By Annie Webber
Fat is on the menu at Pitman Hall’s cafeteria. Healthy choices at Ryerson’s largest residence are being replaced with pizza and deep-fried chicken.
Over the summer, Pitman Hall’s made-to-order wraps, deli sandwiches and fresh salads all but disappeared. The place where students could once find nutritious options is now home to an expanded Pizza Pizza counter and the new Chicken Chicken.
John Corallo, Director of Ancillary services, said the changes were made in order to provide students with more options. “It’s more choice for students, more variety…now students can choose Chicken Chicken.”
Students’ choices have not increased dramatically. Pizza Pizza is not a new arrival and although Chicken Chicken is making its debut in the cafeteria, deep-fried chicken strips have always been available to students at the cafeteria’s Grille Works.
Residence student Cam Marr still complains there is still a lack of options at the cafeteria. He often eats the same thing for lunch and breakfast every day.
“For people who have class starting at 9 a.m. every day, like me, the actual caf isn’t open,” he said. “Eating bagels every morning or possibly cereal is our only choice.”
The so-called increased options are not for the health conscious. A single slice from Pizza Pizza contains about 500 calories and has 15 to 26 grams of fat. The deep-fried Chicken Chicken is no better.
But students are drawn to pizza as it is one of the cheapest options available and is offered late in the evenings after Grille Works and Extreme Pita have closed.
“It’s always there,” said first-year journalism student Marwa Hamad.
“I eat it probably six times a week.”
But Corallo said healthy alternatives are still available.
“Daily-made fresh sandwiches are now sitting in the fridge instead. It’s a grab n’ go.”
However, the grab n’ go sandwiches and salads are not new to Pitman, they were offered in previous years in conjunction with the fresh, made-to-order options.
And these plastic-wrapped options are double, or in some cases almost triple the price of a slice of pizza.
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