Last week, Sixth Former Brady Stallkamp stormed into his E Block Calculus class with a furrowed brow. A distraught expression covered his face as he threw himself down into his chair.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Stallkamp snapped.
Those who know Stallkamp know that this resentful attitude is rare. He reached into his backpack and flung out three soft pretzels, splaying them across his desk. His head slowly rose, showing sharp, narrow eyes. These eyes not only expressed a palpable rage, but a subtle sense of despair.
“They doubled the price of the pretzels. They’re now two dollars instead of one.” He paused and lowered his gaze again. “This cost me six dollars. Six dollars.”
Stallkamp is a swimmer; he spends two-thirds of the school year submerged in chlorine. With his vigorous morning swims and hefty academic workload, he needs an equally hefty amount of sustenance to get through the day. To compensate, Stallkamp often buys three or four soft pretzels in the morning, which he eats throughout the day. Doing this a couple of times a week amounts to a high number of pretzels.
Still reeling from the shock, Stallkamp continued to assert his passionate opinion. “I don’t get why everything has to be so overpriced in the dining hall.”
Stallkamp’s Federal Pretzel breakdown made me wonder if others shared similar opinions about the pricing of food in the dining hall.
On the healthier side of the cafeteria—the salad bar—science teacher Mr. Chris DiBello weighed in. “For eating a healthy meal, I should not be paying that much for a salad,” Mr. DiBello said.
Mr. DiBello also brought up an interesting point: the toppings you choose can severely affect the price, ultimately affecting how much you’re inclined to put on your salad.
“If you put a cucumber on it, that’s increasing the price by a significant amount, while if you just put a bunch lighter toppings, it’ll be much cheaper.”
Mr. Chris Dibello
“If you put a cucumber on it, that’s increasing the price by a significant amount, while if you just put a bunch lighter toppings, it’ll be much cheaper,” Mr. DiBello said.
Out of every station in the dining hall, the salad bar is definitely the least utilized by students. Expensive prices paired with a student’s natural tendency toward a blackjack burger or chicken-finger wrap are just more reasons for them to avoid the salad bar.
In a part of the cafeteria that already sees little engagement from students, especially in comparison to the hot food lines, perhaps a change in pricing would encourage more student activity in the salad bar.
Even in the hot food lines that extend all the way to the back wall just five minutes into any given lunch block, many students are unsatisfied with the pricing.
“I bought two chicken parms the other day, and it cost me ten dollars!” Sixth Former Tripp Ronon exclaimed. “I didn’t even get them with buns. Just two pieces of chicken.”
Sixth Former Reilly Pryma, overhearing the exclamation, added: “It’s the dining hall. Of course it’s overpriced.”
I began to wonder if students could think of any other ways besides simply lowering prices to combat the problem.
Fifth Former Christos Patterson said, “I think that the food we buy in the cafeteria should be covered by the tuition.”
Patterson also has the meal plan, a form that you fill out and pay for before the school year begins that allows you to prepay for food purchases.
Many students have the meal plan, which could prevent them from being aware of how much everything costs. Even for those who don’t, with the quick swipe of an ID, it’s hard to even tell how much what you’re paying for costs.
Many students have the meal plan, which could prevent them from being aware of how much everything costs. Even for those who don’t, with the quick swipe of an ID, it’s hard to even tell how much what you’re paying for costs.
This explains why, although students clearly have strong opinions about the pricing, nobody outwardly addresses it. You might notice the price sticker on the fountain drinks or catch a glance at the text flying across the screen at check out, but it feels like the bulk of what you’re spending in the cafeteria is a mystery until you near insufficient funds.
Returning to the case of Stallkamp, many students—especially athletes—need more than just lunch to get through the day. There’s a reason why the café has a line going out the door during ASB; students don’t want to wait until 1:10 to eat.
This argument about pricing goes beyond lunch hours. If snacks double in price, students will definitely be encouraged to purchase them less and ultimately eat less throughout the day.
So next time you buy lunch or some snacks, try to catch a glance at the price and ask yourself if what you’re eating is worth that number. I, like many others, am a victim of not fully paying attention to the pricing, but talking about the matter with others has made me more aware of how much I’m spending in the cafeteria and café.
How we perform in school, sports, and extracurriculars is determined by the food we eat throughout the day.
No student should have to mind-game their salad bar toppings or ultimately worry that the food they’re buying to keep their brains functioning is too expensive.
