Lottie Trays Are Better off Sleds
Rachel Smitley
Issue date: 12/10/09 Section: Opinion
I'm walking into Lottie at noon on a Friday and my stomach has been growling for the past half hour. I head to the "serving square" (as I like to call it), grab a fork, knife, and spoon, shove them in my back pocket and stand in line to retrieve whatever delights the chefs at Lottie-Nelson have prepared for the lunchtime crowd.
As you may have noticed, I failed to retrieve a tray from the pile of often dripping wet plastic ones stacked conveniently below the silverware. "Why?" you may ask. Well, I have decided to forgo the trays in Lottie. I opt instead to pick and choose my meal portions carefully in order to fit them strategically onto one plate. I then carry this plate, and a beverage of my choice, back to my table in my own two hands. What a concept.
I have been doing this since the beginning of my sophomore year at Messiah College, much to my tablemates' chagrin, for a number of reasons.
First: it makes sense to me that I would be able to fit all that I want to eat, at any given meal, on one plate. If not, guess what? I can make another trip back and get more food!
This type of progressive thinking effects a problem in many pro-tray people's minds: "That is too much hassle when I could just use a tray and get all of the things I want to eat, in one trip." Well yes, you could do that, but here is the issue. Have you ever gone to the grocery store while hungry? You went to buy eggs and left fifty bucks poorer because everything looked great; you loaded your cart with items you didn't need. If your answer was "yes, as a matter of fact I have done that," you understand my point.
We do the same with our trays in Lottie, loading them up with things that we don't need and aren't going to eat. Trouble is, the things we put on our trays in Lottie that we decide not to eat get thrown away instead of stored in our fridges for a midnight snack. Now, since I am sure that you all read the compelling story about food waste in Lottie that appeared in a previous Swinging Bridge issue, I will not bore you with the details of Lottie's food waste. Here's what you need to know: wasting food is like wasting money. The Lottie-Nelson administrators order food based on how much we take, not how much we eat. We use trays, take a lot of food, and waste a lot of food, which is like wasting money. Want to lower tuition? Let's go trayless!
As you may have noticed, I failed to retrieve a tray from the pile of often dripping wet plastic ones stacked conveniently below the silverware. "Why?" you may ask. Well, I have decided to forgo the trays in Lottie. I opt instead to pick and choose my meal portions carefully in order to fit them strategically onto one plate. I then carry this plate, and a beverage of my choice, back to my table in my own two hands. What a concept.
I have been doing this since the beginning of my sophomore year at Messiah College, much to my tablemates' chagrin, for a number of reasons.
First: it makes sense to me that I would be able to fit all that I want to eat, at any given meal, on one plate. If not, guess what? I can make another trip back and get more food!
This type of progressive thinking effects a problem in many pro-tray people's minds: "That is too much hassle when I could just use a tray and get all of the things I want to eat, in one trip." Well yes, you could do that, but here is the issue. Have you ever gone to the grocery store while hungry? You went to buy eggs and left fifty bucks poorer because everything looked great; you loaded your cart with items you didn't need. If your answer was "yes, as a matter of fact I have done that," you understand my point.
We do the same with our trays in Lottie, loading them up with things that we don't need and aren't going to eat. Trouble is, the things we put on our trays in Lottie that we decide not to eat get thrown away instead of stored in our fridges for a midnight snack. Now, since I am sure that you all read the compelling story about food waste in Lottie that appeared in a previous Swinging Bridge issue, I will not bore you with the details of Lottie's food waste. Here's what you need to know: wasting food is like wasting money. The Lottie-Nelson administrators order food based on how much we take, not how much we eat. We use trays, take a lot of food, and waste a lot of food, which is like wasting money. Want to lower tuition? Let's go trayless!
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