Cafeteria food: risky business
Andy Tevis

Director of Photography

I remember when pizza day was the best day of the week. Instead of my normal brown bag lunch with a sandwich and an apple, my mom would give me a $1 so I could get a "hot lunch. 

It was a rectangle-shaped slice of thin, cheese pizza with both cheddar and mozzarella cheese. It came with a side of fruit salad, applesauce or pudding - well worth waiting in a single-file line for 15 minutes. It was a real treat. Of course, that was back in grade school. How times have changed.

 It's interesting.  That's the only way I can respond when someone asks how I like Missouri Southern s cafeteria food. It s a never ending adventure of taste, typical of most school cafeterias across the nation - risky business.

I have found it s important to make a careful decision when given the choice between a few entrees. When the server asks what I want, I quickly scan over the food and run through a list of questions in my head. How old is the food? Is it healthy? Will it make me sick? How will it mix with the other foods? Hey, isn t that the same stuff from last night with a new sauce over it?

This is the first time in my life I've had to live off cafeteria food. Although it sounds nice, I don t need a good home cooked meal, I just want a good cooked meal. I m thankful I have food provided to me, but wait, I m paying for it dammit!

A few times this semester the campus cafeteria had a steak dinner. It sounds pretty nice. Steak - it's one of the more expensive meats...right? They even handed out a limited number of tickets to students who chose to partake in the steak. I should have known better. We re talking Grade F beef, if that exists. That was when I decided to become a cafeteria vegan.

I am not a vegetarian. I do eat meat, just not most cafeteria meat. I ve noticed other students doing the same. Some have become vegetarians. Why eat something that makes your stomach sick?

I feel bad for the athletes who must push their bodies to extreme limits while living off cafeteria food.

I don t blame the cooks. They do the best they can with what they are given. Some of the desserts they make are pretty good. But sometimes it s like, what were they thinking when they made this? They must have little to work with. The worst is when lunch includes leftovers from the day before mixed together to make a new combination. If no one ate the food yesterday, why would they eat it today?

Every Sunday is my pizza day. It still is the best day of the week. The day when there is no food service at school, and I'm forced to drive off campus.