Our culture is obsessed with food. To turn on the television is to be berated by figures like Rachael Ray and Jamie Oliver telling you how to eat and cooking competition shows such as Top Chef and Cupcake Wars showing the latest avant-garde recipes. However, Americans do not seem to be eating a diet as balanced as the ones their culinary idols promote.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a study revealing that only 26 percent of American adults eat the recommended amount of three or more servings of vegetables per day.
"It's a problem as a whole society that we're not aware of what we put in our bodies," sophomore Rachel Greenspan, a vegetarian, said. "We don't make the connections between obesity and heart problems and high blood pressure, etc., and what we put in our mouths. As a nation, we have a big sugar and fat addiction with all the processed foods that we eat. Even your moods become tied in to sugar. People have cravings for processed food because of the chemicals in them. It's an ongoing cycle."
At an institution like Tufts, vegetables are readily available in many forms and at multiple Dining Services eateries. Availability alone, though, is not always incentive enough for students to eat them. Education plays a large role in dictating what one eats, and according to Patti Klos, director of Dining and Business Services, a good academic education does not necessarily translate into nutritional awareness.
"This population is educated and getting more educated, more aware, but you are the population we're here to serve," she said. "You don't want to be told what to do. We post the nutritional value and ingredients at the selection point for each dish in the dining hall. If you're interested, you look; if not, you move on. We try to do it subtly and tastefully. It's not a one size fits all; it's your body, your life, your activity level. Providing you with this factual data is the approach we're taking right now."
Dining Services encourages students to eat foods of a variety of colors — one simple tip to improve student nutrition. For many students who had not developed the habit of a varied diet prior to college, however, eating even a few servings of veggies a day proves difficult.
"I definitely don't ‘eat the rainbow,'" sophomore Catherine Heyward said. "When I eat vegetables, it's a conscious choice to try and do it, but it's not my preference. It's easier in college to make unhealthy choices because you choose what you eat; it's not what's cooked for you — you decide. I just started eating salads, but what's easiest and what I love equally is making myself PB and J and eating cereal."
While monitoring students' diets is not in Dining Services' job description, it does employ several tactics to try to promote healthful foods at Tufts. "Stealth health," the practice of discreetly encouraging healthful foods, is particularly effective, Klos said.
"We've experimented with where we place vegetables in the setup," Klos said. "Is fresh whole fruit in your sight when you approach the cash register at Hodgdon? The cashiers are good at offering a granola bar or a banana if you have a dollar or two left on your meal, but we're not telling you you shouldn't eat [something else]. Eat a good variety; eat a combination. Students eat more vegetables than they used to, and students are interested in [more kinds] of different vegetables than they used to be five or eight years ago."
Klos recalled that the butternut squash bisque, now a popular soup offered in both cafeteria-style dining halls on campus, was unheard of among students as recently as 10 years ago.
A more health-conscious philosophy is now a major part of Dining Services' most recent effort: the Tufts farmers' market. Students can now buy fresh produce such as organic beets and heirloom tomatoes at the temporary booths situated on the lower patio behind the Mayer Campus Center every Wednesday. Their latest initiative, which will run for most of the semester, is only the beginning.
Klos hopes that the farmers' market and other efforts will encourage Tufts' students to try new types of vegetables, like Swiss chard. Although students may not have experience preparing the vegetable, she explained, the idea is to move the vegetable into their culinary vernacular — encourage them to try it out and see if it works.
"We had three main goals," she said. "We wanted to make fresh produce available, in season, to the community. We know you can figure out how to get to the grocery store, but this puts fresh vegetables right on campus. We wanted to give more presence to the sustainable farming project. Farmers' markets can create a sense of community, and while we know Tufts definitely fosters community, this is one more way to bring people together. Plus, it's a way to subtly educate about these vegetables — how do they taste, how do I use them — and it enables us to support the local economy."
Klos emphasized that the market is different every week and encourages students to come out for apple cider, fresh baked goods and student musicians like B.E.A.T.s, which performed last week. Each week, there are different local merchants providing goods from gelato to flowers and, of course, vegetables.
Klos said that it benefits Dining Services when students who feel like they are not getting enough variety speak out, talk to Dining Services and recommend things that might be new or have never been tried before.
"Vegetables do taste good; try them," she said. "But we like to hear from students: You're usually not shy."
