Being a college student comes with a lot of struggles, but when you’re entering higher education, you don’t think food would be an issue. Especially since most colleges provide dining services. When I got into Arcadia University, I was over the moon about having food readily available at the drop of a hat. At home, I had to either cook my own food, or wait for my mom to make something. So the convenience of buffet-styled dining halls sounded so sweet to me. Now that I’m a junior, I have a completely different perspective.
When it comes to the food on campus, a few staple favorites come to mind. There are the Nachos that are sold at the Chat here on campus, but they only come around every so often cause it’s a weekly special, and the weekly specials change every week. So you never really know when it’ll come back.
Another favorite of mine is the barbecue brisket you can get in the Dining Hall, but those are even harder to catch. They serve it once every couple of months, and sometimes it’s not as good as before.
Lastly, I really enjoy the breakfast options at The Chat, but it’s only served between 7:30-10:30, and unfortunately I’ve had the luck of having classes that end at 11am. So, I don’t always catch breakfast, but when I do, I recommend the cheesy eggs.
These are just a few options off the top of my head, but in reality, there isn’t much to enjoy when you’ve had the same selection of foods on rotate. This has caused me to miss home a lot, especially my mom’s cooking.
I’m a full-blooded Puerto Rican. My father grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to the States when he was 16. My mom, who is also Puerto Rican, grew up in Florida but was raised by two hard-core Hispanic parents. Spanish was their first language, and our love for our culture is unmatched. If there’s anything I enjoy about our culture, it’s the food, because Latinx people can really throw down.
In my house, we ate things like Pollo Guisado, which is chicken stew over rice. It usually has potatoes, cilantro and sofrito in the broth. We have Pernil con Arroz y Habichuelas, which is roasted pork with rice and beans. Tostones or Maduros are my favorite side dishes, they are both plantains but Tostones are flattened and fried, and tend to have a little garlic on them. While Maduros are softened and are quite sweet. Not to mention we usually pair these dishes with avocado slices on the side. I highly recommend it.
The food at the dining hall or at the Chat doesn’t have the kind of soul that the food at home does. It often leaves me feeling unsatisfied and still hungry. It makes me wonder if it would ever be possible for Arcadia to adopt more ethnic food options, but at the same time, would they even know how to execute that properly? Would it have the kind of soul I’m looking for?
After mentioning this to my mom, she ended up packing me food to take back to school with me. It’s now become a tradition of hers to come up with a nice big tupperware full of my favorites. I’d feel the love of my home, the love of my family, and the love of my heritage, all packed together in a plastic container. I sometimes opt for eating that over using a meal-swipe. Wouldn’t you do the same?
My love for my culture will always be with me, no matter if I’m at school or at home. And I’m lucky enough to have a mom who is willing to feed me from afar. I hope the other college students out there have someone feeding them as well. Cause in the end, are they really just feeding you? Or are they also feeding your soul?
