Two all-beef patties dripping with special sauce, alternately laden with melting cheese, fresh and moist green lettuce, pickles and onions, all of which are triple decked and enclosed in sesame seed buns. It’s McDonald’s Big Mac.
Add French fries, steaming with each iodized grain of salt sticking to the excess oil, and a large cup of icy cola on the side – a balanced diet is seemingly complete.
It’s a dish possibly more tempting than the fruit from the Tree of Life.
Buns on the run
While some were tempted to indulge, some were tempted to scrutinize. Supersize Me, a documentary film from 2004, showed how a fast food diet can cause drastic weight gain, irreversible heart and liver damage, and other life-threatening diseases. But when everything fast is preferred by the always busy and the permanently hurrying, a switch to a fast food lifestyle may seem both favorable and inevitable.
Yet underneath each rushed patty and fry lies the answer to the question: Is fast food really that bad?
“I think fast food isn’t [that] bad because without it, paano naman ako mabubuhay sa Ateneo (how can I survive living in the Ateneo)?” says Bym Buhain (III AB Psy), a resident at the new University Dorm. “Fast food has its purpose. It’s fast and it’s convenient.”
Upon deciding to temporarily live near or in campus, dormers are instantly faced with the issue of food. Cooking homemade – or rather, dorm-made – food isn’t a popular option. Resorting to fast food chains along Katipunan is preferred.
“I know it’s not healthy and I hate eating it, kaso wala akong choice (but I don’t have a choice),” says Jaime Lizada (II BS ME), another dormer. “After [9:00 pm], our dorm caf is closed, so it’s McDo all the way.”
University Dormer Angelo Taruc (III BS Bio) says that while the cafeterias in school are able to provide sufficient food choices, fast food tends to become the choice for a more qualitative serving. He adds that although caf food remains at student budget, there comes a point when one starts looking for something else. “I wish they could make it taste better, and more in quantity,” he says. “I wouldn’t mind paying more if that would’ve made the difference.”
Home food away from home
Even with the accumulating number of several food chains along Katipunan Avenue, Canteen Operations Manager Roseabell Venancio affirms that, surveying from previous years, the caf does not have major problems sales-wise.
The Gonzaga cafeteria is smack in the middle of the Loyola Schools, making it accessible to most students. It has homemade-type meals sold by the Ateneo de Manila Multi-Purpose Cooperative (AMPC) and other food choices provided by 11 other sub-concessionaires.
Applying sub-concessionaires are judged on the quality and attractiveness of the food offered, affordability of price per serving, and experience in the food business, among others. They should also pass a taste test where representatives from the Sanggunian and sectors like the administration, faculty, and maintenance are involved.
When asked if there is a nutritional basis for judging, Venancio says, “In AMPC, the foods are quite balanced. We have the Healthy Kitchen and we sell healthy foods like Goolai salads. So even though we cannot prevent selling foods with fats and oil, we still sell more nutritious ones.”
On a regular day, the AMPC’s revenue rounds off at about P100,000. Yet whether the numbers represent satisfied customers or unsatisfied ones, caf management isn’t likely to know. “We have a suggestion box,” says Venancio. She adds in Filipino, “[But] we don’t really get suggestions regarding the menus.”
Lean green nutrition machine
“Healthy eating means a balance of everything,” says Carol Hernandez, Nutrition Counselor of the Nutrition Management Services of The Medical City, stressing the effectiveness of a good eating habit with one’s performance in school and well-being in general.
When it comes to fast food, most people may not be aware of what is packed in one bite of a Big Mac. Hernandez says, “There’s a lot of nutrition facts about fast food, especially international [ones]. Based [on] that, you can see that fat and sodium content are really high.” Hernandez attributes the popularity of fast food to several factors, such as the power of advertising and miseducation on healthy eating.
And while new burger variations may spring up on the menu once in a while, one rule never changes: “Fast foods are high caloric [in] content, kaya dapat mayroon palaging gulay (that’s why there should always be vegetables).” Hernandez says that when ordering fast food, one has to be a smart consumer. “Meron namang mga salads (there are salads available),” she adds.
Lovin’ it
At least as of now, the fatty patty formula seems definite. “[Fast food chains] will always have the cheeseburger,” says Angelo. “And I think it’s all the preservatives and chemicals they [put in there] that make them taste so good and keep [us] coming back.”
“If you want to sell your food, you won’t be selling bland food,” says Hernandez. “Otherwise, you won’t profit.” And it’s true with most food establishments, be it fast food or caf food.
Meanwhile, for the Atenean consumer, the choices are still considerably boundless. The long wait at the cashier line is usually enough time for one to decide on what to order.
