Is No. Co. No Good?

For the Ohio State University students that live in the north campus eating healthy is an almost impossible task.  Especially for the students that have traditional or unlimited meal plans.  The reason is that in north campus there is only one traditional dining facility and that is North Commons.  Many people have different opinions about this dining facility.  Some people do not really complain about it but others say that the food quality is not good and others that the dining facility itself is not good.

North Commons Traditional Dining by P. Kolliopoulos

When I first arrived on campus I had my first meal at North Commons because I had purchased the unlimited meal plan and therefore, No. Co. as we (students) call it would be the place where I would eat most of my meals.  The first time I ate there with my mother I was very disappointed because the food quality was not as expected. 

We went in and got in line.  The line was quite long, full of students ready to eat.  The line was quite slow, nevertheless before I knew it; it was my turn to say what I wanted from the buffet.  There were about four things on there but none of them looked appetizing.  So I went with the hamburger and fries.  Not a very healthy choice.  My mother got a salad from the salad bar and we sat down to eat. 

Salad and Soup buffet at No.Co. by P. Kolliopoulos

The food was not good at all and I was not happy about the fact that I would have to eat here for the rest of the semester.  Most of the food was fried, and even though there were some vegetables they tasted like they were frozen ones that come in a bag.  The salad was also a disappointment due to the fact that the lettuce had no real flavor and the dressings such as ranch and Italian were full of none needed calories.

So as you can see eating fried foods and salads that are full of calories will not give you the needed energy and help you stay healthy.  Even though there is a large number of gyms all around campus to help you stay fit, it is not enough in order to stay in a good physical condition.  You also have to have a balanced healthy diet which is very hard to get when eating at No. Co.

Fruits at No. Co. by P. Kolliopoulos

Usually for breakfast what is offered at the buffet are eggs, sausage, bacon, tater tots and pancakes or French toast.  As you can see from the foods listed above only the eggs are considered healthy.  So let us say you only get eggs for breakfast from the buffet.  Then you would go the salad and soup where there are bagels and cupcakes and donuts.  Now from these what are considered healthy?  The answer is none.  So what is left is you drink which could either me orange juice, milk, water or soda or get fruit.  Despite soda the others are not unhealthy.  So at breakfast you would have eggs, fruit and a beverage, every day in order to have a healthy breakfast.  Not much variety right?

Breakfast bar at No. Co. by P. Kolliopoulos

The same concept goes for lunch and dinner.  So would you keep eating eggs, fruit and a healthy beverage every day or would you a lot of times have donuts and some bacon?  Most students actually end up eating the bacon and donuts, meaning the unhealthy food, instead of the healthy eggs and fruit, because that is what are offered to them in majority.  There is a larger variety of unhealthy food than there is healthy food.

Beverage section at No. Co. by  P. Kolliopoulos

The university should definitely think about that.  It is not like they do not have the money and therefore are buying cheap unhealthy products, they do have the money and they should be providing the students with the high quality food that the students are paying for.

Specifically some things that could be changed are the menu, the freshness of the food and the number of different foods that are offered.

The menu should have less fried foods such as bacon and sausage and have more such as oatmeal, whole wheat toast and whole wheat pancakes.  It is obvious that a lot of students do not like whole wheat products but in my personal opinion that is not because they have tried it but because they have not, they were always told that the whole wheat products do not taste as good as “normal” foods.  Really though? Not as good as “normal” foods?  The truth is that the normal, natural foods are the whole wheat foods which are not processed.  So the university should do its job and teach the students what is the truth and what is better for them.

Salad at No.Co. by P. Kolliopoulos

Another thing that should change is the freshness of the food.  Very few times is the food actually fresh, meaning it might me warm but that certainly does not mean that it is fresh.  The food should be freshly made and be served at that moment to the students because that is the quality of food they are paying for.

Lastly, the number of foods that are offered should be increased.  Four kinds of food each day every week gets kind of boring and does not provide the student with the needed variety in order for him or her to get the number of nutrients, vitamins and minerals they needed to stay healthy.

Dinner at No. Co. by P. Kolliopouloulos

The Ohio State Residence and Dining Services have on there a program called NetNutrition where you can go and look at the nutritional value of each food that is being offered in the traditions dinning.  The problem is that it offers information only about the food of Kennedy and Morrill Commons and not anything about No. Co.  So that is another thing that the university could do, which is adding information about No. Co. food quality and their nutritional value, so students can have an idea of what they are eating.




So it there are solutions to the lack of quality of food at No. Co. but in the end it is the students choice whether or not they will stick to the traditional meal plans and demand that the university makes some changes or go to the block meal plan where they would have more options.  Personally, I am changing next semester to blocks just because I like variety and get bored with the idea of eating the same food every day.