#Sodexoproblems

One thing I gathered from reading these blogs was a collective displeasure with the "cuisine" provided by Sodexo.  In what was almost comical fashion, I noticed in numerous entries that an aversion to the dining halls was expressed.  In some it was subtle, like mentioning a choice they made to deliberately eat somewhere other than the dining hall, or thanks that they didn't have to eat there.  In others, I found bloggers that simply stated they don't like Sodexo's food or were frustrated with the choices they had.  I think what surprised me most was how nonchalant they were with their complaints.  What made me consider it comical, was the sense of hopelessness displayed and the general acceptance of their dining fate.

Family Table

The United States regards itself as one of the great "Melting Pot" countries.  Its land is home to a multitude of different cultures and lifestyles.  This means a large scale integration of music, language, interaction, and of course, cuisine.  While our own classic cuisine is widely regarded as only including food like burgers, hot dogs, fries, and anything greasy or fried, we have countless establishments dedicated keeping culture alive in our country.  But that is no small task, and the responsibility lies on us, the consumers, as much as it does on the restaurants.  Both Ahn and Nicholson expressed the desire to keep their culture or tradition alive within themselves, largely through the food they choose to eat.  Ahn by continuing to serve Korean food to his son, and Nicholson through his ceremonial meal to commemorate his mother's love of white food.  My own experience with food comes from the american south.  My mother is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and boy do they know how to cook down there.  I've grown up with the chinese food, McDonalds, grilled fish, and bagels that everybody knows, but every time I ate dinner at her house, I knew that she might serve me some crawfish gumbo, or meatloaf with collard greens and cornbread.  I still jump at the opportunity to eat anywhere cornbread will be served.  My mother also kept alive the general belief that if you love three or four different things, they will be great if you put them all in the same dish together.  So that's just what we did.  From the time that I was 2 until I left for college, I always had an interesting dish in my dinner rotation at her house.  She decided that since I loved ham, eggs, rice, and cheese so much, she ought to make them into one seamless dish.  Some of my fondest memories from my early childhood are of me opening the plastic cheese grater, putting in some monterey jack, and cranking the handle, spinning the wheel until I was satisfied with the cheese drizzling over my scrambled eggs with ham in a bowl of rice.  The southern way is to serve you food that tastes good, and fills you, and that is exactly what she did when she cooked for me.

Charming Breakfast

Some say the most important meal of the day is lunch.  They say it gives them that extra boost to get over a midday slump and carries them straight through to dinner.  I would have to disagree.  What meal jump-starts your day and can get you feeling energized? Breakfast.  Nothing starts my engine like some eggs, bacon, and toast with a glass of OJ.  It's so vital to my daily mood that I often eat enough to skip lunch.  My last meal was breakfast, and to be honest, my meal was far from that "hearty" breakfast which I adore.  I sat down with a few friends to catch up with them and hear their outrageous stories from spring break with nothing more than a rather small bowl of General Mills' Lucky Charms.  Sure, they're full of dyes, preservatives, and something that makes their marshmallows somewhat crunchy, but they get the job done, and when you don't have time to spare they are pretty satisfying.  While the meal itself was unremarkable, the speed at which I bulldozed through my bowl and headed out to class certainly impressed me.  Even after that small bowl of cereal, I felt ready to start my day with enough energy to get through class.  Don't get me wrong, the value of breakfast doesn't lie just in the energy you get to start your day, it also provides a setting to discuss plans for the day, last nights events, and acts as a buffer period between being asleep and having things to do.  My last meal was a very simple breakfast, but even as such it was essential to help me start my day.