Turning cafeteria cooking into creative cuisine

By your second or third hundredth meal in the cafeteria, it becomes difficult to choke down another bite of mass-produced spaghetti or self-tossed lettuce, cheese and croutons from a salad bar that sits on the bar from open to close.

Of course, there is always old faithful: cereal, but that is never the most satisfying meal, especially not three times a day. So the monotony of the same options day after day for four years haunts you, extinguishing your appetite every time you enter those glass double doors and scan your i.d.

There has to be another way. How do the hundreds of seniors graduate each year having lived off of cafeteria food for their entire college careers?

They get creative.

Take the childhood experience of whipping up crazy concoctions in your mom's kitchen, mix it with the new-found motivation to rediscover edibility in the cafeteria and take up the art of mixing and matching. See, for example, how resourcefulness has saved the taste buds and appetites of other ASU students.

"For me, if there is nothing that appeals to me at first glance, I'll improvise," said Michael Miller, senior biology major from Paragould. "Most times I do this because it is cheaper for me to eat in the cafeteria instead of buying food elsewhere. On rare occasions, however, the stuff I throw together tastes really good to me."

Some of Miller's favorite concoctions include peanut butter and banana sandwiches, adding rice from the international line or cheese from the salad bar to soup, stopping by the grill and using the grilled chicken to make a wrap at the sandwich line, and mixing milk, ice cream, and crushed Oreos to make a milk shake.

Another student, Edie Maver, sophomore English education major from Heber Springs, agrees that the cafeteria could use some spicing up.

"The food in the caf is gross 99 percent of the time," Maver said. "They serve meat loaf, turkey loaf, pork loaf, any loaf all the time! It's gross!"

One of Maver's favorite ways to change things up is chili cheese fries.

"Get some fries from the grill station, then head on over to the soup station and put some chilly on top, and last head on over to the salad station and put some cheese on top. It also works with hot dogs."

While Acansa Dining Hall's attempt at providing fresh, healthy food daily for students is much appreciated, any repetitious display of the five food groups will become exhausted after days of seeing it again and again. This dull variety gives students the opportunity to get creative and try new things on a weekly basis.

"Last week they had grilled tilapia in one line and there was stuff to make beef tacos next to the salad dressing. I didn't want the beef but I wanted some tacos, so I put part of the tilapia in a taco shell along with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and hot sauce," Miller said. "I must say, these fish tacos were much better than the ones they make sometimes with the fried fish squares."

Along with these suggestions, students may enjoy some of these creative dishes thought up, tested and approved by groups of young hungry hopefuls over time:

•Ice cream sandwiches: This includes using two of your favorite cookies from the dessert station and filling the middle with your choice of vanilla, chocolate or swirl ice cream.

•Pasta salad: This begins with a plate of pasta from one of the lines. Next, add your choice of toppings from the salad bar and top with olive oil, salt and pepper or your favorite dressing.

•Trail mix: To make this snack, fill a bowl with craisons and sunflower seeds from the salad bar. Add cheerios and then finish it off with peanuts and chocolate chips from the ice cream station.

So, when you feel that you can't stand one more bite of that pre-fixed, perfectly portioned plate, try out your creative side.