Eat & Drink
Food for Thought: Feeding Toronto Students
With the recent talk of Jamie Oliver's "Feed Me Better" success, and the struggles to replace junk food with healthy alternatives in Canadian schools, I've taken to wondering...how do students in Toronto eat?
I didn't grow up in Toronto so I can't vouch for the elementary or secondary schools here. I did, however, go to University here, and if the dining options at the UofT campus are any indication, the situation, to put it kindly, doesn't look good.
In many of the recent discussions on this topic, the concern has been raised that if high school students are denied their preferred snacks on campus, they'll simply go off campus to get them. Here in Toronto, no matter where you live - or go to school - it's doubtful that you have to go far to fulfill your cravings.
On the other hand, fast food is often a rarity downtown, with Taco Bell and McDonalds outnumbered by falafel and pho. Granted, eating out is rarely a truly nutritious choice, but I'd still prefer to see young people chowing down on sushi than on french fries.
Plus, in my optimism, I'd like to think that exposure to diverse, quality foods helps kids grow up to make better food choices. When you realize that there's more to life that greasy hamburgers and doughy pizza, you're more apt to choose your food carefully, to eat a balanced (or at least diverse) diet, and to relish different tastes rather than mindlessly swallowing flavourless junk.
Of course, that still leaves the question of what's being served in schools - via the cafeteria and by way of vending machines. For those of you who went to school in this city, what do you think? What kinds of foods nourished (or failed to nourish) you throughout your education? And are students in Toronto better off than those in small towns - or worse?
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being a UC student at U of T enables you to spend your flex dollars at the arbor room, fung and reznikoffs. fung is excellent, excellent campus food that always has vegan and halal options, lots of delicious stir-fry and great beverages and snacks.
i don't know about the other colleges, but the UC food options rock.
<p>But, to be fair, U of T sits in the heart of one of the most restaurant-rich cities of the world. Sure, you <em>can</em> eat junk, but unlike isolated (captive) campus culture in places like the U of Manitoba, or even York and Seneca, the U of T student has the <em>option</em>. I don't know about now, but back then you could eat macrobiotic on harbord, asian on bloor or college, and never more than a short walk from all sorts of small take-outs -- my fave was a good quality sandwich and juice from a home-based shop right around the corner off sussex and spadina.</p>
<p>But I don't think things were any different then as now. Pizza and wings still dominate, dorms are peppered with instant noodles and Chef Boy-ar-dee cans. Yeah, they <em>plead</em> ignorance of culinarities, that "<i>mama did all my cooking</i>" (or still does) when there's hardly any activity more basically human than feeding one's self, and even a lab rat can tell nutrition from junk (unless you apply a soldering iron to certain regions of their brains).</p>
<p>Thing is, too many youth think themselves immortal, or are mired in a self-deprecating denial of an ascetic myth, so they grab whatever, however, at whatever price, satiate the lateral hypothalamus, tip the blood-sugar above the warning limit and call that "nourishment"</p>
<p>One must pause to wonder, though, if they nourish their minds as thoughtfully ...</p>
it was a horrible year for food. yesterday's beef wellington was today's beef sandwhich is tomorrow's beef pot roast. i ate a lot of salad that year.