Bria Hamilton | Contributor
Featured illustration: Students face difficult decisions on whether to sacrifice their wallets or health. | Jasmine Wiradharma
With a diverse population of over 46,000 undergraduate students, nearly 6,000 graduate students and 7,000 faculty and staff, York is often described as a little city in itself. One thing that every member of the community has in common is the need to eat. York is allotted a billion dollar operating budget, yet within our small city there are little to no affordable and healthy food options. This seems to affect students who live on residence the most.
Fifth-year linguistics student Dustin Benson lived in Bethune for the 2012-2013 school year and in Vanier for the 2013-2014 school year.
“I bought take-out quite a bit because they force you to buy a meal plan in most residences. In Bethune, there was also no way to cook food because there’s no kitchen and you can’t have most appliances in your room,” he says. Meal plans are required for most residence halls, which leaves students with limited options and restricts them to buying from vendors on campus and in the neighbouring communities.
Food services on campus are provided by Aramark Canada as of September 2008. The corporation is responsible for the operations of six on-campus restaurants, including Complex 1 and 2, which are primary sources of food for students living on residence. Aramark also contracts to over 600 prisons and has a history of unsafe food practices.
“In 2008, over 270 prisoners in Florida and 50 in Colorado contracted severe food poisoning after eating Aramark chili prepared in reportedly unclean, maggot-infested kitchens,” wrote Megan Cole of Generation Progress. Although there is an irony in York’s food operator also operating in jails with a history of unsafe food practices, the question becomes why this corporate giant is behind the counters that serve students.
Lauren Kuzyk, a third-year York University Sheridan College design student, spent her first year in Tatham Hall, which she says has one of the least accommodating kitchens.
“There was just a toaster oven, a microwave and a sink, which had to be shared with a multitude of people. We were discouraged from bringing our own appliances because it was a safety hazard; we were encouraged to go out and buy overpriced garbage.”
Kuzyk also weighed in on the oversized portions, which created a caloric overload for meals. “I’m a starving student so I may as well eat the entire [portion]. And then your portion sizes are all screwed up and you’re eating like 1,000 calories per meal. The servings are crazy massive since it’s essentially a food court. By the end of the day you ate like three 1,200 calorie meals and you don’t know what to do with yourself,” she adds.
This issue isn’t one that only affects students living on residence — commuters are also feeling the crunch. Second-year psychology student and commuter Sarah Ahmed agrees.
“I tried to bring lunch food from home the first couple of weeks, but when class picks up it’s difficult to keep it together. [During] first year I spent a lot of money at Popeyes and Pizza Pizza, and I hope during my second year I will be able to make better nutritional choices. But nutrition generally means pricier.”
York does provide some healthy food options, but not nearly as many. Regenesis, an environmental organization on campus, runs a farmer’s market in the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Building— formerly known as the TEL Building—every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Restaurants like Freshii, La Prep and Berries and Blooms provide healthy options for students using their meal plans and commuters alike; but these on-campus alternatives can be less economical and do not always provide a source of culturally diverse foods.
The issues facing York are not ones unique to the campus: entire nations and cities face the problem of healthier options for cheaper prices. Members of the York community are encouraged to keep in mind the nutritional value of the food they purchase on campus, as well as the price, because a healthy body equals a healthy mind. And who doesn’t want a healthy mind when they are trying to squeeze four hours of readings into 15 minutes?
