In many campuses around the country, the issue of feeding students remains a highly contested topic due to the many dimensions from which it can be approached. While some argue that campus restaurants are a convenient option, others are of the opinion that services offered by outsiders are the better option since the various competitors do their best in order to attract as many students as possible. The issue that then emerges from this opinion is whether the quality of services is maintained and what quality of food is served bearing in mind that all these entries compete for the sole purpose of making as much profit as they can. In my paper, I will argue against the introduction of fast food cafeterias within the campus grounds.
Most campus cafeterias are managed by the administration of the campus through a delegated department. For this purpose, they are required to adhere to some regulations that are usually stipulated by authorities on the standards of food that should be offered to students. These cafeterias offer the meals that are of high quality in terms of maintaining balanced diets and observing other health regulations (Hales, 11). Their food is prepared in hygienic conditions and this is done to ensure that students do not suffer from any diseases that may arise from contaminated food. Many cafeterias located in facilities such as schools and hospitals get regular visits from health officers who come in to check on the standards of facilities used to prepare and serve food as well as the food itself. Campus cafeterias are also known to offer unlimited portions and salads to students and they go ahead to offer choices for both vegetarian and non-vegetarian students. They also offer a wide variety of food unlike fast food restaurants which offer the same foods day after day (Wilk, 3-4).
On the other hand, fast food restaurants are mainly driven by maximizing on their profits. For this reason, they usually go by what students will prefer and not what is necessarily right for the students. Fro example, many students and especially female ones will prefer to eat fries and take fizzy drinks such as soda (Wilk, 6). This compels the restaurants to prepare and serve just these foods and do not weigh the option of introducing other healthy foods. Although we cannot completely declare that their choice of food is wrong, the methods used in cooking these foods are the main cause of controversy. Chicken or fish for example, may be healthy options to include in the meals that are served. The main problem however is that they are usually cooked through deep frying and this makes them risky to consume for the obvious repercussions they may bring such as obesity and heart problems (Hales, 15).
It is also important to note that many women students have eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia and this makes it difficult for them to adhere to a strict and healthy eating program. Students are also known to spend quite a significant amount of time seated in their rooms watching the television or playing video games. When they go out for meals, they usually prefer to grab food at the fast food restaurants and return to their rooms. These eating habits are highly linked to disorders such as weight gain and it is estimated that around 50% of students in colleges gain weight due to such poor eating habits (Wilk, 9). Majority of these students retain the same habits for the rest of their lives and this can be cited as one of the reasons behind the ever rising cases of heart diseases, diabetes and obesity.
Convenience is also another perspective from which the issue of cafeterias can be approached. Many students do not actually have the option to choose their food until they reach college level. College cafeterias ensure that students do not have a difficult time adjusting to the new meals that are offered since they are mostly of high quality as those that students get while at home. College cafeterias offer meal plans that cater for the preferences of all students while maintain the same high quality (Goldstein and Mark, 23). Students may choose plans that cover all meals or some of the meals depending on preference and the time when the students may prefer to have their meals given that students may be attending classes at different times depending on the courses. Most freshmen and sophomores reside within the colleges and rely on college cafeteria for their meals since they are not accustomed to the hustles involved around fast food restaurants that may not always be reliable since they aim at serving as many students as possible to rake in as much money as they can. They have no time to handle an issue that may be of concern to a single student (Schlosser, 29).
The pricing of food in college cafeterias is also relatively low compared to the prices in fast food restaurants. Fast food restaurants actually price their food highly due to the fact that their foods appear to prepared in a more appealing manner such as the fries but in reality go ahead to serve the food in small portions in order to maximize on profit. Many students operate on limited budgets and this cannot enable them go for the fancy foods in fast food restaurants. The result of this is that there emerges an imaginary difference of class between those who can afford fast foods and those who cannot (Goldstein and Mark, 29). To make sure that all students are on an equal platform, it would be best to disallow the operation of fast food restaurants within the college so that all students get their meals from the same source.
Another problem raised by fast food restaurants is that due to their mode of packaging food in disposable containers and polythene, the materials find their way all over the compound and this poses risk to the environment including the fact that they make it difficult to keep the environment clean. Being institutions of higher learning, colleges should reflect the kind of people who are within that place and so it is necessary that cleanliness is observed (Schlosser, 54).
In conclusion, fast food restaurants are an unhealthy option for providing services to students in colleges since they are mainly profit oriented and they do not take into consideration many other factors such as the quality of food that they offer. Most of their foods pose health risks and colleges should not allow students to jump straight into the risks when they can offer alternative and healthier foods. College students may also be incapable of affording the fast foods since they are mostly sold at exorbitant prices and this may lead to some students feeling as if they are inferior within the college. Fast food restaurants also pose risks to the environment since they do not take any environmental conservation measures such as wrapping their food in bio-degradable materials (Goldstein and Mark, 33). For these reasons, I would prefer that food be offered by a single college cafeteria.
Works Cited
Goldstein, Myrna C, and Mark Goldstein. Controversies in Food and Nutrition. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002. Print.
Wilk, Richard R. Fast Food/slow Food: The Cultural Economy of the Global Food System. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press, 2006. Print.
Hales, Dianne R. An Invitation to Health. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.
