Illustration By Abraham Godinez / Staff
By Han Psalma
A Perspective
Southwestern College does so many things right that support inclusion, enrollment and meaningful learning. Props to our faculty and deans for supporting students. Thank you to our campus police for working to keep us safe. Mil gracias counselors, financial aid and all the special departments that help students stay on course.
SC has a big hole in its game, however, when it comes to nutrition. Our campus food choices are unhealthy, insensitive to allergies, exclusive of religious and cultural considerations, and much too expensive.
It is mystifying that a college that has invested more than half a billion dollars in its facilities, more than $100 million a year to keep the campus operating and untold amounts of blood, sweat and tears teaching students places so little priority on the food that fuels its people.
It is akin to pouring Pepsi into a Maserati.
Other colleges and universities have healthy food options. We should, too. Students need lean protein, fruits, vegetables, unprocessed bread and healthful beverages. They provide short-term and long-term energy as well as building blocks of lasting health.
Sadly, most of our “food” offerings at our college cafes are indistinguishable from an am/pm store at a gas station. Rows of chips, pastries, sugary trail mix and candy are a depressing statement about what some college leaders think we are worth. Sugar, fat, soda, energy drinks and other slow motion poisons make students lethargic, overweight, unhealthy and unable to think well.
Allergies Can Kill
About 32 million people in the U.S. have food allergies, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Most common are milk, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish and wheat.
Kaitlyn Blagrave, a freshman psychology major, avoids campus cafeterias after a serious food allergy accident.
“I accidentally consumed dairy due to bad labeling which resulted in me throwing up,” she.
Blagrave was fortunate to be able to identify the food that was incorrectly labeled, but other students are often not so lucky. America loses college students every year due to fatal campus food encounters.
“Teenagers and young adults appear to be at higher risk for fatal allergic reactions,”
according to a national study Prevalence of Food Allergy in College and University Students.
Students and faculty members reported close calls with nut allergies, including a hair raising incident at a commencement ceremony catered by the cafeteria. A severe nut allergy can kill someone in minutes unless they have an epinephrine pen.
Not every SC student and employee can afford epinephrine. In 2020 two doses cost $670.
Religious and Cultural Foods
Jewish and Muslim students are also generally excluded from the lunch table at SC. A vast majority of food offerings are not kosher and do not meet the requirements of most Muslim students. San Diego County is sprinkled with Jewish, Hindu and Muslim delis and eateries that have a rich variety of offerings, so there seems to be no reason SC cannot provide at least a few.
Chula Vista is disproportionately Jewish and has a proud history of altruistic Jewish citizens who helped to build and advance our region. Recently Muslim students from Africa and the Middle East have found a home at SC, but not a good place to eat on campus.
Vegetarians Left Behind
Religious and secular vegetarians deserve a better effort from our college. Many vegans and vegetarians are on medically-informed diets for heart conditions, high blood pressure, migraines and gastro-intestinal problems. The old “You’re in Wyoming, eat beef!” mentality does not cut it in metropolitan San Diego County.
Arturo Andres Salas Garcia, a criminal justice major who transferred in 2021, used to depend on campus food.
“There isn’t really a wide variety,” he said. “They should include some new offerings.”
High Cost of Healthy Choices
Too often, food is the last thing students can afford. After paying for educational costs, rent, gas and transportation, there may be little or nothing left for food.
SC deserves a lot of credit for its work on student hunger. When it learned just before the pandemic that nearly 40 percent of students suffer serious food insecurity, SC opened the Jaguar Kitchen food pantry.
There has been no progress, though, on the very real problem of expensive food in the cafeterias. The State of California and SC do so much to subsidize the costs of higher education, but nothing meaningful related to food. Johnny can’t learn if Johnny is hungry. Neither can Maria, Mustafa, Sally and Kylian.
Improving the quality of food and lowering its cost is not a moon shot or as difficult as curing cancer, but requires vision and will by our leaders. It is doable if it is a priority.
We are what we eat. Garbage in, garbage out. Let’s start fueling our students with the food that will fuel success.
