The official,
semi-annual,
bi-centennial,
te-of-the-cafeteria
report
‘The shopper, really informed and looking for a
io food with nothing added or taken away, is like
Lenes with a lantern unable to find an honest man."
¡Testimony before congressional committee
•So,my editor calls me in and says to me that she
fa great idea for a story. Why not do a feature on
[school cafeteria? What a great idea, I said to my-
I visions of Bernstein already forming at the possi-
[ties this story presented.
Bly own creative juices began to flow, sprung,
larently,from the originality of an idea of a school
far doing an article on the cafeteria. After all,
teyou ever been to a school where someone didn't
inplain about the food?
Jim McCaffrey
The Print
■Time to send some fool out to check up on those
Hie again to make sure that they aren't overcharg-
jus for our potatoes and what we assume to be
It. So, here is my never-to-be-forgotten, semi
nal, bi-centennial state-of-the-cafeteria report.
Mo start, it is probably best to try and give a de
Lion of what the cafeteria is and what it is not.
■cafeteria is not a restaurant. It is not set up to
lea profit. It is also not a health food store, a Mc-
jnald's, or a student welfare program.
Khat the cafeteria is, is functional. It is an attempt
¡provide popular foods at reasonable prices while
■pingfinancially solvent.
jckamas Cafe - Home of the world famous Alferd
Ikard home of cooked cuisine*
For the record, here are the statistics of the cafe-
la for the fiscal year 1976 - 1977 that I am sure
■ have all been meaning to ask about, but never
■med to have the opportunity. Got your crayons
I construction paper?
(Remember if you just
■otto cut this out, use your round-edged scissors.)
■egoes.
■Your cafeteria is busy approximately 40 weeks in
Bear. Last year, in those 40 weeks, they used about:
12400 gallons milk
11500pounds ham
13000 dozen eggs
1160 cases lettuce
■120 boxes tomatoes
12000 pounds roast beef
■1500 pounds hamburger
■4800pounds hamburger patties
1 6000 pounds vegetables
■150cases canned tomatoes
130cases catsup
■400 gallons pickles
■96 hallons mayonaise
■The cafeteria employs up to 22 people. Nine are
■salary, four are utility workers, and six to Ware
■dents on the work/study program. Norm Gram-
fth is the manager and is responsible to the Dean
■Services office.
■This food services operation, although run by the
Bool administration, is not eligible to receive state
■federal funds. The kitchen was budgeted for about
■0,000 last year but they had a $9,000 deficit, the
■fence being made up from the school's general
pd Packard was the only person in United States
fe ever to be convicted of canabalism. Both the
Rersity of Colorado and the U.S. State Départ
it have cafeterias named for him.
Community College
Photo by Brian Snook
Grambush blamed the deficit on a 7 percent rise in
inflation and a failure on his part to raise prices in
time to keep up. This year, Grambusch does not ex
pect any deficit and claims to be about $100 in the
black.
Last year, almost $80,000 was spent on food,
$10,000 on paper, $75,000 on salaries, $1,500 on
utilities, and $15,000 was budgeted for equipment.
As would be expected, items are sold according to
their popularity, cost and availability, Grambusch
said. Menus are varied as much as possible with re
visions about every five weeks.
The staff makes the soups and salad dressings
themselves. (O.K. put away your crayons, end of the
statistics. How's that for hard-hitting, investigative
journalism? Sorry, Woodword, you may have a mil
lion bucks but you'll never have this kind of talent for
uncovering stats.)
God, I hope there was just an earthquake 'cause
I think something on my plate just moved.
Perhaps 75 percent of the world lives on a basic
diet of one food, usually a cereal (typically rice),
usually grown by themselves, and usually eaten in a
simple boiled form. In contrast, industrial man buys
widely from restaurants, carry-outs, and vending ma
chines, as well as from an average supermarket stock
of over 7,000 items that have been stored, transported
usually processed and preserved, and wrapped for
sale, according to "Man's Body--An Owner's Manual,"
by the Diagram Group.
According to institutional statistics, the 10 most
popular main dishes are fried chicken, roast beef, spa
ghetti, turkey, baked ham, fried shrimp, beef stew,
meat loaf, fish and macaroni and cheese. This is dis
counting hamburgers as a main dish.
To anyone who has eaten a single meal in our
cafeteria these foods must appear familiar.
There are fairly nutritious meals to be bought in
the cafeteria. It is up to the individual to decide how
he or she would like to be "poisoned". The cafeteria
is one of the most responsive institutions on campus.
They depend on their ability to meet the demands of
the students. The menu is an accurate reflection of
the demands made upon it. It is a certainty that if
nobody is buying hamburgers the cafeteria won't be
selling them for long.
Since management claims that the prices on smal
ler items such as apples and oranges are inflated so
they may sell hamburger at a more reasonable price,
it would seem reasonable to expect prices to go down
on items as hamburger sales decreased. We make the
decisions.
The Legend of Paper Plates
By John Haines
They trace their ancestry
Back to the forest
There all the family stood.
Proud, bushy, and strong.
Until hard times,
when from fire and drought
the patriarchs crashed.
The land was taken for taxes,
the young people cut down
and sold to the mills.
Their manhood and womanhood
was crushed, bleached
with bitter acids
their fibers dispersed
as sawdust
among ten million offspring.
You see them at any picnic,
at ball games, at home,
and at state occasions.
They are thin and pliable,
porous and dentical.
They are made to be thrown^away.
Listen, this place spends $10,000 a year on paper
plates, styrofoam cups and plastic utensils to be used
once and thrown away. Not one penny is being spent,
not one iota of energy is being used to recycle any of
it. This is not only happening at our College, but
throughout cafeterias in Oregon.
Mt. Hood Community College, Portland State
University, and Oregon State University cafeterias
have confirmed that they also have found it cheaper
to use paper and disposable products than to buy
washing equipment, dishes and silverware that breaks
down, break and are stolen.
This strikes me as being irresponsible. To put it
simply, if you have to use paper and plastic products,
is it unreasonable to think that someone could put
out recycling containers that would allow people to
separate food, plastic and paper as they leave? Is it a
financial burden to put a few students on a work/
study program to help with a recycling effort?
How come people in student government haven't
taken it upon themselves to help coordinate a similar
operation already? Isn't that what they are there
for?
Seems like time would be better spent helping
coordinate recycling efforts on this campus and cam
uses throughout the state than in trying to figure out
when to hold the next dance.
This is the end of the never to be forgotten, semi
annual, bi-centennial, state-of-the-cafeteria report.
Looks like things are just the way you let them be, as
usual.
The only thing left to do is to pass out a little un
solicited, but free, advice-words of wisdom on how to
stay young and healthy from a very wise and youth
ful man-Leroy "Satchell" Paige.
Paige is,perhaps,the greatest black pitcher in base
ball history. Considering the fact that he was pitch
ing major league ball at the age of 59 he must be
considered an expert on staying young and healthy.
Listen:"
Listen: "Avoid fried meats which angry up the
blood. If your stomache disputes you, lie down and
pacify it with cool thoughts. Keep the juices flowing
by jangling around gently as you move. Go lightly
on the vices, such as carrying on in society. The social
ramble ain't restful. Avoid running at all times. Don't
look back. Something might be gaining on you.
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