ACUHO-I News Blog

What’s the most frequently-asked question for Western Illinois University’s housing professionals? Is it about the availability of single rooms? Air-conditioning? Towel service? No. Students most want to know if they can have mini-fridges and microwave ovens in their rooms so they can cook,according to John Biernbaum, head of housing and dining services.

Students have devised ways to make meals on hotplates and in mini-microwaves. They covet halls with kitchens, or suites where they can have their own cooking space. Some institutions offer in-residence cooking lessons. The meme of the ramen-eating college student may become a thing of the past; unless someone discovers that ramen goes well with goat cheese and fresh basil.

The New York Times today picked up on the trend of campus dining halls ditching the previously-common place cafeteria trays. With their disappearance, campuses report a reduction in food waste as well as saving water and energy consumption.

The article quotes the Sustainabble Endowments Institute (which issues the College Sustainability Report Card) that says 126 of 300 tracked colleges and universities “had curtailed use of trays, some of them banishing trays only from certain dining halls, and some introducing, for example, ‘trayless Tuesdays.’”

The article also quotes Dr. Joseph H. Spina, executive director of the National Association of College and University Food Services, who explained that another benefit of going trayless is the, “preparation for the cocktail-party circuit. You eventually have to learn how to hold your hors d’oeuvre and cocktail in one hand while making animated conversation with the other. So it’s a life lesson.”

…Low on the food chain, that is. As environmental baddies go, it doesn’t get as much attention as SUVs or even computers left on overnight, but low-carbon eating is a great way to positively influence the environment. That means eating less animal-based, processed foods–meat and cheese–and more plant-based foods: vegetables, fruits, grains and beans. Fish and poultry are okay too, in moderation. When grain is fed to cattle, who are later slaughtered for food, it’s not as efficient a way of feeding humans as people eating the grain themselves. And of course, there’s the production costs involved: getting the grain to the cattle, the cattle to slaughter, the meat to stores, etc. Of course, any eating involves some transportation costs (unless you have amber waves of grain in your backyard, next to the Suncast garden shed) but those costs are usually lower.

On Wednesday, Earth Day, some college and corporate dining halls recognized the day by not serving beef or cheese. Others didn’t wait for Earth Day to show off low-carbon eating. Of course, many who advocate for low-carbon eating don’t expect complete abstinence from meat and cheese from most Americans. But if everyone treated meat as a special-occasion food, and ate locally when possible, it would make a difference. At least as much as powering down the laptop at the end of the day. And it makes a lot more sense than being a Level 5 Vegan.

The Christian Science Monitor has a great story on students cooking in residence halls. It talks about students cooking in hall kitchens as well as in their rooms, using microfridges, rice cookers and, according to an accompanying photograph, clothes irons to toast cheese sandwiches to perfection. Though the unorthodox use of irons might make residence hall professionals uneasy, I’m sure ACUHO-I blog readers have seen more unnerving cooking creativity than this in their professional experience.

Perhaps the draw of residence hall cooking is its stripped-down simplicity. Cooking in one’s residence hall room is, to the larger culinary world, what minimalism is to art. With ingredients, appliances, space and, often, initiative at a minimum (the student just wants a late-night snack, not a Pepin masterpiece), residence hall cooking combines inventiveness and hunger for some interesting outcomes. The MacGyver in all of us likes to beat the odds, whipping up some creme brulee in a microwave. The article mentions some schools offer cooking classes, teaching students how to make the most of a microfridge; such a class might make a great RA program, and serve as a way to gently encourage students to cook creatively and safely, without using, say, pocket lighters to melt Hershey’s Kisses for impromptu fondue.

Exciting, ground-breaking news from Consumer Reports: Children’s cereal contains a lot of sugar.

I know, can you believe it, either? I almost blinked when I read that!

[Gulps artificially-orange-flavored, sugar-free water.]

Ah, okay, I’ve regained my composure.

Apparently Honey Smacks contain more sugar than honey (which is what you’d expect, I guess, from a cereal that promises to backhand you with the stuff) and Golden Crisp has as much sugar as a glazed donut from Dunkin’ Donuts. Yellow No. 5, a key ingredient to Cap’n Crunch’s St. Tropez golden glow, has been linked to childhood ADHD. I don’t know how they can separate the effects of the sugar from the Yellow, though.

At least none are known to include “flesh-eating bacteria in every box!”

[Sip diet soft drink. Notice Yellow No. 5 among its ingredients. That might explain something...]

But this isn’t just an issue for the primary set; as we all know, college students eat cereal religiously. The nostalgic appeal of childhood cereals is hard to resist, and in moderate amounts, on occasion, there’s nothing wrong with it. Some cereals can provide the warm fuzzies and good nutrition: Cheerios and Life rated well.

What can student affairs professionals do to help students make wise choices, without making the consumption of sugared cereal into a bigger deal than it is? After all, there are health issues that loom larger than this.