"Where's the Beef?" Revisited

After last week's post, I'd given the issue a little more thought.  A quick summary for those who might have missed it and don't want to click back - basically, Bowdoin College in Maine decided to institute a Meatless Monday in their dining hall, and many students protested.  I couldn't decide whose side I was on.  For those of you who read the post, I know it seemed like I ended up siding with the administration.  I just wanted to clarify that that was where my train of thought kind of trailed off; not the final decision I came to.

Brian made a compelling argument:

Suppose they offered a "veggie-less day" where every single thing offered had meat in it. That would probably upset the vegetarians. So, eliminating meat for us carnivores is like having a day without an entree. Limiting an entire class of food from the menu is especially pertinent for people who are on restricted diets who have to limit their carb intake, or who have wheat, gluten, soy, or peanut allergies.

Although I don't agree that it is quite the same (but that argument is for a different time), I see his point. 

Regardless, the more I thought about it, what I see is that the real issue is that Bowdoin's goal was to encourage students to make what they see as a positive lifestyle change.  It just seems as though they didn't really think their plan through using any sort of social/behavioral change model.  Although there's research to support it (too lazy to look it up), it's really common knowledge that most people (especially teenagers and college students) don't like to be told what's good for them or what to do.  If anything, forcing the issue of Meatless Mondays probably backfired for a significant part of the student population, because they will view it resentfully as "stupid" because they feel it was forced on them.

It might have worked better to make Meatless Monday enticing, but not mandatory...have some eye-catching, compelling publicity in the dining halls.  Offer an incentive to eat Meatless on Monday.  On Mondays, serve your very most delicious vegetarian dish, and your crappiest meat dish. This way, you get students to think about it and make a conscious choice if and when they are ready to.  You also give them the option to "try it out" if they want to, without feeling forced.


Truthfully, going one day a week without meat is not hard.  At all.  It takes a little bit of planning because you're designating a particular day, but the same would be true if we designated Fish Friday (which some of y'all do) or Pancake Sunday.  Kevin and I often find ourselves eating several meatless meals in a week, just because that's what we like to eat.  Mac and cheese, spaghetti, many Indian dishes.  But I totally get that if it's shoved down your throat (literally, I guess), you're going to want to fight it.

"...then you turn your back, and they're gone so fast!"

After a few comments to the effect of, "There are people who read your blog who are too young to remember 'Where's the Beef?'" I felt I needed to give a little perspective...some perspective that I gained myself the other day.

Working at a college, I forget how old I am, and how old incoming students are nowadays.  The other day, our student workers were talking about music and pulling up clips on YouTube.  One of workers who is a little older, in his early 20's, says something to the effect of, "Tracie, you'll know this one," and proceeds to pull up:

"MmmBop" by boy band Hansen.  Of course I remember "MmmBop!"  Ah, the summer of 1998, spent in a dark, dingy, moldy basement at an internship at a state historic site.  The cheeriness of "MmmBop!" and the invent of AOL Instant Messenger is what got me through that summer.

Here's a photo of the Hansen boys in their heyday:

The time some friends and I performed as Hansen in the college drag show is another story.

"Oh yeah!" I exclaimed.  "Of course I know this song!"

Another student worker and student government officer, both 19, look at each other and say, laughing, "What IS this song?"  Like he had just pulled up "Double Rainbow" or some nonsense.

I almost fell out of my chair.  WHAT??? I was in disbelief.  I tried to make sense of the years, and said, "But I thought you guys would've been their target audience!"  Because I was thinking these girls must have been what, like, 10 or 12 in 1998?  "What year were you guys born?" I demanded.

"1991."

Which would have made them...seven in 1998.  Heck if I knew any current pop music when I was seven.  I felt so deflated.

Coincidentally, the very next day Hansen, all grown up, was playing live in studio on a local radio station. They are still releasing music independently, and are still touring.  Little Hansen, all grown up!

Courtesy of MIX 106.5

They were very positive, well-mannered young men.  They were a little Leave it to Beaver (aw, shucks!), and felt like they were trying a little too hard to be nice, witty guys, but maybe that's just because we're unaccustomed to unabashedly nice rock stars (if Hansen are even rock stars).  They played some new tunes, which I actually really enjoyed, and, after much cajoling, played a little "Mmm Bop."  You could tell they really want establish a new identity separate from that "one-hit wonder," but they good-naturedly played most of the song.  I thought it might be silly for a bunch of twenty-something men to be singing the song, but let's just say it was no more silly than the thirty-something woman bobbing her head and singing along with a ridiculous grin on her face as she pulled into work.

Mix 106.5 hasn't posted the whole performance yet, but here's a link to the video for the first part, if anyone wants to see Hansen, Grown Up live (my title, not theirs).

To conclude on a slightly more academic note, every year Beloit College  produces a "College Mindset List."  for the incoming freshmen class.  This list paints a picture of the pop-culture/current event point of view of new students.  Sometimes it seems as though they are reaching, and sometimes their observations need to be taken with a grain of salt, but the lists are always interesting and thought-provoking.  I looked up the list for these girls, Class of 2013, most of whom were born in 1991.  Just to give you an idea:

• They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
• Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream has always been a flavor choice.
• American students have always lived anxiously with high-stakes educational testing.
•  The European Union has always existed.
• We have always watched wars, coups, and police arrests unfold on television in real time.
• Nobody has ever responded to “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.

I was hoping to see what they had to say about my incoming college class, the Class of 2000, but they don't go back any further than 2002.  So, the first line of the Class of 2000 might read, "They have never heard of the Benoit Mindset List."

If you've graduated in 2002 or after, I'm curious - do you find things in the list that apply to you?

Where's the Beef?

I wonder if I exploited that blog title (a nod to an early 80's Wendy's commercial, for you youngin's) too soon?  With Meatless Mondays, there could be countless more opportunities.

I'm sorry, as soon as I realized that some people might be too young to know about the Wendy's commercial, I had to go find it for you:

Thanks for bearing with me.  It's important that pop-culture be passed on to future generations.

ANYWAY.

"Where's the beef?" is a question students at Bowdoin College in Maine were asking recently when the college decided to implement "Meatless Monday" in its on-campus dining establishments.  A number of students (I couldn't find anything indicating a specific number) were outraged, and protested the lack of animal flesh in the dining hall, including holding a beefy barbecue right outside the premises.  Apparently, they resent having their dietary choices controlled by the dictatorial college dining services.  Okay, truthfully, it was the administration as a whole, but the image of dining service dictators made me smile a little.  In any case, you can more informed takes on it here and here.

My reactions to this:

Initially, I thought something like, "Well, that's great that they've overcome apathy enough to protest something, but really?  Meatless Monday?"  Then, I thought they were somewhat justified.  What right does the college have to impose its food values on their students?  It is certainly appropriate for the school to encourage Meatless Monday the same way it might encourage wearing pink for Breast Cancer Awareness, but to essentially force them into it?  Even if there are off-campus dining options nearby, students with a dining plan shouldn't have to pay again for a meal they want to eat.

But then, I realize that not just college students, but anyone who works anywhere or goes anywhere is subject to complying with or at least participating in the organization's values system.  Usually, no one cares until it effects something that you care about.  For example, our college's dining services uses almost exclusively plates and cups made from recycled materials, and is beginning to incorporate locally produced food when its feasible.  I think it's awesome, and so do others, but I'm sure there's a lot of folks who are quite indifferent.  No one is saying, "Darnit, I really wanted to eat my meal off of styrofoam today!" And even if people think that climate change and all this environmental stuff is a bunch of hooey and a waste, they still don't really care. But the College is imposing its environmental values on these students.  Organizations impose their values with everything they do.

In his or her comment on the Sierra Club Blog, Cris said it much more succinctly:

Is it up to the students to select the menu items on any other day? Why would they need to approve a mac & cheese dinner on Monday (or whatever they have) any more than they need to approve having hotdogs on Thursdays or not having fried chicken on Wednesdays or orange juice for breakfast, or not having cherry pie on Tuesdays!

Excellent point!  Then, when I was in college, on almost any given day, I could protest that I didn't have the right to eat tater tots with chili and cheese, one of my dining hall guilty pleasures.  And there was always at least one day a week when there was no strawberry cream cake, oh, I can still taste the sweet berries, moist cake and rich filling, kissed with fluffy whipped cream.  Wasn't it my right to eat that cake any day I wanted to?  Should I have protested by...uh, I guess eating strawberry cake right outside the dining hall?

IUP alum, I know you forgot about that cake until just now, and your mouth is watering, too!

So, I'm not sure what I think about this.  I wonder if it would ever fly where I work now.  What do y'all think?