Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Editorial Editors: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas
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E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
Tuesday
April 25,2000
Volume 101, Issue 138
Emerald
Plenty of food is wasted each year in the
dining halls, but taking only what you can
eat would help cut the waste
Bryan Dixon Emerald
s Oliver Twist once said, “Food,
glorious food.” Indeed. People
eating in the University dining
ialls each day are bombarded by
copious amounts of food. There is so much
to choose from that sometimes you just
take one of everything. We’ve all heard of
the “freshman 15.” Yeah, that’s not talking
about how many hours of sleep you get
during finals week. That number is actual
ly a lot smaller.
Joking aside, the food that students take
is often more than they can eat. And so we
arrive at our quandary.
Food waste is a constant problem for the
people in charge of the dining halls.
“We always need to have more food than
we need,” said Kari VanOrsdel, University
Inn dining hall manager. “The last person
in line deserves as much as the first.”
But food that is prepared and not used
by students can either be reused somehow
by the University dining operations or do
nated to Food for Lane County.
Recycle the food? Ewwwwww. But don’t
worry about it. There are very strict guide
lines regarding what food can be reused
based on what it is and how long it has
been sitting, etc.
But they can’t do diddley about the food
we take. Everything that we grab is either
going in us or in the trash. In our defense, I
must note that sometimes you see some
item that you think is going to be really
good, so you fill your plate with it. Then it
turns out to taste worse than black licorice.
I know that some peo
Mason
West
that it went directly
landfill.
pie like black licorice,
and I would like to
take a quick moment
to inform them that
they are wrong.
An easy solution to
this problem in the
dining halls would be
a more detailed list of
ingredients of the
food. This would let
me avoid such
mishaps as getting
macaroni with onions
in it. Onions! I admit
rom my plate to the
So I’m just as guilty as anybody else, and
I’m not preaching from on high. I am trying
to change myself as much as I’m trying to
change you. The only way that anjdhing is
...mvhpp.
going to change is if we collectively change
our attitudes.
To monitor waste, Campus Recycling
does a few “food waste audits” in the din
ing halls each year. These are days when it
keeps track of all the food thrown away. In
the last waste audit on Nov. 15,1999, dur
ing lunch at Carson the average was about
.3 pounds of food waste per person.
Though that doesn’t sound too bad, when
you multiply that by the 858 people that
ate there for that meal, you get a total of 259
pounds of food that was discarded.
Despite this waste, there is still hope.
“Things have gotten better over the
year,” VanOrsdel said. “I think people have
bigger eyes than stomachs when they come
in.”
The other day, chicken tenders were
served for dinner. While I was eating, I saw
a gentlemen walk by with a plate that con
tained no less than 10 chicken tenders.
Those tenders are mighty tasty — and I
didn’t stick around to see if he ate them all
— but I bet a third of that went in the trash
untouched.
I’m glad that VanOrsdel is optimistic,
but if that’s an improvement, we have a lot
more improving to do. Though this is just
one example, we students don’t recognize
how good we have it. All I ever hear about
the dining halls is “the food’s so gross,” or,
“hey, my hair’s not that long!” Come on
people! Appreciate what we have. Besides
Izzy’s, University dining halls are some of
the few places where you can get all-you
can-eat.
One other possible solution is to elimi
nate the all-you-can-eat dining halls in fa
vor of a pay-per-item style. While Universi
ty Housing is not seriously considering this
option, it would solve the problem. “I’d
hate to get rid of the all-you-can-eat atmos
phere,” VanOrsdel said. Carson manager
Cindy Lund said that most of the universi
ties that have gone away from the all-you
can-eat style have returned to it.
The easiest solution to this whole prob
lem is simple. Take a conservative amount
of food your first time through, then do as
my good friend Oliver does. Walk back
through the line and say, “Please sir, might
I have some more.”
Mason West is a columnist for the Oregon Daily
Emerald. His views do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald. He can be reached via e-mail
at mwest1@gladstone.uoregon.edu.