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NEWS: Trader Joe’s opens at 55th and Lake Park

SPORTS: The (Food) Diaries of a College Athlete

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ARTS: Wholesome Unofficially FDA–Approved Content

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THE CHICAGO MAROON — OCTOBER 23, 2019

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Trader Joe’s Opens on 55th and Lake Park

By OREN OPPENHEIM Deputy News Editor Hyde Parkers can finally buy autumn harvest soup, Dunkers cookies, and cold brew dessert bars without leaving the neighborhood. The long-anticipated Trader Joe’s on 55th and Lake Park opened on Friday, attracting shoppers from near and far.

The store is the first Trader Joe’s to open on the South Side of Chicago. In May, the University announced that Trader Joe’s would replace previous tenant Treasure Island, a grocery that shuttered last October.

At Friday’s opening, a sign at the front of store proclaimed, “Welcome to your neighborhood grocery store!”

“We have been waiting for a grocery store for about a year now,” Chanel Lane, a Hyde Park resident, told The Maroon after shopping with her two young children, Roen and Amory.

She said she has been in the neighborhood for three years, and that compared to Treasure Island, Trader Joe’s is “a bit smaller” but that she “really like[s] the quality” of their products. Trader Joe’s is not taking up the entire space, which will be shared with as-of-yet unannounced tenants.

Some people came from even further away. Marlene, who declined to give her last name, said she lives by the border between Illinois and Indiana. “I heard they opened today…. [I decided,] let me go over there and support them,” she said.

While the store was crowded, Marlene praised its staff for being “very polite” and helpful.

Before the store opened at 9 a.m., a line of community members, UChicago students, and other shoppers stretched down the block.

Fourth-year Veronica Myers tweeted that she arrived an hour before opening, but she had actually arrived two hours before the doors opened. In a follow-up Twitter message, Myers said she came to the store at 7 a.m., thinking the store opened at 8 a.m, and was third in line when she joined the line half an hour later after getting coffee.

“There was a really refreshing sort of camaraderie about the whole thing,” she said. “We talked about school, the weather, other grocery stores that are in talks of development…. My line-mates were definitely seasoned vets and shared some tips with me from their experience with grand openings.”

When she finally entered after 9 a.m., “it was really eerie and kind of beautiful for those few seconds I was wandering around the aisles alone, until everyone else flooded in,” she said.

As the store opened, Trader Joe’s employees and managers handed the first customer in line a pair of giant scissors to cut the red ribbon at the store’s entrance, while a Kenwood Academy student marching band serenaded the crowd. A jazz band set up shop in front of the store and played for customers throughout the day.

Aaron McEvers, a Bronzeville resident and saxophone player, told The Maroon that his wife works in the Trader Joe’s in South Loop, which before today was the closest store location to the South Side. She heard that the Hyde Park store was looking for a band to play at the opening, so he and some colleagues came together for the opening.

“The response we got from people was really good—[they] appreciated it even more than in clubs,” McEvers said.

Keyboard player Paul Mutzabaugh added that he was looking forward to perusing Trader Joe’s “wide assortment of spirits.”

While the store is smaller than Treasure Island, it still has produce and meat sections and a moderately large wine selection, in addition to general grocery products. The meat section includes Kosher-certified poultry.

Fourth-year Sam Joyce, who had advocated for the University to bring Trader Joe’s to Hyde Park, said by Facebook message, “What impressed me was the walk over [to the store]—so much easier than going up to Roosevelt.”

He felt the food selection was about the same, but “this one feels more spacious than Roosevelt… maybe the aisles are a little wider.”

Brooke Nagler contributed reporting.

Top to bottom: Parade; ribbon-cutting; first customers enter; an employee greets guests. brooke nagler / dominiquo santistevan

THE CHICAGO MAROON — OCTOBER 23, 2019

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Inner-City Muslim Action Network Brings Fresh Produce, Community Events to Corner Stores Where Racial Tensions Simmer

By ATMAN MEHTA Video Editor On West 63rd Street, an organization called the Inner-city Muslim Action Network (IMAN), whose acronym means faith in Islamic theology, has a sign right in front of St. Rita of Cascia Parish, a Catholic church.

IMAN is a nonprofit working to improve health and well-being in the inner city and on Chicago’s South Side, in particular by providing access to primary healthcare by making fresh produce and healthy food available to community members and building community by ameliorating tensions between Arabs and African Americans.

One key initiative, IMAN’s corner store campaign, aims to increase the amount of fresh produce and healthier food options in corner stores, many of which are owned

by Arab immigrants. Corner stores are primary sources of food in many areas of the South Side, underscoring the importance of improving relationships between Arabs and their customers—primarily African-American and Latino residents.

Although a large part of the campaign is about the provision of healthy food, IMAN also aims at improving relationships by alleviating conflicts between Arab storeowners and African-American and Latino residents.

“Talk to anyone in the community, and they will tell you about the tensions around these corner stores. Whether it’s just the prevalence of tobacco, nicotine products and alcohol, junk food, expiring food, rotten meat and even outright racism from both the storeowners and the residents,” Ahmad Jitan, a community organizer at IMAN, told The Maroon.

According to Eric Rodriguez, food ecosystems coordinator at IMAN, the organization’s goal is to have both communities interact more substantially so they can unite over substantial similarities rather than remain estranged over superficial differences.

Food deserts, a term adopted by the United States Department of Agriculture in 2008 to describe areas with insufficient access to healthy food, are a significant concern in Chicago, prompting investigations by the United States Commission on Civil Rights in 2011 and featuring prominently in Rahm Emanuel’s mayoral campaign in 2014.

Although supermarkets have opened on the South Side in recent years, notably Whole Foods in Englewood, Mariano’s in Bronzeville, and—most recently—Jewel-Osco in Woodlawn, studies suggest that simply increasing the number of supermarkets doesn’t effectively address food inequities and lack of access to healthy food.

Access to healthy food is contingent on a variety of factors, such as income, availabil-

Store owner Kanan Ashkar stands behind the bullet-proof glass across which customers make payments. atman mehta

Rosa Food Market at West 63rd Street and Mozart, owned and run by Kanan Ashkar, a Palestinian-American immigrant. atman mehta ity of transport, neighborhood infrastructure, and equitable pricing across stores and communities. For example, a 2017 study suggests that diet-related health concerns correlate more closely with income and race than access to a supermarket does.

A 2018 study by researchers from UChicago, Northwestern, and Chicago State University found that although the number of supermarkets in Chicago increased from 125 in 2007 to 149 in 2014, including new stores in places considered food deserts, areas with extremely low food access in segregated, low-income regions didn’t benefit much. Food insecurity disproportionately burdens racial minorities and low-income groups, the authors noted; the African-American community, which comprises only a third of the population, formed

80 percent of the residents of low food access areas.

Although African Americans form the ethnic majority of the South Side, there exists a significant Arab and Latino population as well. Estimates suggest that around 50,000 to 170,000 Arab-Americans live in Chicago. Many of these immigrants arrived in the early 20th century from present-day Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, while groups of Palestinians immigrated to Chicago after the Second World War and the 1967 Six-Day War. Consequently, corner stores, small businesses, and salons owned by Arabs became a fixture of Chicago’s South Side.

Given that the South and West Sides of Chicago suffer the worst consequences of food insecurity, the authors of the study CONTINUED ON PG. 4

Community organizer Ahmad Jitan talks to store-owner Kanan Ashkar, describing IMAN’s goals and projects. atman mehta

THE CHICAGO MAROON — OCTOBER 23, 2019

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What Have Students Liberated from the Dining Halls?

By BRIDGET LI News Reporter With meal plans totaling to thousands of dollars every year, each dining hall visit can feel like an urgent opportunity to get your money’s worth, whether it be through second or third plates of food or endless bowls of tater tots.

But while buffet-style dining allows students to feast to their heart’s content, dining hall policies limit the type and quantity of food that can be taken to go.

According to Sharee Julian, a cashier at Baker Dining Commons, food prepared on-site, such as fries and burgers, cannot be removed; however, students can leave with up to two servings of fruit, cookies, or ice cream.

“We’re a buffet staff, so we don’t

allow anyone to take out any food just for certain reasons,” Julian said. “We don’t want anything to happen.... we just want everybody to come in and enjoy their food here at Baker Dining Commons.”

Despite the dining halls’ policies, students remain ambitious in their quests to maximize returns on their meal plans.

In fact, for some, swiping a slice of pizza is child’s play—they’ve furnished their kitchen cabinets and fed entire houses with a single meal swipe.

The Maroon asked six dining hall daredevils about their most prolific escapades.

“Somebody may have stolen 10 to 15 pears once... We were doing [house] study break on a budget, so we built a pearamid [sic], packed the pears into a backpack, and left.”

—Cheryl, second-year “Squash, pumpkin, a spoon, Cholula hot sauce, the toppings by the ice cream, a tupperware of lettuce.”

—Maya, second-year “My friends and I just occasionally steal stuff for fun. Craziest things I have witnessed and may or may not have been a part of: whole wire baskets of napkins, table tri-folds, loaves of bread, a jar of Goldfish, decorative squash, a jar of beans, and an entire jar of chopsticks. Sometimes, for the random jars and stuff, we just walk up and grab [them]. For loaves of bread, sometimes we have to do this whole thing where one person goes to get food to distract the person and then another person grabs it while they aren’t looking.”

—Ria, third-year

“At the end of my first year, my friends and I were moving into our apartment and needed dishware, so we went to Baker [Dining Commons] with a large backpack. We would each get a plate of food and put another clean plate underneath it. We would then put the empty plate in the backpack when we got to where we were sitting in Baker. We stole around five to six plates, four cups, nine forks, four spoons, and six knives at once in that backpack.”

—Daniel, third-year “A whole jar of oyster crackers.”

—Katherine, first-year “20 hot chocolate packets from Cathey, 13 apples. I took the hot chocolate packets for tea night [at the house] and I made an apple pie with the apples.”

—Samantha, third-year

“Every community wants and deserves nutritious options.”

CONTINUED FROM PG. 3

argue for solutions more comprehensive than building supermarkets, including reducing income inequality and improving public transportation infrastructure and community participation.

Many stores shut down in the area because they weren’t profiting much, turning grocery stores into dollar stores where access to fresh produce and healthy food options remains low despite cheap food prices, Rodriguez said. IMAN has been trying to bridge that gap by bringing more grocery supplies to underserved neighborhoods.

“For decades, there has been a big marketing push that cooking is just a waste of time—you should let someone else do the cooking and just buy something prepared.

That’s affected not only people’s health, but also the family structure, where people used to come together behind grandma or ma and cook together as a family. Now people are buying more prepared foods,” he added.

At “Refresh the Hood” events, IMAN sells smoothies, fresh fruits and vegetables in stores primarily owned by Arab-Americans to encourage storeowners to sell more fresh produce, and have music and a cypher—an impromptu gathering of rappers— outside to attract passing pedestrians and introduce them to the storeowners.

Speaking about a Refresh the Hood event that had taken place a few days earlier,

Jitan said that the event livened up the corner, which was important given that corner stores do not have the best of reputations.

After the event, he said, the storeowners were enthusiastic, not having seen such a response to their corner stores before.

“Every community wants and deserves nutritious options in its neighborhood, and it’s just a matter of how we do that together,” he added.

Sharing food is one of the best ways to let down barriers and begin a relationship, Rodriguez also said. At another Refresh the Hood, an Arab woman struck up a conversation with a few Black women, explaining to them how to make salsa from tomatillos, which are native to Mexico.

Some of IMAN’s key techniques for healing racial tensions are simple: “We’re trying to get people to introduce themselves and learn everyone’s names, so that customers have a good experience and support the store, rather than thinking that the store owners only want to transact,” Rodriguez said.

Other techniques involve physical changes to stores. Jitan says that corner stores are often architecturally unwelcoming due to features like bulletproof glass separating owners from customers, dim lighting, and cages as locking mechanisms. Therefore, part of IMAN’s corner store campaign also involves renovating the

facades of some stores to make them more welcoming spaces.

Being across bulletproof glass “can be very dehumanizing. You’re already starting the conversation off the foot of mistrust,” Jitan said.

In addition to their corner store campaign, IMAN hosts farmers markets every Friday where local businesses sell produce, food, and other local products, as well as hosting cultural activities related to art and dance.

At the farmers market on October 11, dozens of people sauntered about; the chore of grocery shopping became a communal activity. While buying produce, people sampled smoothies, a West African soup, and other prepared delicacies. Arab immigrants, Latinos, African Americans, and families with children under 10 made up the crowd.

While people bought, sold, ate, and talked, a woman held a workshop teaching traditional Senegalese dance; almost everyone in the room learned and danced together. Over the course of one evening, people struck up friendships. One of those friendships was between two kids no more than a few years old and began very simply: “Will you be my friend?”

“The work [IMAN is] doing is good, trying to get people to eat healthier, eat better, less junk food,” Kanan Ashkar, owner of a corner store at 63rd and Mozart, said at a

“Refresh the Hood” event held on Tuesday.

“The situation is what it is, but it’s improving slowly.”

Ashkar added that while he, unlike IMAN, feels that bulletproof glass is necessary for his store—“You have to protect yourself in case something happens”—he feels a sense of belonging in the neighborhood, something that has grown over time since his first days in the U.S. “I’ve been in this neighborhood for more than thirty years, and I’ve seen many kids grow up,” he said. “So of course I get along with them well. My children have also grown up here and have a life of their own in the neighborhood.”

In addition to its work in corner stores, IMAN grows fruits and vegetables at its community garden on Fairfield Avenue to then distribute among the community.

They hope that in the future they will be able to involve the community in growing their food as well.

“The more that people began to tell each other their history, I’ve seen that they begin to treat each other better and more like family. I’ve just seen people laughing together more and mixing more. I’ve also seen people trying to become bilingual and practicing languages,” Rodriguez said.

“Hopefully once we share recipes, we can open our homes to people of different colors and backgrounds.”

THE CHICAGO MAROON — OCTOBER 23, 2019

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Music, Money, Microwaves: Four Iconic Student-Run Coffee Shops

By ADRIÁN MANDEVILLE News Reporter and Photo Editor The Maroon spoke to employees at Ex Libris, Harper, Grounds of Being, and Cobb about what makes their work and shops so special.

Carolyn Hammond, Financial Manager and Barista at Ex Libris Cafe

I recognize around campus only as “Small Dark Roast With No Room.”

CM: What kinds of constraints does Ex Libris face?

CH: We are the one cafe that’s run by students that’s not allowed to play music, and that’s actually because we’re under the jurisdiction of the library [and] the Student Involvement Centers. It’s one of those things that takes away from what the vibe could be in here versus what it is in here.

We also don’t have a microwave. We used to have a microwave, and then someone decided to microwave fish and the library decided that they didn’t like the library smelling like fish so they took away our microwave.

Sofia Cabrera, Barista at Harper Cafe

like Ex but we have music so it’s a little more low-key. We’re warm all the time so if you’re really cold come to Harper and warm up!

The heating here is insane. I just think it’s a nice, cozy environment if you’re coming to have a meeting or do some work. At night it’s definitely quiet and low-key.

CM: What kinds of constraints does Harper face?

SC: The advisor offices are right above the cafe so during work hours we have to keep our music at a pretty low volume... Last year we had a bee infestation problem in the Harper building, so we had to keep the window closed in the little back closet thing, which was really annoying because it was really hot in here, but we didn’t want bees coming in. They’d get stuck in the pastry case, it wasn’t safe.

Parker McWatters, Shift Lead at Grounds of Being

Chicago Maroon: What does it take to be an Ex Libris barista?

Carolyn Hammond: It takes a certain amount of resilience, mentally and sometimes physically... Not to be corny with a metaphor, but take latte art. In order to make it happen, you need good foundations: The espresso and milk need to have similar consistencies, and your pour has to be just right. Ex Libris strikes that same sort of beautiful harmony—a balance between resilience, a healthy level of idiosyncrasy, and a love for the craft.

CM: What sets Ex Libris apart?

CH: We have larger groups of baristas on shift, and the work is focused on how we work together and support each other under high-stress situations.... You can’t possibly be best friends with 40 people, but everyone is always friendly and we bond over weird stuff that can happen on shift.

CM: What are your customers like?

CH: There are people that spend almost as much time in Ex Libris as we do, if not more.... Serving someone coffee consistently, sometimes over the course of several years, definitely creates a unique sort of connection! There are still some people

card machines breaking and the Maroon Dollars going offline… But the number of people that come in and hand us a credit card and we say, “We’re cash-only,” and they go “Oh!” and they just walk away…or they’ve already poured their cup of coffee and they’re like, “I’ve already poured it it’s just gonna go to waste!” and I’m like, “I’m not just gonna give you free coffee, man.”

CM: What’s your crowd?

PM: Mostly grad students and professors.

A lot of professors come in here every day and order the same thing.... We get a lot of undergrads too.

CM: What do you like about being a barista at Grounds of Being?

PM: I’ve worked at Ex, I’ve worked at Harper, and I’ve worked at Hallowed, I just need Cobb—if they read this tell them to hire me! One thing I really enjoy about this is that everyone behind the counter except for me and one or two other employees are grad students. So this is something very serious for them, this is how they make money.

AnnaClaire Fields, Manager at Cobb Coffee Shop

Chicago Maroon: What does it take to be a Harper barista?

Sofia Cabrera: It takes a good amount of teamwork, a good sense of humor, a good taste in music. We are one of the busier cafes on campus, so you do have to have a good work ethic, you have to know how to make coffee (obviously), and how to make a good espresso for anyone that comes in.

CM: What kinds of people come to Harper?

SC: We get a good mix; we have families come in, advisors come in, Dean Boyer comes in sometimes, and the grad students and undergraduate students. It’s really a space for people to do collaborative work or grab a coffee if they’re heading into the reading room or their office.

CM: Why do people come to Harper?

What’s your specialty?

SC: We have our cake balls which no other cafe sells.... We’re more of a workspace

Chicago Maroon: What sets Grounds of Being apart from the other coffee shops?

Parker McWatters: The money we’re making here goes back to the Div School students, and that’s big because we don’t know where the money that the other cafes make goes. … We’ve got all these posters and stuff up which is nice—that’s something that the other shops don’t have, they don’t have control over their space because they’re with the University so that’s kind of a cool thing we can do.

CM: What kinds of challenges does Grounds of Being face?

PM: We’re cash-only which is great because we don’t have to deal with the credit

Chicago Maroon: How has Cobb changed?

AnnaClaire Fields: It’s common practice to reminisce about the “good old days” of Cobb when employees stored dead birds in the refrigerator and recreationally sliced each other’s abdomens. This kind of nostalgia is nauseating and not parCONTINUED ON PG. 6

THE CHICAGO MAROON — OCTOBER 23, 2019

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“I’m not just gonna give you free coffee, man.”

CONTINUED FROM PG. 5

ticularly well-founded. People who have been around for a long time will tell you it hasn’t changed at all. Cobb certainly has a distinct legacy—one so well-established it doesn’t require description—but its mythologization is an ongoing and active process.... Why would I care what your alumnus older brother said about how things were five years ago?

CM: What do you like about working at Cobb?

AF: For me, partaking in Cobb’s unique lineage is one of the best things about working here. A significant part of my life has played out and passed in this basement. It’s a ground as much as it is something to identify with. The entanglement of Cobb and my time at the University feels uniquely personal and almost uncon-

tainable, but innumerable kids have come and gone and had the same experience.

This shared attachment is the material of the Cobb legacy. It makes it special in a way the associated aesthetic never could, and its propagation ensures the best version of Cobb is always the current one.

CM: Do you have a favorite tidbit of Cobb history?

AF: Today a customer who was an under-

graduate at UC during the Vietnam War told me about how she and her friends would come to Cobb to see the birth dates selected for the draft on the television. I guess that’s history for you.

CM: What does Cobb have to offer?

AF: This year we have milk tea and quiche—both are top-notch.

The Very Hungry Squirrels of UChicago: An Illustrated List

By ALICE CHENG News Reporter College students are notoriously hungry. But what’s the only thing hungrier than a college student? A college squirrel.

Whereas normal squirrels eat acorns and nuts, the Sciuridae uchicago has been spotted eating just about everything under the sun—or more accurately, everything under a trash can lid. As a tribute to these rapacious rodents, we’ve put together an illustrated list of the weirdest, wildest things students have seen UChicago squirrels eating.

could blame you for forgetting to hit record? Should we be more concerned about squirrels’ lack of personal boundaries?

Sophie Singer, third-year; Brooke Davis, first-year; Andrew Olmstead, fourthyear; Ujann Purakayastha , fourth-year This was the most common consumption students came across on campus, with the squirrels’ favorite appearing to be sugar cookies.

10. A bagel – Wolf Hertzberg, fourthyear Forget the latke-hamantash debate; the truly irresistible Jewish food is the bagel, as this squirrel knows. Sure, the bagel is twice its size, but why should

12. Banana – Wolf Hertzberg, fourthyear; Alice Cheng, third-year While tame in comparison to some of the later items on this list, watching a squirrel eat a whole banana with its bare paws is a sight to see.

3. Blueberry muffin – Kenjiro Lee, fourth-year A squirrel was caught stealing an entire blueberry muffin from a student during breakfast hours...and proceeded to have a heart attack afterwards.

claire holland

6. Churro – Claire Holland, fourth-year Just... wow.

5. One whole donut – Christina Stebbins, fourth-year But was it yeast or cake? helen xia

that stop it?

4. Cookies – Emilie Blum, first-year;

2. Pie – Isaac Rand, second-year Filled with holiday spirit, this squirrel decided to join in on the feasting and eat a dining hall pie.

9. Sweet potato fries – Helen Xia, firstyear Are sweet potato fries actually healthier? This squirrel seems to think so.

alice cheng

8. Quiche – Galen Jiang, third-year At least, we think it’s a quiche.

11. Apple core (out of a student’s hand) – Olinka Regules, third-year We wish we had actual footage of this to show you such a magnificent feat, but when life takes you by surprise, who

7. Candy wrapper remnants – Lisette Gonzalez, third-year, via @uchicago_ squirrels Like taking candy from a baby, or something.

kenjiro lee

ujann purakayastha

1. Another squirrel??? – Mimansa Dogra, fourth-year; Hannah Halpern, first-year; Sophie Singer, third-year While we don’t have video footage of this, it was brought to our attention more than oncew. A quick Google search shows that squirrels can be cannibalistic—so after eating all of our sweets, maybe this is how they get their protein?

THE CHICAGO MAROON — OCTOBER 23, 2019

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THE CHICAGO MAROON — OCTOBER 23, 2019

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ARTS Fuse or Lose

Like the moon landing, Eto’o marks the unprecedented achievement of their spaghetti with a flag. veronica karlan

By PERRI WILSON and VERONICA KARLAN Arts Reporters

“In the middle of our journey of our life, I came to myself in a dark wood, for the straight way was lost.”

What do you get after a week of eating only fusion food? A lot of gas. But more importantly, one gets a more complete picture of what it means to be living in a globalized 21st-century world, where ethnicity is used to justify blending trendy, but otherwise clashing, ingredients .

When searching for a restaurant in Hyde Park, you won’t come across many classic, conventional cuisines—rather, you’ll find yourself in a treasure trove of self-proclaimed fusion experiments. So we took it upon ourselves to delve into the fusion scene, asking the hard questions that keep us up at night as we scroll through the most mind-bending options on Postmates.

What draws us to fusion food in this day and age? Does anything fuse? Are some cuisines more conducive to blending than others? Even so, would that stop a Hyde Park restaurant from trying it?

Have we become dissatisfied, jaded per-

haps, with our unalloyed options? And at what cost? The answer to that last question, as we quickly realized, is usually around $10 per plate.

We started our journey at Eto’o, which goes under the radar to most Hyde Park residents. Notably, it is the first restaurant that comes up when you search for “fusion” in Google maps—its only defining feature. Nestled conveniently between Shinju Sushi and Hyde Park Currency Exchange, Eto’o is a welllit mystery of shiny tiles and geometric lighting. It claims to be “Asian fusion,” although we definitely got some non-Asian food fused in there too.

Challenging ourselves to find the most unexpected twists on the menu, we decided to order from the pasta section (not to be confused with the noodles section), settling on the Green Curry with Crispy Battered Chicken. A Thai take on a creamy alfredo sauce, the generic spaghetti dish was doused in a generous pool of coconut-y curry that gave a surprising kick. We found ourselves making use of the spoons at the end to drink up the last of the sauce. We were delighted by the surprisingly authentic Italian cherry tomatoes and shredded mozzerelle, delicately placed atop a Japanese-style katsu fried chicken. Sound too wild to be

true? Both our minds and our guts can attest to its reality.

Day two was a lunchtime affair; we were both craving a light lunch, so naturally, we ordered the heaviest possible dish at Seoul Taco: Gogi and Waffles. In this heaping plate of sweet potato waffle fries, Queso Blanco, Beef Bulgogi, and Kimchi, there were many opportunities for a golden bite. While 2 p.m. on a Tuesday may not have been the best time to snarf down this monster, we agreed that it would make for a great, mature, and culturally curious feast. Unlike Eto’o, where the whole made up for some lacking parts, the elements of Gogi and Waffles were each virtuous for the sake of themselves.

Next stop on our list was Saucy Porka, a small Chicago chain founded in 2013, whose Hyde Park location opened up on 55th Street just over a year ago. Fusing flavors from Latin America (Puerto Rico and Cuba) and Asia (more specifically, Vietnam, Korea, Thailand, and China), Saucy Porka’s menu is less provocative than it may sound. We tried a shrimp baco, a sweet and bready bao used as a base for a couple of shrimps and kernels of corn. Their chorizo egg roll was a dense, fried log of meat, but in the best way. As owner Amy Le explained

in a statement to The Maroon on her approach to fusion food, “it’s taking all these beautiful ingredients from different countries and regions and letting them complement each other.”

Regarding the plethora of fusion restaurants, Le hypothesized that “living in a city like Chicago, where you have Little Village and Pilsen neighboring Chinatown, it’s almost like it was meant to happen.”

After a week of heavily fused meals (which happened to coincide with heavily rough digestion), we decided to see how far we could push the limits of fusion. How fused, exactly, do the flavors have to be for the restaurant to maintain its integrity? Naturally, we ended the week with one last sit down, at The Sit Down, which, as the owner immediately informed us, is not a fusion restaurant.

“Long story short, initially we wanted an American bistro,” restaurant owner Sal Pappalito said about the conception for The Sit Down. But after another one opened up down the street (Park 52), they decided to change their vision. “I said we’re gonna do something funny.

And I joked about it. Sushi and pizza.

That was a joke, and the next day I called my cousin back and said, ‘It might be CONTINUED ON PG. 9

We ordered focaccia with sushi on the side, or maybe sushi with focaccia. veronica karlan

THE CHICAGO MAROON — OCTOBER 23, 2019

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“...It turns out, some things are better left un-fused.”

CONTINUED FROM PG. 8

unique enough that it’ll work.’” We can confirm, it does work. Surprisingly, he’s found over the years that sushi consistently wins out, 55–45, no matter the season.

As we waited for our (completely unfused) sushi and Italian sandwich to arrive, we observed that each table at the bustling Hyde Park joint could have been located in completely different restaurants—one neighboring table seemed to be having a festive Mexican nights-out vibe, complete with martinis, while two

older women on our opposite side were having a serene Japanese supper.

We were informed that their pizza was thin crust, practically tortilla-esque, so we settled on a focaccia that was described as being pizza-bread. Why not?

After a week in the field, we used our chopsticks to pick at the fruit bowl and sushi platter alike, dodging any crossover between the soy sauce and the grapes. Overzealous about the prospect of fusion, and assuming that anything goes in the fusion world, we dipped our cheesy focaccia in wasabi soy-sauce. And,

it turns out, some things are better left un-fused.

With so much food in our bellies and new knowledge in our minds, we went back to the drawing board to tackle our original questions about the nature of fusion. Rather than ending our feast with a more concise conception of fusion, however, we ended with more questions than we began. So, we turned to some resident scholars for their opinions.

We reached out to Miles Wilson, a nuclear science engineering major at UC Berkeley (conveniently related to one of

the authors of this article). When asked what fusion means to him, he responded that it has “earned itself a position as the idealists’ power…. It is really amazing though, and I think that when it happens, it will completely alter the course of humanity. Like technologically, economically, everything-ly [sic].”

While we think that Wilson may have overstated fusion’s potential, it has certainly transformed the dining habits of Hyde Park.

Wholesome Unofficially FDA-Approved Content

By WAHID AL MAMUN Arts Editor

As an international student, arguably one of the hardest things about acclimatizing to America was getting used to its food. To be sure, part of this is driven by nostalgia and the yearning for something familiar, which you slowly realize can never be replicated in America (especially if you come from a place with a richly diverse and delicious food culture). But over time, I’ve come to appreciate the sprawling variety and experimental ethos that has defined the very best of American food. However, at its worst, American food can be truly, freakishly awful. Here is a (totally biased) lowdown of several quintessentially American foodstuffs that I have yet to wrap my head around.

Pop-Tarts Before I came to the States, the PopTart held a mythic sway over me—every Nickelodeon and Disney show I watched in my youth braced me for this technicolor lunchtime classic (that you can toast, no less!). The Pop-Tart was a seminally American institution, alongside the Constitution and the NFL. So imagine my desperate disappointment when I had the elusive Pop-Tart for the first time—the cracker is flaky and has the texture and taste of over-sweetened cardboard, and the filling amounts to little more than a glorified paste of food coloring and preservatives. What perverse pathology could have convinced multiple generations of American schoolchildren to ac-

tively look forward to wolfing down one of these monstrosities at lunch? I have no answers.

Frosted Flakes I’m specifically including Frosted Flakes here because of personal experience—I remember wanting some good old-fashioned cornflakes at Baker during O-Week last year and found myself wondering how I had gotten myself a bowl of dessert instead. In all honesty, I could be talking about *any* of the sugary, over-sweetened boxed product that this country purports to be breakfast cereal.

Breakfast cereal is supposed to be plain and boring, not increase my risk of getting early-onset hypertension at 8 a.m. in the morning.

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Sure, the story behind the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto is an uplifting exemplar of diversity and openness possible in corporate culture. And I don’t really have too much of a problem with the Cheeto itself—it is of sturdy construction and has extremely robust flavor that leaves a good kick in your mouth. The only reason I’m including Flamin’ Hot Cheetos here is that I have seen a recent surfeit of Cheeto-inspired recipes such as KFC’s Cheetos Sandwich, and I feel compelled to take a firm moral stance against that. Case in point: I had a friend who, over the summer, made a chicken dish with a breading of Flamin’ Hot Cheeto dust. I didn’t talk to him for a whole month after that.

La Croix There was a Tweet going around ear-

“If synthetic petroleum ever had a taste profi,e, the singular Peep would be it.” courtesy of wikimedia commons

ly last year where someone said that La Croix tastes like if you were drinking tonic water and someone shouted the name of a particular fruit from the other side of the room. I never understood that reference before coming to the States. Then I had a La Croix.

Peeps This entry comes courtesy of my Self section which, instead of debating the merits of open free-market capitalism as espoused by Adam Smith, pontificated on the dangers of allowing F&B corporations

such as Just Born to run amok and fabricate the ersatz-marshmallow rubber implants that are Peeps. Don’t fool me with the cute ducks. If synthetic petroleum ever had a taste profile, the singular Peep would be it. It is everything that a marshmallow ought not to be—hard, vulcanized, and duck-shaped. Stay clear.

Twinkies Need I say more? Even true-blue, salt-of-the-earth Americans recognize that Twinkies are godawful. For someCONTINUED ON PG. 10

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thing that is made out of little more than wheat flour, cornstarch, water, and sugar, it almost feels like a technological marvel for someone to manufacture something so bad. Also, I find it highly concerning, if unsurprising, that Twinkies don’t have expiration dates. Their only saving grace seems to be that they seem highly selfaware of their awfulness.

Twizzlers

I am no longer friends with the person who told me that Twizzlers make for great American cinema food. I think this is mostly because I became friends with this individual in the harum-scarum of O-Week, when you ruthlessly add/drop people who could become acquaintances or who could become friends. But I am also no longer friends with this person because I felt betrayed by their culinary judgement. Twizzlers look and taste like

plastic straws that have been ever so slightly scented with strawberry. Why would you want to ruin your movie like that?

String Cheese This is it, the hill I have chosen to die on. String cheese is the single worst food item that the nation of America has come up with. It says a lot that this is a food item that is infinitely more fun to play with than to actually eat. And my god does it

taste awful—at its best, it feels like you are consuming scented hair. At its worst, string cheese is emblematic of the broader failure of processed American cheeses.

Think of the yellow sludge that is the Kraft Single, or the goop in your microwavable Kraft mac and cheese, and truly spend a minute to ask yourself if any of that comes close to resembling whatever it is that food ought to be. A disaster in both form and matter, as Aristotle might have put it.

Opening Day: Bread, Butter, and Power

By JAD DAHSHAN and ALINA KIM Arts Reporters

On October 19, the Smart Museum opened its doors to welcome visitors to Meleko Mokgosi: Bread, Butter, and Power. A traveling show initiated at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, the exhibition was inaugurated with an artist’s talk followed by a panel discussion on the civic role of writers, concurrent with Humanities Day 2019.

Bread, Butter, and Power is the latest chapter in the Botswanan artist’s series Democratic Intuition, an eight-chapter project instigated in 2013. The exhibition questions ways labor practices and divisions are gendered in southern Africa, as well as how democracy is conceptualized and executed.

Mokgosi was in discussion with Erica P. Jones, associate curator of African arts at the Fowler, and their conversation was moderated by Jennifer Carty, associate curator of modern and contemporary art at the Smart, who oversaw the project’s transfer to Chicago. The artist began the discussion by explaining that the direction of the show had evolved quickly from a comparative examination of intellectual and physical forms of labor to the multifarious concept of democracy. Recounting the exhibition’s origins, Mokgosi pondered aloud, “How do we reciprocate and practice the idea of democracy?”

Entering a wide, cavernous room which contrasts the narrow windings of the neighboring Samson Young exhibition, visitors are presented with a panoramic array of panel paintings by Mokgosi that cinematically stretch across the Smart’s white walls.

Almost like unfurling a roll of film, viewers

walking along the edges of the space transition from one scene to the next, shifting between interior and exterior settings, meeting new characters, and traveling through time. “I try to think of everything in relation to the cinematic,” explained Mokgosi, drawing analogies to closeups, long shots, and cinematic frames in describing his episodic painting series.

Besides their filmic quality, the works on display also emulate and respond to traditions of genre painting and history painting, two fields in art history canonically concerned with everyday scenes, biblical allegories, and historical narratives of a white, male, straight audience. Mokgosi subverts the colonial European tradition by taking postcolonial southern Africa as his subject matter. In two pieces in particular, allegories are written in Setswana, the main language in Botswana. To non-native speakers, the inaccessibility of meaning within these canvases encourages a fricative discomfort, and in doing so exposes a subconscious, colonial bias for European languages. The pieces advance Mokgosi’s argument that non-Western languages should be equally privileged as those of the West. “All languages should matter,” said Mokgosi at the talk.

The artist also spoke to the culturally specific ways that values and norms are created in society, describing how different feminisms might clash. The conversation was in reference to one of the paintings on display, in which a woman holding a bowl is seated on the floor, while a man nearby enjoys the elevation of a chair. Mokgosi speculated that a Western feminist might see an oppressive hierarchy in the arrangement, and analogously in any similar non-Western social dynamic, whereas within the local

context, this would not have been the case.

The idea of “the sub-determination of women,” explained Mokgosi, preceded even the term feminism.

He then switched to a brief talk on the

reconciliation of freedom and interference within a democratic society, and the faint line of mutual recognition that borders the two. He projects the question of whether CONTINUED ON PG. 11

Meleko Mokgosi: Bread, Butter, and Power, 2018, Installation view. courtesy of the artist and honor fraser, los angeles. photo © monica nouwens.

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there is a limitation to what the artist can relate to and understand, even within his own works. Mokgosi sees this as a way to empathize with others and to further delve into how this affects how he envisions equality and democracy. Continuing his discussion on the image of “Woman,” he explained that he began the formation of Democratic Intuition by wondering about the description of “things” and social “conceptions” in specific ways. The stereotypical understanding of the “Woman” particularly intrigued him, and he chose to depict a pairing of opposition and unity between our conceptions of feminism and masculinity. Ultimately, his solution for social progress comes from the breakdown of masculinity and the alliances between classes and genders.

In conjunction with his call for this alliance, he pointed to a life-size tube in the back of the exhibit, which pictured a decorated Black man, who holds a trophy and gold medal with no engraving. The expression on the man’s face is one of disappointment and regret. Is masculinity unrewarding in the end, Mokgosi challenges, with flaunting decorations but no real recognition? His conclusion on the topic brushed on the embracing of “professional alliances” within social groups and the “castration” of the male subject—though of what sort is still

in the air.

The artist ended his conversation with a discussion of understanding of identity and the self. “It’s not about superiority,” he declared, “but about self-determination.” Admitting that we cannot erase the past—we cannot undo slavery, the pillaging and lynching, the Middle Passage, and the plantations—the least, and technically the most, we can do is advocate and actively initiate the correction of historical forces and instead find freedom through how we as people think of each other and understand our individual experiences—the bread and butter that feed an evolving democratic community.

In conjunction with Humanities Day, a day-long series of presentations, lectures, and tours organized by the Division of the Humanities, the Smart hosted the panel Writer and Citizen in the galleries where Bread, Butter, and Power is current on view. Framed by Mokgosi’s paintings, the four participants discussed their most recent projects within a dialogue centered on questions of the social function and impact of writers as citizens within areas such as environmental crisis and xenophobia.

Jennifer Scappettone, associate professor in the Departments of English Language and Literature and Romance Languages and Literatures, launched the panel. A poet and

scholar, Scappettone works across translation, research-based nonfiction, and augmented reality (AR) to expose our entanglement in the networks of labor and waste production that underlie our telecommunication systems. Scappettone wrapped up her segment with a quick AR demonstration which made it appear as though pennies were raining from the ceiling.

Next was Stephanie Soileau, assistant professor of practice in the arts in the Department of English Language and Literature. Soileau addressed Louisiana’s disastrous and rapid loss of land, citing natural reasons for the delta drowning, such as wave erosion and hurricanes, but also noting the accelerating effects of the oil industry. “It’s a devil’s bargain,” she explained, since locals rely on the source of their land’s destruction for their livelihoods.

Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language Edgar Garcia continued the conversation by sharing his work that examines the unexpected interstices between statistical risk assessment, divination, and the way we conceptualize immigration. Thinking about the ways statistics tend to dehumanize people, particularly migrants, Garcia posed the question “How does the figuration of risk engender certain values about people?”

Finally, Lina Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas,

assistant professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, related an experience she had three years ago, when Trump infamously coined the term “shithole countries.” Ferreira conveyed the helpless rage and desperation that statement spread through her and her community, and commenced to read some poetry she translated in response to the political climate.

In Bread, Butter, and Power, Meleko Mokgosi adapts a historically exclusionary European genre painting tradition for a postcolonial, southern African context.

His paintings undulate between interiors and exteriors of the Botswanan everyday, depicting various divisions of labor and highlighting the ways in which they are gendered. His stylistic allusions to Western artistic practices highlight the culturally specific dichotomies between Western feminist values and those of his hometown, where power dynamics may be misinterpreted by European and American feminists. Paintings range in their contents from women in sundry acts of labor to men suggesting new modes of masculinity. Incorporating a group of panelists who extended Mokgosi’s conversations about citizenship into the areas of environmentalism and indigenous studies, the Smart Museum’s latest opening day proved once again to be a thought-provoking and reflective success.

Drink to Health

By MILES FRANKLIN Arts Reporter

A few weeks ago, I began posting rather subjective “juice reviews” on my Instagram Stories, where I would rather briefly elucidate the qualities of the juice I drank that day and compare it to other juices from Hyde Park. I was rather surprised to find that people actually cared about these reviews and wanted to hear more, so naturally I jumped at the chance to expound upon my thoughts in the Maroon.

To begin, I’ll run through the criteria by which I judged each of the five juices on this list, and then I’ll rank each juice from worst to best. For me, the criterion of utmost importance when ranking a juice is the ratio

of vegetables to fruit. Juices which favor vegetables to fruit are not only healthier, since they contain less sugar, but are also a better value proposition if you consider the nutrients, rather than its flavor. My second metric is price, and the final one for ranking these juices is taste. Because “good tasting” juices often have a lot of apples or bananas, I choose to take aspects which make a juice more nutritious into more serious consideration.

5th Place: Naked Boosted Green Machine Juice Smoothie Let the record show that this juice is being reviewed only as a point of comparison for the four other juices in this piece.

Contrary to common belief, this drink is not healthy. With an ingredient list that favors

fruit and fruit derivatives, this juice mainly satisfies flavor requirements instead of nutritional ones. For instance, this juice contains 28 grams of sugar - more sugar than many doctors recommend should be consumed daily. Additionally, the ingredient list includes “Natural Flavors,” a vague term companies use to disguise the inclusion of preservatives and other unnecessary ingredients. This juice receives a 3/10 because it satisfies the desire for a good tasting juice, but fails to be nutritious and costs $7.30.

4th Place: B’Gabs Goodies Mighty Green smoothie.

Though this option isn’t technically a juice, I chose to include it because B’Gabs is close to campus, and the smoothie itself is a great value proposition. B’Gabs does

have pressed juices, though not any which contain the ingredients I often look for in a juice. The Mighty Green smoothie constitutes of greens, avocado, zucchini, parsley, green apple, and banana. Though I don’t know what exactly constitutes the “greens,” the smoothie does have a faint taste of dark green vegetables. Additionally, because this option is a smoothie and not a juice, one can add ingredients like avocado and banana. 32 ounces of Mighty Green costs $10, which makes this juice the best value proposition out of any on this list. It’s also worth mentioning that B’Gabs Goodies is a fully vegan restaurant, so you can treat yourself to a snack while waiting on your smoothie. Because of the value of this juice CONTINUED ON PG. 12

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and its fairly robust ingredient list, it receives a 6/10.

3rd Place: Pret A Manger Green Good Stuff For University of Chicago students, this juice is already preferable to others on this list because it can be bought in Reynolds Club with Maroon Dollars when you’re in a rush to get to class. Green Good Stuff has a small and relatively clean ingredient list, with apple, cucumber, spinach, celery, and lime, although there is a large imbalance between vegetables and fruits. Because of this, Green Good Stuff has a startling 33 grams of natural sugar, which is 5 grams more sugar than the Naked Juice which landed at the bottom of the list because of its sugar content. So

why does this juice make it to third place? Because of the convenience of this juice (located in Reynolds Club), its fair price of $6.49, and its transparent ingredient list, this juice outshines Naked’s offering and scores a 7/10.

2nd Place: Bonne Sante Health Foods Get it Green juice If I had the time in my schedule to go to Bonne Sante Health Foods on 53rd Street every single afternoon to procure this juice, I would. The ingredients include kale, apple, cucumber, celery, parsley, lemon, spinach, and ginger, and the juice is offered in two sizes, though you may as well go with the larger 16-ounce bottle to save trips to the store. The ingredient list has a healthy balance between vegetables and fruits, and I

especially love to see that both kale and spinach are included. Before tax, the 16-ounce bottle costs $11, which is certainly not a good deal compared to the Mighty Green Smoothie. However, the fact that the former is a pressed juice and the latter a smoothie explains much of the cost difference. To sum it up, I place this juice near the top of the list at 8/10 because it has the most robust ingredient list, comes in a good portion, and is competitively priced amongst similar pressed juices of the same size.

1st Place: Joe & The Juice Green Tonic This juice easily wins first place. Though it’s true that most Joe & The Juice locations are in the Loop and therefore terribly in-

convenient for UChicago students to buy, the offerings contain really short ingredient lists (between three and ten ingredients) and are reasonably priced between $5-$12. The location I frequent is located at 980 Michigan Avenue at the end of the Magnificent Mile, and my drink of choice is a menu item only offered at certain locations known as the Green Tonic. The Green Tonic consists of kale, celery, and cucumber, and this juice ranks the highest out of all those reviewed because it has two vegetable ingredients and only one fruit--and a particularly healthy one at that. It should be said, however, that the flavor of the juice accurately reflects the ingredient makeup, so if you value the sweetness of your green

juices, this will probably not be a good option for you. Considering the price and ingredient list, the Green Tonic is the clear winner, and is accordingly ranked a 9/10.

None of the juices on this list ultimately received a 10/10 because all of them are packaged in single-use plastic. My local juicery in New Jersey uses glass mason jars and takes a dollar off the price of a juice purchase for every glass bottle a customer returns. Considering that sustainability, specifically the ubiquity of single-use plastics, is a major issue here, the failure of these juices to be green in this sense of the word means no 10s were given today.

VIEWPOINTS Dining Out On a Budget

By THE MAROON EDITORIAL BOARD Lee Harris, Editor-in-Chief Elaine Chen, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Deepti Sailappan, Managing Editor Peng-Peng Liu, Chief Production Officer The Maroon Editorial Board consists of the editors-in-chief and editors of The Maroon.

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At its best, eating out is both a bonding experience and a way to make a home in Chicago. Tortas from Pilsen, grape leaves from Greektown, and banh mi from West Argyle are some of the best introductions to this vast, vibrant city.

In practice, though, restaurant meals can easily strain a student budget. While initiatives like the Saturday Night Meal Swipe Program are a welcome addition to campus—before the program, which began in 2017, students on a meal plan typically *had* to pay for Saturday dinner—dining out affordably remains a challenge.

This is particularly true because of UChicago’s high socioeconomic stratification: Students’ disposable income varies widely.

Student Government (SG)

maintains a list of Hyde Park restaurants where they’ve secured discounts for students, in partnership with the University.

The list is woefully under-publicized—so make sure to bookmark it and share with friends. If you’re a student in College Housing, you might suggest house trips to a restaurant listed here, or to an affordable place elsewhere in the city.

SG’s website says they’re always seeking student input on new restaurants to add to the list. We’d encourage them to make deals more widely known (on social media, perhaps), and to ask restaurants to advertise discounts onsite.

Below are some resources for discounted meals out. Happy eating!

Student Government Local Business Discounts B’Gabs Scratch Kitchen—10

percent discount Healthy vegan and gluten-free foods; 1450 East 57th Street Café 53—10 percent discount, Monday through Thursday Sandwiches, coffee, desserts, vegan options, halal menu; 1369 East 53rd Street Cedars Mediterranean Kitchen—10 percent discount Middle Eastern; 1206 East 53rd Street Dollop Coffee—10 percent discount on all prepared drinks Coffee, pastries, sandwiches; 5500A South University avenue Hyde Park Produce—10 percent discount on the first Thursday of every month Grocery store; 1226 East 53rd Street Native Foods—10 percent discount Vegan; 1518 East Harper Court Noodles Etc.—10 percent dis CONTINUED ON PG. 13

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count Pan-Asian; 1333 East 57th Street Pockets Hyde Park & Kingoberry Frozen Yogurt—10 percent discount Sandwiches, salads, pizza, frozen yogurt; 1307 East 53rd Street Porkchop—20 percent dis-

count when dining in Barbecue; 1516 East Harper Court Rajun Cajun—10 percent discount Indian, soul; 1459 East 53rd Street Roti—10 percent discount Mediterranean; 1526 East 53rd Street

The Sit Down Café & Sushi—20 percent discount Japanese; 1312 East 53rd Street Chicago Restaurant Week If you’re cash-strapped but itching to sample Chicago’s more upscale eats, Restaurant Week might be for you. From January 24 to February 9, 2020, enjoy

lower-priced prix fixe—multicourse—menus at over 400 participating restaurants across Chicago. During Restaurant Week, brunch or lunch at a participating restaurant is $24; dinner is $36 or $48. This year’s participating restaurants will be announced on December 10.

In 2019, restaurants offering

Restaurant Week menus included Boka in Lincoln Park, which serves inventively prepared seafood, meat, and cocktails; Portsmith in River North, a seafood eatery inspired by the East Coast; and Ukrainian Village’s Split-Rail, whose seasonally based offerings followed a Queer Eye theme for the week.

Battle of the Food Trucks While a variety of food trucks come to campus during lunch hours, it’s hard to know which offer the best eats

By HENRY MOJICA As a first-year, I bought lunch from the food trucks that visit Ellis and University quite a few times. All of the upperclassmen had their own opinions on which food truck is best, but I found that no one had ever made a list of all the options or could give recommendations for more than one or two trucks. Now as a fourth-year, I have made the list I wished I had access to when I first came to campus. These rankings are based solely on the taste of my favorite dish at each truck. The price of a dish as well as any other dishes that the food truck offers are NOT taken into account when deciding where to place a truck in the power rankings. I have, however, included a rough pricing of each dish so you have some idea of what you’re in for. Note that I have not tried every food truck that has visited UChicago, so these rankings cover only the 24 trucks that I have tried. Finally, my opinions heavily favor meat dishes, so please keep that in mind if you are vegetarian or vegan. $ = <$8 $$ = $8–$12 $$$ = >$12 24. La Boulangerie – Wisconsin $ La Boulangerie is a French food truck specializing in pastries and sandwiches. One of the employees here recommended

that I get any of their sandwich options. I went for the Wisconsin sandwich since it seemed to have interesting filling options such as apple butter, but unfortunately, La Boulangerie shortchanges you severely on these. It’s hard to judge a sandwich that feels like it’s 80 percent bread. v 23. Caponies Express – Panzerotti (basically a calzone) $ VCaponies is an Italian food truck that serves Italian comfort food. Overall, it was disappointing. I tried both the deep dish mini pizza and the panzerotti, which is composed of mozzarella, tomato sauce, and pepperoni wrapped in deep fried pizza dough. Both dishes tasted like frozen Italian food one might buy at a grocery store.

You can get better Italian food in multiple spots in Hyde Park. I would go to Nella, Pizza Capri, or Leona’s before this truck if I were really craving Italian food. If price did factor into rankings, this truck might place a bit higher as it is very inexpensive.

22. Boss Barbeque – Rib Tips $$ Boss Barbeque serves classic BBQ dishes. I’ve had both the pulled pork sandwich and the rib tips plate. Rib tips are chopped cubes made out of the remaining meat when cutting whole spare pork ribs down into St. Louis cut ribs. Both the rib tips and

the pulled pork sandwich were “watery,” which occurs when a failure to seal in the moisture of the meat results in a diluted taste of the meat and the sauce. I love BBQ, but the juiciness of the meat as well as the flavor of the sauce both left a lot to be desired. I’ll admit I’m a tough judge of BBQ since I’ve lived in Kansas City for most of my life and have tried excellent BBQ spots in other major barbeque cities in the U.S., but I could not bring myself to rank this truck any higher.

21. Pierogi Wagon – Beef Pierogi (add sour cream + bacon) $ There are some die-hard fans of the Pierogi wagon on campus and honestly, it’s not for me. I’ve had both the beef and spinach/ cheese pierogies and they were just okay. A pierogi is a Polish dish made by wrapping unleavened dough around different ingredients and then boiling and pan-frying the Polish dumpling.

The pierogi at this truck are a bit on the bland side, and nothing really stands out about them. The sour cream and bacon sides definitely help, but not enough to raise it out of the 20s.

20. Haute and Ready – Buffalo Chicken Sandwich $$ Haute and Ready is a sandwich-based food truck that frequently comes to campus, but is inferior to Fat Shallot in taste, tex-

ture, and portion size. The Buffalo Chicken Sandwich is the best option here, and it comes with grilled chicken, bleu cheese (I prefer it without), cheddar cheese, and a bed of lettuce and tomato. A fine sandwich, but again, it lives in the giant shadow cast by Fat Shallot’s Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. The latter features fried chicken, a superior bun, delicious aioli, and a far more unique and flavorful buffalo sauce. Haute and Ready would have placed higher if it were not significantly outclassed.

19. Beaver’s Donuts – Small (9) batch of donuts $ Beaver’s Donuts sells donut holes in packs of four, nine, 15, and 35. They have many different toppings ranging from traditional options like chocolate and powdered sugar, to more unique choices like pistachio and cannoli filling. I have a difficult time recommending a topping as personal preference is so varied with such a wide selection, but I tried a s’mores topping that was pretty tasty.

The reason this truck is ranked so low is due to the actual donut holes having a lackluster texture and flavor, which is a problem for donut holes in general when compared to regular donuts. The donut holes also quickly become cold, especially in typical Chicago weather, but that might be my fault for not eating them within

a minute of getting them. This is another truck I plan to try one or two more times to see if I should bump it up in the ratings based on different toppings.

18. Cajun Connoisseur – Lobster Mac $$$ The Cajun Connoisseur is a seafood food truck. One of their employees recommended that I go for the Lobster Mac n Cheese.

The lobster was solid, but the mac n cheese left quite a bit to be desired. The cheese did not have much flavor and the noodles had a texture that was slightly off of what I expected. This truck is on the more expensive side, so I haven’t gone back in a while. I’ll give another dish a try in the future.

17. Mina’s – Chorizo Burrito $ Mina’s is the first of the Mexican food trucks to appear on this list. It’s inexpensive, fast, and tasty, but it doesn’t have anything on its menu that sets it apart and puts it above the other Mexican food trucks. The chorizo is my favorite meat here.

16. Da Pizza Dude – Pepperoni Pizza $$ Da Pizza Dude serves solid pizzas at a reasonable price. It’s good and I love pizza, but the pizza just isn’t special enough to rank higher. To be a bit more specific, the crust was a bit plain, and even though the sauce and cheese were continued on pg. 14

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good, they were nothing to write home about. The pizzas are Neapolitan style, but they lack the extremely noticeable fresh taste of each ingredient that makes this style so beloved. They have a few more adventurous pizzas, like one with arugula and prosciutto, but I liked their classic pepperoni the best.

15. Aztec Dave’s – Aztec Burrito $$ Aztec Dave’s is a Mexican food truck specializing in tacos and burritos. I know Aztec Dave’s is a favorite of many students, so before you hate me for placing it at No. 15, hear me out. I like Aztec Dave’s a lot, and the Aztec Burrito is a full meal coming with two meats, beans, cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and sour cream.

If La Patrona and Flying Tacos weren’t on this list then it would probably place higher. As it stands, I just believe there are better options for Mexican food.

14. Dönermen – Currywurst Box $$ Dönermen specialVizes in German street food. The currywurst box consists of pork sausage, fries, and sauce in a box; what’s not to love? Admittedly, I do feel sluggish the entire rest of the day after eating this heavy dish.

13. La Cocinita – Pork Arepas $$ This is a Latin food truck specializing in Venezuelan dishes, including arepas. For those not familiar with arepas, they’re disks made out of cornmeal that are either stuffed or topped with meats, cheeses, and vegetables.

I grew up with my dad making me fresh arepas from mix my grandma sent from Colombia, so my high expectations probably played a large role in keeping this tVruck out of the top ten. The pork arepas were still delicious though, and if you have not had arepas you should give La Cocinita a try.

12. Izakaya Yume – Yumerrito

$$$ Izakaya Yume serves sushi and “sushirritos” which are essentially sushi burritos, for those not familiar with this fun fusion food.

The Yumerrito comes with spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, cucumber, avocado, and green onions. It’s a bit pricey, but that doesn’t play into the rankings. While Izakaya Yume doesn’t crack the top 10, that’s because other options are a bit better, not because I have any complaints about the dish.

11. Yum Dum – Korean Chicken Baowich $$ Yum Dum is an Asian fusion food truck that specializes in dumplings and bao sandwiches.

All of the “Baowiches” are great and have a fantastic, pillowy texture, but the Korean Chicken filling is definitely my favorite.

Strangely, the kimchi/cheese/rice balls are what made this truck famous, but I wasn’t as impressed as I expected to be. The flavors of these “Kimcheesy rice balls” were muted rather than being the explosion of flavor I hoped for.

10. Lucy’s – Spicy Chicken Sandwich $$ Lucy’s is an American food truck that specializes in burgers, chicken sandwiches, and mac n cheese. While some will swear by the mac n cheese with beef brisket, I recommend the spicy chicken sandwich. This sandwich is enormous, and comes with three pieces of spicy fried chicken inside. Lucy’s would be higher if they used some kind of extra sauce on the chicken sandwich though, as it’s just a bit plain.

If you BYOSauce (like some honey mustard) you can definitely bump this truck up a few spots.

9. Mediterranean Express – Chicken Shawarma + Cajun fries $$ Mediterranean Express is a food truck that serves classic Mediterranean late-night food.

All of the main entrees are good, but the fries are incredible. I’m not sure what exactly is in the sauce or

seasoning, but I know it’s kind of sweet, salty, and has a tiny bit of heat. The fries are the reason to hit up this food truck, and they’re even better when eaten together with the chicken shawarma.

8. Flying Tacos – Plantain Taco $$ Flying tacos allows you to mix and match different kinds of tacos. The reason this food truck cracked the top 10 is absolutely the plantain taco. The main ingredient in these tacos is maduros (fried sweet plantains) topped with cinnamon, and the taco itself is sweet, savory, and delicious.

Good maduros are not readily available in Hyde Park, and if you have not tried fried sweet plantains, then this is a convenient way to do so. Their menu changes often, though, so if the plantain option is not there, you can bump this food truck down a few spots.

7. Shrimp Shack – Jumbo Seasoned Shrimp $$ Shrimp shack serves shrimp in a whole bunch of different ways. I was not sure what to expect from a seafood food truck so far from any ocean, but I was incredibly impressed by some SERIOUSLY flavorful fried shrimp. Probably the most underrated food truck on campus.

6. Lunchbox – Beefy Korean BBQ Rice Box + Egg $$ Lunchbox is a Vietnamese food truck that serves each of their dishes as either a banh mi sandwich, tacos, or a rice box. While all three forms are delicious, I really love the rice box option. The Beefy Korean BBQ includes pickled daikon and carrots, cucumbers, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeños and comes with a slightly spicy garlic mayo and sweet house sauce. The Viet contains delicious grilled pork, but I slightly prefeVr the Korean BBQ beef. No matter what, top your dish with an egg, it’s so worth it.

5. Fat Shallot – Buffalo Chicken Sandwich $$ Fat Shallot is the king of the

JESSICA XIA sandwich food trucks that roam UChicago. Their buffalo chicken sandwich is absolutely incredible. This sandwich uses fried chicken, blue cheese aioli, shaved celery, and a buffalo sauce that is perfectly tangy and spicy. The brioche bun that the buffalo chicken sandwich comes on compliments the ingredients well and has a nice texture. As a personal touch, I replace the bleu cheese aioli with truffle aioli and it kicks the sandwich up another notch.

4. Bruges Brothers – Croque Madame $$ Bruges Brothers specializes in thick cut frites (fries) served in a paper cone, and on cold days there is absolutely nothing that hits the spot like this. While all of the original cones are incredible, the Croque Madame is the clear winner for me. With ham, a swiss cheese fondue, hollandaise sauce, and a sunny side up egg, trying this dish is a must.

3. La Patrona – Al Pastor Burrito $ La Patrona is a Mexican food truck that serves tacos, tortas, and burritos. All of the meat is incredible, but the Pastor is perfectly tender and has a delicious slightly sweet and slightly smoky taste.

The burritos and tacos are so good that they made me knock all of the other Mexican food trucks down a few spots. With a burrito for only

$7, this truck offers one of the best deals, too.

2. Bob Cha – Pork Belly Burrito $$ Bob Cha is a Korean-Mexican fusion food truck that will always have a long line of students from the medical school. The Pork Belly Burrito is my personal favorite, but a close second is the Spicy Pork Bowl. The rice, egg, and veggies are all delicious, but the meat is the real star here no matter what option you try.

1. Cheesies – Tenderizer $$ The one true king of UChicago food trucks, Cheesies serves— you guessed it—grilled cheese sandwiches. The Tenderizer has two kinds of cheese, fried chicken tenders, bacon, and Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce on Texas toast with ranch dipping sauce. While it’s probably the least healthy dish on this whole list,  it tastes absolutely incredible. The slightly crispy, buttery Texas toast contrasts with the melted cheese for a great texture. The chicken tenders, bacon, barbeque saucve, and ranch flavors hit all at once for a flavor that meets every human need as far as I’m concerned.

Cheesies usually will only come to campus on Fridays, but that makes getting the “Cheesies on Ellis” text that much more special.

the chicago maroon —OCTOBER 23, 2019

15

Interpreting the Nuances of Nutrition Reading the fine print on our foods is much more important for our health than we think.

By Soham Mall As an Indian who avoids red meat, I’ve heard my fair share of corny, slightly offensive meat-related jokes. Commonly, “Don’t Indians worship cows?” on the lower end of this spectrum, “Ironic that your name is So-ham but you can’t even eat it,” and, in adorably Christocentric fashion, “Won’t you go to hell now?” said after I ate pork fried rice.

However, I can’t deny that in the same vein, I’ve shot back my fair share of retorts about their flirtations with heart disease.

Today, my sordid comebacks seem to have lost their weight.

A recent study by the Annals of Internal Medicine claimed that there is not enough evidence to advise the public to reduce red meat consumption. Resisting the urge to chalk this finding up to the deep pockets of the meat industry—which I envision as suit-clad executives who introduce themselves as either Medium Rare or Well Done—I reconsidered my dietary decisions. With contentious new findings in nutritional science, disparate dietary guidelines, ethical and environmental considerations, and the busy-

ness of being a UChicago student, eating healthily and responsibly is harder than ever.

Contradictory findings in nutritional science make it increasingly difficult to define a healthy diet. The red meat study didn’t conclude that we should eat more red meat, or that it was at all healthy to do so. It exposed the failings of previous studies stigmatizing red meat, citing a low certainty of evidence. Some see this as a positive development for nutritional science, suggesting that changing guidelines ensures that the field progressively improves itself. Since science has never been monolithic, this is an oversimplification.

New research is not necessarily authoritative or progressive, especially as past debates are repeatedly resurrected without definitive resolution. That said, challenging the standards of research and publishing is a positive step forward for nutritional science.

But while the finding may refine methods of nutritional science, it doesn’t necessarily do the same for public health.

Standing in the supermarket after a day of four lectures, I don’t have the time or willpow-

er to be a skeptical nutritionist.

My idealistic side wishes for food labels that read GOOD or BAD so I don’t have to participate in the diabetes roulette, which my family is notoriously poor at. These already exist, such as the “well-being meters” in the dining halls, but obviously provide only a facile gauge of nutritional value.

One thing that has been helpful—and I encourage UChicago students to do the same as me—has been visiting UChicago Dining’s nutrition page, a simple, efficient step that may go a long way in building a healthier diet. You can view weekly menus complete with information regarding ingredients, nutritional values, and sourcing. And if you get your groceries from Whole Foods, Hyde Park Produce, Jewel Osco, or Target, you can find nutritional information on the packaging or by enquiring with the store. Still, this nutritional information does not explicitly resolve the looming issue: what foods we should probably eschew due to negative health effects.

Changing the way food is labeled can go a long way in improving consumer informa-

tion—but we must actually read the labels, even as busy, hungry college students. The FDA published new rules for the Nutrition Facts label in 2016, including bolder type and updated serving sizes. Studies have found a correlation between reading nutrition labels and a healthy diet, but some suspect this could go both ways: People with healthier diets might be more likely to read nutrition labels in the first place.

In any case, it will benefit any time-strapped college student (whose diet directly impacts the energy needed to be a successful student) immensely to spend even 15 minutes looking up FDA or WHO guidelines, as the daily values on food labels are certainly not one-size-fitsall. For those rethinking their eating habits more seriously, UChicago also has an on-site, yet woefully under-consulted dietician (dining-dietitian@ uchicago.edu) who can help interpret this information.

The ethical and environmental implications of our diets are equally important.

Considering the environmental costs of meat production and terrible living conditions for livestock, the justifications

for going vegetarian or vegan makes “What shouldn’t I eat?” much easier to answer than its opposite.

While I’m not suggesting that we should all become vegans and eat only what we grow ourselves on our personal, ethical, emission-free farmlands, it’s undoubtedly more difficult to eat ethically and responsibly today than it has ever been, especially on a UChicago student’s schedule.

While it is easy to complain, I can’t help but laud the scientific progress and dissemination of knowledge that allows us to live more informed and healthy lives. As students accustomed to close reading, we have every capability—and necessity—to take a deeper look into what we eat, where it comes from, and how it affects our health. Reading the fine print on labels may seem like an ineffectual action, but it’s a start towards healthier living, and more important to our college careers than we often believe.

“There’s clearly something to be said for the convenience of the dining halls” continued from pg. 16

offer a quick way to get protein and carbohydrate before a workout, practice, or game.”

The dining halls allow athletes to eat as much as they want, and offer access to many fruits, vegetables, and other necessary foods. However, UChicago Student-Athletes who live off campus face dif-

ferent challenges than those who live in the dorms and/or on a meal plan. According to Uhler, there are pros and cons to not having access to the dining halls.

Pro: Control over what you eat “It’s great to be able to cook what I want; the freedom allows me to tailor my diet to exactly

what I’m looking for, and this is especially important during my season.”

Con: Inconvenience “There’s clearly something to be said for the convenience of the dining halls; if I want to, I can be in and out of the dining hall in 15 minutes and have eaten a full meal.”

A widely-accepted opinion about the University of Chicago is that its students consistently set themselves up for greatness in the classroom, whether that be studying for long hours in the Reg, attending office hours, and so on. Student-athletes at UChicago not only aim for success in the classroom, but they strive for success in their re-

spective sports, clearly demonstrated in the performances of the Fall athletic teams this year with impressive rankings within NCAA Division III. Most agree, though, that the first step on that path towards greatness starts with a healthy meal.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — OCTOBER 23, 2019

16

SPORTS The (Food) Diaries of a College Student-Athlete

By ALI SHEEHY Sports Reporter

At the University of Chicago, students have a variety of food options to choose from, on and off campus. From the three dining halls to numerous cafés, not to mention the food trucks and, of course, the many restaurants on 53rd Street, there is no limit to what one can get to eat around campus. For collegiate student-athletes, though, planning and

choosing meals must be a more conscious and careful decision as there are some important steps and challenges to be addressed.

First, nutrition plays an important role in one’s athletic performance. As Brian Uhler, a third-year on the UChicago football team explained, “Dieting well is huge for health and for having energy for practice and competitions.

There’s a very noticeable difference in my energy level and performance when

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I am unable to eat as well or as much as I can.” Due to the impact of healthy eating habits, athletes try to include foods with greater nutritional value in their diets. Second-year women’s basketball team member Alina Brennan tries to maximize nutrition with each meal. “I focus on balancing my diet to make it as healthy as I can. I always try to add as many fruits, vegetables, carbohydrates, and sources of protein to my meals as I can.”

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While in-season, the demands of workouts cause athletes to adjust their meals and portions. For example, many athletes find the need to eat more considering the number of calories they burn each day during intense practices and competition. Several student-athletes, such as Uhler and Brennan, accomplish this by supplementing their meals with protein shakes and smoothies. According to Brennan, “Smoothies CONTINUED ON PG. 15

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