Omnivoritey...

As I was in the middle of dining during the latter part of my 16 hour workday, my mind began to wander. I took a bite of my cafeteria entrée and realized theres fine dining, fast food, ramen noodles, and then theres cafeteria food. This post will take a look at the darker side of nutrition where yesterday’s special becomes today’s “cream of” soup. Come, venture on a walk with me, through the dark narrow hallways of mass produced trays of meat and sauce. Welcome...to the Omnivoriety.

Tonight’s menu: Diet Coke, Beef Quesadilla, Make-Your-Own salad

First: the best part of the meal, the Diet Coke ($0.52). It went splashing down like rapids of carbonation tickling my esophagus. A delightful compliment to any meal, the Diet Coke had almost perfect blend of the soda water and syrup. My complaint lies with the cup, as the thin, clear plastic didn’t do much to protect my hand from the icy beverage, nor to insulate said beverage.

For my main fare, I chose the grill item of the day, a beef quesadilla ($3.30). The portion was relatively small, Ive made bigger quesadillas for less money in my kitchen, but with the employee discount it probably evens out. The dish was started with a flour tortilla slathered with oil and lightly grilled, enough to heat the oil but not crisp the edges. Then some sort of SPAM substitute was pulled out of a pan and warmed on the grill. Upon tasting, this beef seemed more like a leftover, reheated Whopper rather than mexican steak. Even Moe’s gives more effort. The grey, crumbly meat/tortilla roll was complimented with sour cream, which along with the grease, helped it slip-n-slide down like the neighborhood kids on a hot summer day. Of course, there was cheese melted throughout which salvaged an otherwise subpar course.

Finally, I enjoyed a make-your-own salad ($2.27). I thought it would be exciting to add corn to the dish, giving it a southwestern feel. Well, someone should have told me that corn holds a lot of water, meaning at by-the-pound pricing, that corn could be traded for oil barrels in Iran right about now. It did add a sweet taste though, which wont go unnoticed. The romaine lettuce was crisp and refreshing, kudos to the produce crew for renewing the batch late in the evening, when they coulda left me the days scraps and been justified, as I ate with 30 minutes left for the diner hour. 50 gold stars to the grill attendant who opened a brand new bag of those zesty garlic croutons I love, just so I could sprinkle a few on my salad. I rounded out the dish with bacos and light ceasar dressing. All the flavors danced in my mouth to help me forget the quesa-debacle, and remind me that cafeteria dining can be great, if only because you have no other choice.