example, makes its smoothies and acai bowls with agave instead of regular sugar. Along with Shake Smart’s health oriented aesthetics, one might think it is a good place to go for a fruit-based “meal,” but agave is not actually proven to be much better for you than standard cane sugar.
My concern does not stem from diet culture. It has been a long, hard process, but I have gotten to a point where I understand the need for whole foods — not because they will help make me smaller, but because they offer real, positive benefits for my brain and body long-term.
I am not insisting that people cannot enjoy the dining options available — that’s their prerogative. Nobody should be told how or what to eat. I worry, though, that with our campus meal system, we are not even given a choice.
Choices are even slimmer for students with dietary restrictions. There are hardly any options for those who can’t eat gluten, meat or dairy. Eating from these places in moderation can be exciting, but when you are presented with the same meals over and over again, it can become nauseating.
How can you expect a college student with multiple classes a semester, extracurriculars and jobs to have enough energy to complete their day without healthy food to fuel them? VCU claims to want its students to succeed, but we are set up for failure. We are set up to blame ourselves for gaining the “freshman 15” and for struggling to stay awake through classes, but it is VCU that has a significant hand in that struggle.
Considering we pay to attend this institution, we deserve better.