Prepackaged food on a refrigerated shelf at the Annandale campus.

Students are frequently in a situation between classes where they are hungry but do not have enough time to go to a restaurant off campus. Although the chips and chocolate in the vending machines look tempting, there has to be a better solution.

On the Annandale campus, food options are limited. The main location to buy food is in the school cafeteria. But is choosing to eat there really the best choice?

Down the stairs of the CF building at Annandale, is the school cafeteria. To some, the cafeteria is rather small and dainty. To others, it is quaint and charming.

“The NOVA cafeteria is a lot like a high school cafeteria,” said Paul Kaye. “It is loud and kind of annoying.”

The room is small and looks as if it can only hold a couple hundred people. Long rectangular tables are joined to each other and travel across the length of the room. The floor and table tops are littered with trash and left-over food. It is hard to find a clean place to sit.

The cafeteria has standard choices like hamburgers, cheeseburgers, pizza, fries, cookies and chips. In the words of Jenni Bartell, “They have mostly stuff you would find at a fast food restaurant.”

There is also a small deli bar and two types of soups.

There is a refrigerated shelf with prepackaged foods such as wraps, sandwiches, fruit cups and pudding that always looks the same. They could have possibly been sitting on that shelf for months without anyone realizing the difference.

The cafeteria has more than enough soda, including a soda fountain, and a total of eight soda machines. At least there is no worry of anyone dying of thirst at NOVA.

In the very back of the kitchen, there is a small bar of food made daily. The food looks less prepackaged and frozen and a bit more nutritional. However the food is charged by the pound, which can get very expensive.

Many students don’t buy a full meal in the cafeteria partly because of the cost and partly because of the nutritional value.

“The food here is expensive,” said Paul Kaye. “I bought my food here a lot my first semester and ended up spending a lot of money. They need cheaper prices or a deal to make it less expensive for students.”

Many people will come and only buy one item.

Vegetarian options are limited, too.

“I usually come here to get fries,” said Sonia Altis. “Other than that there are not many options for people who are vegetarians.”

Other people bring their own lunch or come to the cafeteria just to see and meet with friends. According to Jimmy Chen, “Some of my friends will bring their game stations here, since the game room on campus has many restrictions. We will bring our laptops and play various games.”

Crowding can also be a problem. Chen said, “On a typical day I will go in to the cafeteria, try to beat the line, get food and get out. I think they need a second cafeteria. This one gets really crowded in the mornings, and they get all jammed up which creates a problem.”

Student sentiment seemed to be the same, the cafeteria could be better.

“I would never bring a friend here, I would rather go out to a restaurant if I had the time,” Kaye said.

Altis summed the situation up best declaring, “They need better and cheaper food.”

By: Nicole DiAntonio

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