2008 Woodie Awards
Editorial: Food for thought
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Editorial/Opinion
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11/15/07 - In any given month there are up to 50,000 Rhode Islanders seeking food assistance from the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. And in any given month hundreds of students throw countless hamburgers, salads and half-eaten sandwiches into the trash. The sheer amount of waste shows blatant ignorance on the part of students.
Dining Services spends hours preparing, cooking and serving meals three times a day, seven days a week. Throwing the food away is a slap in the face to those that worked so hard to prepare it and a bigger insult to those that go hungry each night.
In Rhode Island, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that one out of eight households experience food insecurity. It's painful to imagine the look of horror and disbelief these families would have if they saw the amount of dining hall food that literally goes down the drain.
Dining Services does virtually everything it can to reduce leftovers. A computer system helps track food usage and recipes are designed to use yesterday's leftovers in today's meals. But, as one dining administrator said, the department must prepare enough food that is taken, not necessarily eaten.
A particular problem is freshmen who seem to be astounded by the sheer amount of food options available. Students who are new to college want to try everything under the sun. A new unlimited meal plan probably doesn't help matters.
The only option open to Dining Services seems to be to make less appealing food, but surely no student would call for that. Instead, students must police themselves in the dining halls and remember to eat with their stomachs, not their eyes.
It would also be nice to see a group of students form again to measure food waste. If that's simply not possible, perhaps one of the existing student groups, such as Student Action for Sustainability, could pick up the charge.
There are opportunities for other groups and departments to become involved as well. Perhaps the Nutrition Club could help students understand how to create a balanced, proportional meal. The Master Gardner program could likely use the leftover food scraps for compost material.
Social sciences classes could also use the dining halls as a case study in human behavior. If given virtually unlimited choices, do humans self-regulate or indulge themselves? Sadly, the answer appears to be the latter and, until it changes, people will continue to starve while students stuff their faces. Now that's food for thought.
Dining Services spends hours preparing, cooking and serving meals three times a day, seven days a week. Throwing the food away is a slap in the face to those that worked so hard to prepare it and a bigger insult to those that go hungry each night.
In Rhode Island, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that one out of eight households experience food insecurity. It's painful to imagine the look of horror and disbelief these families would have if they saw the amount of dining hall food that literally goes down the drain.
Dining Services does virtually everything it can to reduce leftovers. A computer system helps track food usage and recipes are designed to use yesterday's leftovers in today's meals. But, as one dining administrator said, the department must prepare enough food that is taken, not necessarily eaten.
A particular problem is freshmen who seem to be astounded by the sheer amount of food options available. Students who are new to college want to try everything under the sun. A new unlimited meal plan probably doesn't help matters.
The only option open to Dining Services seems to be to make less appealing food, but surely no student would call for that. Instead, students must police themselves in the dining halls and remember to eat with their stomachs, not their eyes.
It would also be nice to see a group of students form again to measure food waste. If that's simply not possible, perhaps one of the existing student groups, such as Student Action for Sustainability, could pick up the charge.
There are opportunities for other groups and departments to become involved as well. Perhaps the Nutrition Club could help students understand how to create a balanced, proportional meal. The Master Gardner program could likely use the leftover food scraps for compost material.
Social sciences classes could also use the dining halls as a case study in human behavior. If given virtually unlimited choices, do humans self-regulate or indulge themselves? Sadly, the answer appears to be the latter and, until it changes, people will continue to starve while students stuff their faces. Now that's food for thought.