By Louise Mengelkoch
I read with great interest Kevin Hershey's guest commentary in the Sept.10 issue of The Beacon, in which the writer made a good case for our eschewing the terms "gay" or "retarded" as negative descriptors.
I thought it unfortunate, however, that he did not question the validity of the main thing described by these juvenile, insensitive terms: the food served on the UP campus.
I'm not terribly concerned about any hurt feelings of employees of Bon Appetit, but I am concerned about providing a reality check for anyone who complains about the food on this campus.
Let me tell you about bad campus fod. I am a visiting professor from Bemidji State University in Minnesota.
Even though BSU is a larger campus than UP, the quality, quantity and diversity of food here is astonishing in comparison. We have one dining hall in the student union and one for dorm residents - no Cove equivalent at all. Our student union subcontracts with Pizza Hut to serve breadsticks and two kinds of personal-pan pizzas each day.
We have a salad bar, but you can't serve yourself and the selection of items is quite limited.
We have one selection of Asian food daily, but the veggies are always soggy and it seems to be high in sugar and salt. We have a small sub sandwich bar, a small taco bar and something called the "Home Zone."
This usually features some kind of roasted meat unit, limp vegetables and rice or potatoes for more than $6 a plate. Drinks without added sugar are limited. We finally got an espresso stand about four years ago, but the drinks cost more than they do here.
In fact, all the food is more expensive than yours, at least if you pay on a per-meal basis. Not only that, but everything closes down about 2 p.m.
If you're hungry after that, you need to leave campus, and you'd better have a car, because there's almost nothing within walking distance. There was no food service during summer school this year because the company said there weren't enough students to make it worthwhile.
I'm thoroughly appreciative of all the colorful, low-cost, freshly prepared, good-tasting food here. It's not haute cuisine, but it's definitely not as processed and unhealthy as the campus food I've grown accustomed to, both on my home campus and at many others I've visited.
For too long, campuses and, sadly, even hospitals and public schools, have adopted the philosophy that what we put into our bodies didn't matter - that somehow we could get smart or healthy while ignoring the fact that we are what we eat.
I think it's encouraging that the idea of eating fresh, locally produced, organic, non-processed food has become mainstream. More and more attention is being paid to this revolutionary idea in scholarly work and in popular media.
One of the things that attracts me to this beautiful area is the gorgeous variety and abundance of food. Going to the Portland farmers markets is a multi-sensory experience of the highest order. Perhaps you can complain about your campus food because your standards here are so high.
I think it's important you realize, however, that you have something pretty special here. I'm not complaining. I'm just enjoying it while I can.
Louise Mengelkoch is professor of journalism.
