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Feed the children
By adamg on Fri, 09/21/2018 - 9:05am
Won't you help? Harvard upperclassmen haven't been able to get hot food for breakfast since the U eliminated it to save money during the Great Recession in 2009. The Crimson issues a plaintive plea for help:
After eating a full, healthy breakfast, students will be more prepared for the classes they have that day. Students are better equipped to get the most out of their education when they are not distracted by hunger, and more enticing breakfast options could help promote regularized eating schedules.
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Comments
Better Idea
Most useful thing I learned in HS was how to type.
Most useful thing I learned in college was how to shop for and make my own food.
Kids today - sheesh - need everything done for them and have to stay on mummy and daddy's insurance until they qualify for medicare or something...
Buy a hot plate and a frying pan - scrambled eggs on toast are delicious if bread, cereal and yogurt aren't your thing.
Students
If they're cook themselves, that's less time away from their phones. Can't do that.
Joule
Not an advertisement for it, but you can control The Joule sous vide by phone bluetooth. 2 for 1 for the young'uns. Actually 3 for 1 - trendy sous vide cooking, too!
Sanitary issues
Sure. Sousvide your heart out.
Where do you wash up?
Not safe to try that in a dormitory.
Where do you wash up in a dormitory?
I dunno, even back in my day, dorms had restrooms, all with sinks. Is this no longer done?
Sinks are no longer needed.
Sinks are no longer needed. There’s an app for that!
And then what?
Food in the sinks. Overflowing drains due to the mess.
Institutional settings demand different requirements.
In my day
The dorm I was in had a communal kitchen to allow for cooking.
As for cleanup after use of sous vide, assuming you don't brown the food item after cooking: 1. Pour the (hopefully cooled down) water out; 2.Throw out the bag your food was in. If you brown the item (such as steak or chicken or pork), you've got your pan to clean. It's actually pretty efficient and less messy than people realize.
If you need a phone app to control your cooking
appliances, you are truly a lazy person.
It's a
'set it and forget it' type of appliance. Research before you continue to judge.
There are rules about cooking
Not all students have the option to cook in their dorms, I'd think. There are probably rules against hot plates. Even if minimal kitchens are provided, there's an economy of scale in serving everyone in the cafeteria vs. having each student store their food and cook it up individually.
Some schools don't allow, or restrict, cooking in dorms
Learning to shop and cook and do laundry were things I learned at home, while in high school. I was flabbergasted by how helpless some of my fellow students were. However, cooking in our dorm rooms was prohibited, unless you had the approved microwave, rented through the school. (I
did not) So having decent options in the dining hall was important.
Allowed items
They've changed in the recent years as I've learned from nieces currently in college. More items are allowed.
Cooking appliances are not allowed
"In accordance with College fire safety policy, cooking appliances are prohibited in any room or apartment not equipped with kitchen facilities. One exception to this rule is made for the product called MicroFridge, "
"Cooking equipment is prohibited. The City of Cambridge forbids cooking in any room or apartment not equipped with permanent cooking facilities."
"If in the course of performing inspections, repairs or maintenance in a student suite a staff member comes across a prohibited cooking appliance or other safety hazard, he or she will report the item to the Building Manager. The Building Manager will provide the student with notice of the violation and reinspect the room within two weeks’ time. If the violation remains in the student room, the Building Manager will remove and dispose of the offending appliance or materials."
SRC: http://static.fas.harvard.edu/registrar/ugrad_handbook/current/chapter6/...
http://static.fas.harvard.edu/registrar/ugrad_handbook/current/chapter6/...
http://static.fas.harvard.edu/registrar/ugrad_handbook/current/chapter6/...
At least they cleaned up the
At least they cleaned up the legal errors in that policy.
It used to be that Harvard Student Agencies said no microwaves were allowed by Cambridge law, except a MicroFridge which Cambrdge and Harvard allowed if rented by HSA, at an annual rental cost far more than buying a microwave.
But Cambridge law said microwaves are allowed in dorms. And Harvard rules said no microwaves, not even MicroFridges.
Someone must have pushed the College to clean up that policy. Now it says Harvard policy is no microwaves except MicroFridges (rented or owned), without citing any Cambridge laws.
Of course it's still a stupid rule. There's absolutely no reason why microwaves are dangerous or MicroFirdges are safer than microwaves.
And of course there are no student kitchens in most dorms.
Agreed
Harvard has a 37 billion dollar endowment..they can afford oatmeal for students.
The article conveniently
The article conveniently omits the fact that oatmeal and hardboiled are an option for students every day.
Crust of stale bread
They got into Harvard, and they need a dose of humility.
Billions in endowment, not a penny for breakfast?
Where is Dickens when we need him? It is ironic this kind of miserliness should happen at the wealthiest university in the world. Why does Harvard need an endowment of billions anyway? Do they plan to buy Harvard Square, build a wall, close off Harvard T station to anyone but Harvard students?
We are a nation of vast wealth and yet the majority of it goes is wasted in the bank accounts, political fund and aggregated real estate holdings of the wealthiest. Millions still have insufficient medical care, poor children continue to be guided toward criminal lives by circumstances and Harvard won't provide its students with hot meals.
When even the wealthiest is stingy with their own children we can expect the kind of contempt for the common person that comes out of the current cast of Washington and it's mirrored junior state governments.
I wonder whether the twisted Calvinist economic philosophy is what guides the nation's rulers: If you're rich it's because God wants you to be rich; if you're poor then that is God's choice as well. If you're poor and refuse to stay poor then you're a sinner and should be punished. If you're rich, then no matter how unethical, immoral or illegal your retaining your wealth, it's okay because God wants you to be rich.
Try this Harvard: How about this take the $900,000 and use it to make sure that every child in Boston is served a hot breakfast every morning. Then take some of the money dedicated to the "If you not Harvard stay out" Smith Center and feed your own kids!
How about parents feed their
How about parents feed their own children? That's kind of the most basic responsibility of a parent. You go hungry and starve if it means putting food on your kid's plate instead.
Food is cheap and plentiful in the US and there are an alphabet soup of government programs and private charities providing food to children, If a child is still hungry it's because their parents suck at or have other priorities than parenting.
Google food deserts. Or SNAP cuts
Sure food is cheap and plentiful if you're rich or middle class.
We are not stingy at all
We are constantly trying to help you.
For example, it's not "how unethical, immoral or illegal your retaining your wealth, it's okay because God wants you to be rich." it's "how unethical, immoral or illegal YOU ARE retaining your wealth, it's okay because I want to be rich."
#helpthepoor
"Do they plan to buy Harvard
"Do they plan to buy Harvard Square, build a wall, close off Harvard T station to anyone but Harvard students?"
Thats how Princeton has been operating in the last decade
Rich people are people too.
Rich people are people too. We can do this.
Where's the gofundme link?
Tell these Crazy Rich Kids to
Tell these Crazy Rich Kids to carry all their backpacks and clothing on their backs and walk on over the Pine Street Inn for breakfast, then walk all the way back over to Harvard. They also can help volunteer at their local food pantry so they can see what it is really like to be hungry and live in food-insecurity every day. How would they like to live on canned vegetables and canned fruit for a month? And instead of meat, eating nothing but canned beans? And the only source of occasional meat you can get from a food pantry is a "mechanically processed" turkey roll (no locally grown, free range stuff at these pantries), or, on the holidays, a bad ham roll which is injected with sodium nitrates, sugar, water, and other fillers? I am both a volunteer and also sometimes have to rely on food pantry help since my husband died in June. It is a dark reality. So this Sunday is the Ride For Food. Look it up and help.
hang in
I'm sorry for your loss, anon, and hope that your heart, mind, and body can be healthy going forward.
Allow me to stir the pot
Is a hot breakfast healthy?
When I'm at home, my quick breakfast is cereal and milk. It I was good, I'd throw some fruit into the mix. When I travel and get exposed to hot breakfast, I eat pancakes, waffles, French toast, bacon, sausage (I do want to note that for the last two, I try to go for the turkey versions.) I'm not an egg person, but I know that is another popular breakfast item. That's a lot of fat and a lot of calories. Wouldn't a simple breakfast be better?
Just throwing it out there.
(Also, my 5 items do not mean I'd eat all of them when given the opportunity. Given the choices, we are talking 2 or 3 items.)
Yup yup
Most nutritionists say the American Breakfast is very very bad. Too big, too many carbs, too much fat and sodium (here's looking at you Bacon)
Hot food healthy? Maybe. But outside the US, breakfast is usually fruit or something very light
One caveat
These are physiologic adolescents and their dietary needs are considerably different.
My breakfast is black coffee.
My breakfast is black coffee. Never eat breakfast. My first meal of the day is lunch.
I have four cups of coffee...
..._before_ I have my first cup of coffee in the morning. (Steven Wright)
An omelette with fresh
An omelette with fresh veggies? Yeah, definitely healthy. Not for everyday consumption, of course what with the cholesterol in egg yolks.
Bacon, sausage, potatoes dripping with oil? Not so healthy. Pancakes and waffles, drenched in sugary syrup? Also not so healthy.
Is a hot breakfast healthy?
In moderation, there's no problem with it.
One or two of the reactions I've read have slid into the realm of "such-and-such is unhealthy".
Well, yeah, having the lumberjack special with extra syrup six or seven days a week isn't healthy.
However, there's nothing wrong with hot eggs of some variety & a couple of meat links of some variety (or substitutes for either the eggs or meat) once or twice a week. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to have a rotating variety on the menu daily so people can choose for themselves on a given day. Entirely reasonable, as much as they're paying.
Consider this
If you are active - and even if you are moderately sedentary - does it not make sense to make your first meal of the day your largest meal?
Forwarded the plea to the kidlet
Who attends a state institution of higher learning. She reports the chocolate-chip pancakes they had yesterday were great, as was the corned-beef hash.
Then again, if nothing else, said university has the best food in the country, for the third year in a row - although unlike at Harvard, she does have to spend 30 seconds outdoors to get there.
Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Yep, that's nutrition.
You left out the corned-beef hash ...
But along with that, the World's Greatest Cafeterias always have a plentiful supply of fresh fruit and other healthy options - one of the things that makes them the Greatest is the sheer volume of options they offer (much of it locally grown, which is appropriate given its location in what passes for a Massachusetts farm belt and its history, which began with the founding of the Massachusetts Agricultural College).
That hash ...
I am not usually a big breakfast eater, but the omlettes are worth the wait and that hash was amazing!
I know my kid gets a little tired of the dining hall, but its a treat for us fogies. Especially if we bring the bikes and ride to the VT line and back after hash, omlette, and waffle.
UMass food really rocks.
Two words: gingerbread scuffin
Amrheins
Had their hash recently - best I've ever had.
Very lean, not the fatty crap of most places and loaded with meat.
Not claiming it's healthy. Just good and u gotta get it while it lasts before they sell the property.
I'm really surprised
I'm very surprised that Harvard doesn't serve hot breakfast. At UMass Amherst, we had hot breakfast in at least one dining hall in each residential area every day of the week. Isn't the money from all the meal plans supposed to pay for this?
I am a bit taken aback by
I am a bit taken aback by some of the hostility towards Harvard students here. I get it, they are pampered! I also went to a state school and our cafeteria was overflowing with hot meal options at every meal. It seems crazy to me that a state school would have hot lunches but somehow Harvard can't afford to feed its students some eggs. Geez.
As for cooking for ones self, that assumes they all have access to ways to cook and clean in their dorms. Many schools frown on that because of the fire and rodent hazards. It seems to me like it would be better to centralize that stuff in large college kitchens.
Maybe they are afraid that this will happen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RexPjJE9jj0
Hostility? Not at all
It's just the weirdness you see.
If anything, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, it is odd that board would not be a separate charge that would be immune to the hit the Harvard endowment took in 2008-09. I remember that we had 3 choices of meal plans with two pricing points. I went with 10 meals a week, figuring that I would be working some days and thus be off campus for meal times and, as noted before, could get my own cereal and milk in the morning. The 21 meal people were the truly rich. So yeah, if they were paying for their meal plans and they don't have what every other college in the area offers their students for breakfast, that's bad.
It's never about the students, but how Harvard handles their billions. Anyone who's been to enough Beanpots can tell the tales of the Harvard pep band taking their instruments on the T to and from North Station, and yes, the band members note in jest that Harvard cannot afford a bus for them.
Harvard has but 1 plan
If you live on campus, you're on the hook for the one-size-fits-all room & board. 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, same price if you go to all meals or none. Same price if you're in a single or a two-room quad. Same price if you're in relatively modern quarters (i.e. constructed in the past half-century) or in a nearly 300-year-old building.
A bit over half of Harvard undergrads get some amount of need-based financial aid, so cutting the cost of providing board would obviously reduce the amount needed from the endowment ever so slightly.
Important consideration
If you make less than 60K a year, the kid is entirely paid for by Harvard.
There is a sliding scale up to something like 200K or 250K.
Not so in my day, when I had
Not so in my day, when I had to pay full freight even though my old man never made more than about $12K per year, but, through financial aid (OK, I know that cuts against the "full freight," but it only covered about 50 percent), scholarships, and working (both during the school year and during summers), I made it out with a very modest debt load. In preparation for spring break, I used to get "box lunches" for a few days that I saved up, while actually eating lunch elsewhere, so I could have something to eat during the break.
--gpm
That's harsh
Score one more for the Terriers over the Crimson.
>>Anyone who's been to enough Beanpots
can tell the tales of the Harvard pep band taking their instruments on the T to and from North Station,
Hard to remember the details after 40 years plus, but it was always a gas when the band played while marching from the Green Line to the Red Line coming back from the Beanpot. BU almost always won, of course ("Screw BU!"), but Harvard had a great team along about my graduation year when Brian Petrovek was the goalee and maybe pulled out one. Team went down the toilet for quite a few years afterward.
The Beanpot got a lot better when we came back for junior year and suddenly found ourselves to be legal.
--gpm
I'm sure the meal plan
I'm sure the meal plan portion of their room & board bill incorporates a 1/6th discount to reflect that 1/3rd of their meals have a limited menu.
The War on Eggs continues
Too bad Cardell's on Brattle St.is gone away. They had awesome breakfasts.
I love hot breakfasts in the morning (or pretty much anytime). I hate "continental" breakfasts. Greasy spoons for me.
I know a lot of people don't do breakfast but it's crazy Harvard dining doesn't do them.
No diners in Harvard Square?
I try to avoid Cambridge but are there any diners in Harvard Square? I've never heard of it but Zoe's in Harvard Square lists one egg for $1.25. Worth the walk across the street. A student at Bunker Hill could come up with five quarters so Harvard kids should be ok.
Harvard for Breakfast
Never been a big breakfast person, and I've hated cereal and oatmeal (blech, my old man ate it just about every day of his life) since about age six. If I did eat breakfast, would much rather have cold pizza, cream cheese and jelly on crackers, or whatever. It's been a long time, but I doubt I ate breakfast at Harvard much on weekdays. Maybe a bit more on weekends in terms of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, etc.
The best thing was a couple times a year when they did "Scandinavian brunch" on Sundays, including things like pickled herring with cream and smoked salmon. And, once we were legal, beer!
I won't go into the rest of the horrors of the Harvard dining halls back in the day, including the religious insensitivity (bagels during passover; having one of the very few "steak nights" on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday), not to mention how bad the food generally was. Though I had my first clams (horrible little clam strips; I didn't even know what they were for six months or so) and pastrami (actually not too bad) in the Harvard dining halls.
Had my first good clams (steamer and fried clams) at the original Legal Seafoods in Inman Square back in the 70s.
--gpm