4th Food Ethnography
In the East Lansing area there are many options for places to eat, some with pizza, some with chicken teriyaki stir-fry’s. Most often these eateries are separate, but there is a select few locations where you can get these odd food combinations. There are ten of them to be exact. They are Michigan State University’s Cafeterias. Four of the ten are not your typical wait in one line cafeterias. These four renovated cafeterias have upgraded to become “five star” cafeterias featuring any food you can think of, and lots of it. The newest addition to the cafeterias was a renovated, Shaw Hall Cafeteria, or as Michigan State labeled it “The Vista at Shaw Hall”. To better understand the culture of Shaw Cafeteria I walked out of my dorm room and walked about 250 feet to take a closer look at Shaw Cafeteria.
As I made my way into the cafeteria I was greeted with a smile and a hello by the card swipe lady. Then it hit me, the feeling of being almost overwhelmed by all the options and not knowing where anything was. Shaw Cafeteria had seven different stations to be exact, all featuring different foods. While I had this feeling of being slightly overwhelmed; I also had excitement over all the potential foods I could eat. My feeling of being overwhelmed quickly subsided when I noticed the cafeteria had television screens showing what each station featured. As I was going to make my food choice I noticed something missing that almost every cafeteria I had ever been too had. Trays, as a green initiative Shaw Cafeteria decided to go tray less to reduce the amount of food waste. This was also for the students to potentially reduce the overall amount of food eaten if they have less on room to carry food. Whether or not actually going tray less would reduce these effects, I did not know yet.
I grabbed some fresh baked pizza and some tofu stir fry, and sat down in the elevated center seating with my roommate. I then sat back and realized the design of the seating area reflected the main food station it was around. “Garden Wok” a station featuring vegetarian and Asian options. It had a seating section that featured mainly wooden furniture and had a more natural simple design to it. “Main Street” is a station with typical American meals, and the seating section is full of huge booths that create a modern American environment. As for the food itself I would say it the best of all the Michigan State cafeterias. Shaw Cafeteria ever since it opened has always seemed to have fresh more creative menu items than the typical Michigan State cafeteria.
Shaw Cafeteria was unlike any of the other three places I visited for the food ethnographies, mainly because it was mostly filled with my peers. The typical customer at the cafeteria was a college student either having dinner with some friends, or eating alone and getting some homework done. Some lived in Shaw Hall so they were dressed in gym shorts and a t-shirt while others came from other dorms and were dressed for the cold, in jeans and a sweater. As for the price every on campus student is forced to have a meal plan starting out at $2,585, which breaks down to about twenty five dollars a day. This is a lot of money especially to a college student but, it does not affect who eats at the cafeterias because every on campus student has to purchase a meal plan. There was not one dominant type of person in the cafeteria, because the cafeterias are where every on campus student has to eat.
As I reflect on the experience as whole the biggest thing that struck me was going tray less. The tray initiative that Shaw Cafeteria put in to place was effective at least on an individual level, I ate less than I would if I were at a Michigan State Cafeteria that did have trays. The reason for this is something we discussed in our readings and in class. If we have to go up and get seconds then we feel as if we are being gluttons, but if we can pile a bunch of food onto one tray and not have to go for seconds it seems fine. This happened to me at Shaw Cafeteria, I did not want to get up for seconds because I felt as if I would be overeating and I could not load up a tray because I simply did not have one. Shaw Cafeteria presented a tough challenge to find dominate cultural factors because of the number of options they had and also the number of different types of people in the cafeteria.
In the East Lansing area there are many options for places to eat, some with pizza, some with chicken teriyaki stir-fry’s. Most often these eateries are separate, but there is a select few locations where you can get these odd food combinations. There are ten of them to be exact. They are Michigan State University’s Cafeterias. Four of the ten are not your typical wait in one line cafeterias. These four renovated cafeterias have upgraded to become “five star” cafeterias featuring any food you can think of, and lots of it. The newest addition to the cafeterias was a renovated, Shaw Hall Cafeteria, or as Michigan State labeled it “The Vista at Shaw Hall”. To better understand the culture of Shaw Cafeteria I walked out of my dorm room and walked about 250 feet to take a closer look at Shaw Cafeteria.
As I made my way into the cafeteria I was greeted with a smile and a hello by the card swipe lady. Then it hit me, the feeling of being almost overwhelmed by all the options and not knowing where anything was. Shaw Cafeteria had seven different stations to be exact, all featuring different foods. While I had this feeling of being slightly overwhelmed; I also had excitement over all the potential foods I could eat. My feeling of being overwhelmed quickly subsided when I noticed the cafeteria had television screens showing what each station featured. As I was going to make my food choice I noticed something missing that almost every cafeteria I had ever been too had. Trays, as a green initiative Shaw Cafeteria decided to go tray less to reduce the amount of food waste. This was also for the students to potentially reduce the overall amount of food eaten if they have less on room to carry food. Whether or not actually going tray less would reduce these effects, I did not know yet.
I grabbed some fresh baked pizza and some tofu stir fry, and sat down in the elevated center seating with my roommate. I then sat back and realized the design of the seating area reflected the main food station it was around. “Garden Wok” a station featuring vegetarian and Asian options. It had a seating section that featured mainly wooden furniture and had a more natural simple design to it. “Main Street” is a station with typical American meals, and the seating section is full of huge booths that create a modern American environment. As for the food itself I would say it the best of all the Michigan State cafeterias. Shaw Cafeteria ever since it opened has always seemed to have fresh more creative menu items than the typical Michigan State cafeteria.
Shaw Cafeteria was unlike any of the other three places I visited for the food ethnographies, mainly because it was mostly filled with my peers. The typical customer at the cafeteria was a college student either having dinner with some friends, or eating alone and getting some homework done. Some lived in Shaw Hall so they were dressed in gym shorts and a t-shirt while others came from other dorms and were dressed for the cold, in jeans and a sweater. As for the price every on campus student is forced to have a meal plan starting out at $2,585, which breaks down to about twenty five dollars a day. This is a lot of money especially to a college student but, it does not affect who eats at the cafeterias because every on campus student has to purchase a meal plan. There was not one dominant type of person in the cafeteria, because the cafeterias are where every on campus student has to eat.
As I reflect on the experience as whole the biggest thing that struck me was going tray less. The tray initiative that Shaw Cafeteria put in to place was effective at least on an individual level, I ate less than I would if I were at a Michigan State Cafeteria that did have trays. The reason for this is something we discussed in our readings and in class. If we have to go up and get seconds then we feel as if we are being gluttons, but if we can pile a bunch of food onto one tray and not have to go for seconds it seems fine. This happened to me at Shaw Cafeteria, I did not want to get up for seconds because I felt as if I would be overeating and I could not load up a tray because I simply did not have one. Shaw Cafeteria presented a tough challenge to find dominate cultural factors because of the number of options they had and also the number of different types of people in the cafeteria.
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