Eating at Akers Hall Cafeteria
The dining halls of Michigan State University offer food to students at all hours of the day throughout the week. These large dining halls serve thousands of hungry college students every day and are set up to make sure that everybody has more than enough to eat. Going to the Akers Cafeteria, one of my old favorite cafeterias, with the aim of analyzing the food culture that surrounds cafeteria. With the large amounts of diners and food that travel through Akers cafeteria, I was fairly certain that I wasn’t going to like what I saw.
I had been to the Akers Cafeteria before. In fact, during my time of living on campus, I actually really enjoyed going to the Akers Cafeteria. It was a nice break from eating at Holmes Cafeteria (where I lived) and it had a burger bar with chili cheese fries. Only a short walk across the street would take me from the blur of cold sandwiches and breakfast cereal in Holmes Cafeteria and land me in the cheese-smothered heaven of Akers Cafeteria. There wasn’t much that could get me much more excited.
After over a year of living off of campus, though, the thought of going back to a dining hall was something to dread. Even though the Akers Cafeteria still had my beloved chili cheese fries, living off of campus had made me realize that I had turned to the cafeteria simply out of desperation. Once I started living on my own and ate some more real food that I had cooked on my own, I realized just how much I disliked the cafeteria food. Going back to eat at Akers Cafeteria for the sole purpose of analyzing the food culture surrounding the Cafeteria made me dread far more than just the poor quality of the food.
When one enters the Akers Hall Cafeteria, one is immediately struck by the size and the overall excess of the cafeteria. Not only is the cafeteria physically large to accommodate all of the students that need to eat there, there is also an abundance of food on display. There is one main line, as well as a burger bar and sushi station, not to mention a salad/fruit bar, dessert station and area where students can load up on sugary breakfast cereals if they like. The whole cafeteria is set up so that students can get as much food as they want and are offered a whole variety of choices.
The way that the cafeteria is set up only serves to reinforce the excess and abundance of the modern day food industry. Students that I watched while spending time in the Akers Cafeteria did not simply limit themselves to one trip for food, or even one food station for that matter. Students would often get a burger from the burger bar, chicken wings from the main line and a salad from the salad bar. And of course they would get cookies from the dessert station. Then, after that trip they would go back for seconds, or thirds.
By offering so many choices and such an abundance of every choice the cafeteria allowed and even encouraged students to indulge in whatever food they wanted. Students piled food onto their trays and brought them back to their groups of friends. And, if looking at how much food was left on their trays when they left the cafeteria, it seems that I was not the only one who didn’t exactly care for the quality of the food. Of course, the reason that there was so much waste might have been something other than just plain picky eaters.
By encouraging the students to choose whatever and however much food they wanted, the cafeteria was encouraging waste. Looking back on it, I can see that my own actions matched this pattern. Upon entering the cafeteria, I would load up on as much food as I could even though I knew for a fact I wouldn’t enjoy much of the food. I simply got the food because I could. And why wouldn’t I? I was once in the same position as these students. I had already paid for the meal plan, and I could either load up on as much food as I could or waste my money by not eating that much. These students were simply falling into the same trap that I once had. Because of the way the cafeteria is set up, it simply made sense for them to try and eat as much as possible, even if this led to waste and unhealthy eating habits.
On the whole, my cynical suspicions were confirmed upon my analysis of the food culture surrounding the Akers Hall Cafeteria. The conditions are set up in such a way that students are encouraged to waste food. What is worse is that this wasteful system is set up under the guise of trying to provide students with plenty of food and choices.
I had been to the Akers Cafeteria before. In fact, during my time of living on campus, I actually really enjoyed going to the Akers Cafeteria. It was a nice break from eating at Holmes Cafeteria (where I lived) and it had a burger bar with chili cheese fries. Only a short walk across the street would take me from the blur of cold sandwiches and breakfast cereal in Holmes Cafeteria and land me in the cheese-smothered heaven of Akers Cafeteria. There wasn’t much that could get me much more excited.
After over a year of living off of campus, though, the thought of going back to a dining hall was something to dread. Even though the Akers Cafeteria still had my beloved chili cheese fries, living off of campus had made me realize that I had turned to the cafeteria simply out of desperation. Once I started living on my own and ate some more real food that I had cooked on my own, I realized just how much I disliked the cafeteria food. Going back to eat at Akers Cafeteria for the sole purpose of analyzing the food culture surrounding the Cafeteria made me dread far more than just the poor quality of the food.
When one enters the Akers Hall Cafeteria, one is immediately struck by the size and the overall excess of the cafeteria. Not only is the cafeteria physically large to accommodate all of the students that need to eat there, there is also an abundance of food on display. There is one main line, as well as a burger bar and sushi station, not to mention a salad/fruit bar, dessert station and area where students can load up on sugary breakfast cereals if they like. The whole cafeteria is set up so that students can get as much food as they want and are offered a whole variety of choices.
The way that the cafeteria is set up only serves to reinforce the excess and abundance of the modern day food industry. Students that I watched while spending time in the Akers Cafeteria did not simply limit themselves to one trip for food, or even one food station for that matter. Students would often get a burger from the burger bar, chicken wings from the main line and a salad from the salad bar. And of course they would get cookies from the dessert station. Then, after that trip they would go back for seconds, or thirds.
By offering so many choices and such an abundance of every choice the cafeteria allowed and even encouraged students to indulge in whatever food they wanted. Students piled food onto their trays and brought them back to their groups of friends. And, if looking at how much food was left on their trays when they left the cafeteria, it seems that I was not the only one who didn’t exactly care for the quality of the food. Of course, the reason that there was so much waste might have been something other than just plain picky eaters.
By encouraging the students to choose whatever and however much food they wanted, the cafeteria was encouraging waste. Looking back on it, I can see that my own actions matched this pattern. Upon entering the cafeteria, I would load up on as much food as I could even though I knew for a fact I wouldn’t enjoy much of the food. I simply got the food because I could. And why wouldn’t I? I was once in the same position as these students. I had already paid for the meal plan, and I could either load up on as much food as I could or waste my money by not eating that much. These students were simply falling into the same trap that I once had. Because of the way the cafeteria is set up, it simply made sense for them to try and eat as much as possible, even if this led to waste and unhealthy eating habits.
On the whole, my cynical suspicions were confirmed upon my analysis of the food culture surrounding the Akers Hall Cafeteria. The conditions are set up in such a way that students are encouraged to waste food. What is worse is that this wasteful system is set up under the guise of trying to provide students with plenty of food and choices.