Food Q&A: Surviving lunch at McGill Finding affordable bites around campus amid rising food prices

Harry North Staff Writer

Campus food. It’s what everyone’s talking about.

High prices, insufficient options, and food quality to rival the mouldy scraps in the back of your freezer. I dread to think what Gordon Ramsay would do if he ever got the McGill Food and Dining Services team by the collar, but I can’t lie, I’d be jolly pleased if he did.

The campaigns are coming in fast now. Let’s Eat McGill’s community assemblies and student protests are leading the charge to shed light on the food insecurity crisis at McGill. But despite students’ best efforts so far, the university is working at a snail’s pace. Campus food accessibility and quality have not improved. So, since they’re uninterested in addressing this problem sufficiently and quickly, we have a pressing issue: What’s for lunch?

Here are some affordable options to get you through the day.

Super Savings ($0-3)

Midnight Kitchen

Midnight Kitchen, a nonprofit volunteer collective, is back and on a mission to increase the accessibility of campus food. Operating out of the second floor of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) building, the student-funded service provides free vegan meals.

And look, I’ve had my fair share of bad vegan food; most are not worth a side eye, but hand on heart, Midnight Kitchen is worth your time. Free, simple, sustainable food that fills you up—take notes, McGill.

It’s only operating two or three times a month at the moment, as it’s underfunded, but when it is serving, be sure to get there well before 1:00 p.m. because the line will snake fast.

Homemade sandwiches with ingredients from local grocery stores

Sometimes nothing beats a homemade sandwich. It’s also a smart idea when it comes to lunchtime savings, and when it comes to price, it’s a hard sell to beat Segal’s on St. Laurent for consistent cost savings.

My advice? Keep it simple. Stick with sandwiches or salads, and let the creative juices flow for dinner. Grilled ham and cheese or a Caesar salad play well for the school day. For me, I like to take

What is good sex to you?

inspiration from Marco Pierre White: Sourdough, shallots, anchovies, butter, parsley, and dish-dash-dosh, sorted. You can also mix and match your ingredients with other independent stores. Fruiterie du Plateau, for example, in the Plateau offers cheap, fresh fruit.

Lunch on the go ($4-6)

Super Sandwich

It’s one of our own, as we say. I’ve heard some talk recently that McGill should buy it or allow it to move on-campus. Don’t forget that it’s so super because McGill has precisely nothing to do with it. That and the fresh sandwiches— made in front of you faster than your eyes can blink, and for prices that don’t make you rethink.

Tim Hortons

Tim Hortons on Sherbrooke troubles me. Not in terms of price, quality, or anything in between, but the waiting in the 20-minute desolate line. I find myself fading in and out of reality, lost. Thankfully, Tim’s $4.99 roast beef and crispy onion and $5.99 BLT brings me back to reality. And, as it’s just across from campus, it’s a great lunch on the go.

Nearby deals

Metro hot food counter deals

It might seem counterintuitive to say that McGill students should support Metro, which is perhaps one of the main culprits of the latest food price spikes, but their hot food counter on Parc has some great deals, from a $5.29 chicken leg meal on Monday to $4.99 poutine on Thursdays. Portion sizes are also not for the faint of heart, either.

Sansalizza

Another deal to consider is up Parc Ave: Sansazzlia’s special of the day––a different nine-inch pizza

Professor Catherine Roach discusses changing norms around equitable sex

Lillian Borger Contributor

When it was announced that a twotime Fulbright-winning HarvardPhD professor from the University of Alabama was coming to speak at McGill about her new book, most students probably weren’t expecting it to be titled //Good Sex//.

But when professor of gender and cultural studies Catherine Roach visited McGill on March 14 to speak on a panel about the book, she was greeted with a room of very interested students and faculty.

“Good sex is good as in ethical, and good as in pleasurable,” Roach said to open up the discussion.

Her book, which she actually finished writing while on a fellowship here, covers five “manisextos” for how to change the norms around sex as part of the new gender and sexual revolution, including positive sexuality, equity and inclusion, body positivity, consent, and mutual pleasure.

The panel featured three students from McGill’s Gender, Sexuality, Feminist, and Social Justice (GSFS) program—Ashna Naidoo (U2), Céleste Pépin (U2), and Juliet Morrison* (U2)—who each shared their views of the book.

Naidoo discussed the hookup culture on campus and how gender norms not only create a double standard but make sex positivity impossible for all students.

“Women who partake in [hookup culture] are seen as promiscuous, [...] men as commendable or honourable,” Naidoo said.

She also expanded on the challenges that racialized individuals face in partaking in sex positivity under Eurocentric beauty standards.

“The binary convention of what it means to be conventionally attractive in [a] university of tall, skinny, and white [...] perpetuates exoticism for anyone existing outside of this,” Naidoo explained.

Roach’s book covers many of the risks bad sex entails. “As we screw around, sex can screw us up,” she writes.

For panellist Pépin, one of these risk factors is many individuals’ lack of selfawareness and inability to question their intimate preferences.

“We also need to stop for a second and think about what our fantasies might mean to us [...] I’m submissive, I’m dominant, but why do you feel like that?” Pépin said.

According to Roach, so much of sex is based on gendered scripts that circulate and embed patriarchy through pornography and social media. These norms also factor into conversations surrounding consent.

“Full consent [arises] out of egalitarian gender norms,” Roach said.

According to all three panellists, the book’s accessibility makes it all the more enjoyable. Roach collected various images, sidebars, and quotes from students at the University of Alabama, making the academic content much more legible.

During the panel, Roach and the students discussed the newly re-released McGill “It Takes All of Us” training module. The attending students also had a lot to say on the matter.

“We can have these great conversations as students here at McGill, but is the administration actually going to take it into account?” said audience member Gabriela Toharia, U1 Arts.

This comes after multiple student groups, including Sex and Self and the Union for Gender Empowerment, expressed their disappointment in a lack of consultation in the program’s redevelopment, with many questioning how a module for improving the norms around sex can be successful without first consulting with students about what those norms are.

In addition to frustration towards the state of sexual health and safety on campus, there was also a resounding hopefulness in the room, with students and staff wanting to improve both the quantity and quality of sexual education opportunities at McGill.

“What are ways in which we can push for more of this education? We need accessibility to those courses and to that education,” said Dominique Magleo, U1 Arts.

“We need to make education so much more fun and accessible, like this book!” said Pépin, adding that “the sexual and gender revolution is for everyone.” every day for $6.90. Sansalizza is opposite New Residence, but don’t fret about running into first years— they only go at midnight when they’re listening to Drake, high as a kite.

A short stroll away

Café Aunja

I’ve mentioned this before in a café recommendations article, but it’s still worth bringing up: An Iranian café-lunch spot on Sherbrooke, a few steps down from street level, offering a range of sandwiches and brunch bites, as well as coffee and herbal tea.

Roach seemed impressed with students’ passion and engagement. She hopes that this book will create conversation about these important topics, and lead them in a positive direction.

“Sex should do good, and feel good.”

If you’re looking to learn about what’s going on with your sex life, have a read of Roach’s new book, Good Sex, on sale at Le Paragraphe, or online.

*Morrison is currently a News Editor at The McGillTribune and was not involved in the publication of this article.

Mapping out your career path How to plan for graduation in the COVID era

Margo Berthier Staff Writer

My university experience has not been the conventional one.

I entered McGill as a first-year student in the fall of 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Classes were online, and I felt disconnected from my fellow student community. Making matters worse, I could not come to Montreal during my first semester, which made me feel all the more distant from student life. Having spent my first two years of university behind a computer screen in my bedroom, at a café, or in a public library, I missed out on so much. Not only was I unable to meet people and make friends at school, I also didn’t have the opportunity to benefit from McGill clubs and events. Like many others, I felt robbed of my university years, which everyone told me would be the best of my life.

When I look back at it, although my younger self was sad that she couldn’t attend all those fun university events, I now realize there was much more to McGill than just making friends and partying. I wasn’t just missing out on the fun: I was also missing out on the relationships, the in-person learning opportunities, the networking, and the chit-chatting with professors in the hallways. These experiences would have helped me build my career path, find exciting opportunities, and grow personally and professionally. I am now in my third year and graduation is looming. This lack of connection to my school and its prestigious community has slowed me down in my pursuit of a career.

Graduating is scary. You are thrown into the real world, and cast into a sea of opportunities. This puts a lot of McGillians, especially “COVID-students,” under a significant amount of pressure toward the end of their degrees as they try to plan their careers in an in-person world that Zoom school did not prepare them for.

The stress of graduating

The McGill community is extremely competitive. McGill is indeed a highly-ranked, global institution where students are concerned with their academic performance. I’m sure you can relate to watching students discussing and judging each other’s successes and achievements, leaving others (and maybe yourself) feeling inadequate.

Michelle Maillet, an undergraduate program advisor in McGill’s geography department, has come across a number of students who feel distressed because of constant comparison with other students.

“Some people go to their advisors to talk about their insecurities, claiming they don’t know what to do once they graduate,” Maillet said. “These are common discussions that students have behind closed doors with their advisors. But between themselves, they don’t share this concern, for fear of being judged.”

Students must understand that one “correct” career timeline just does not exist. Just because someone else sounds like they have their whole life planned doesn’t mean that you’re falling behind. While some people are natural planners who meticulously calculate every step of their careers, others prefer to go with the flow. It’s important to strike a balance between planning and being adaptable.

Graduate applications, job hunting, and looking for internships are arduous and time-consuming tasks. As these processes often take place during the final year before graduation, which for some, is the most difficult year in their degree, McGillians feel increasingly overwhelmed.

Mira Almrstani, U3 Arts, has had a lot on her plate, particularly with the stress of her looming graduation.

“Honestly, trying to juggle workload with internship or job applications has been difficult, especially being in such a fast-paced, high-demand environment,” Almrstani said. “Trying to find the right step, narrowing down what I want to do with my life after my undergrad, and trying to find something within my skill set and experience has made me feel overwhelmed and stressed.”

A competitive environment, a devastating COVID pandemic, and difficulty juggling tasks are some of the biggest concerns among students on the verge of graduating. However, this stress can make students forget that it’s alright not to have their whole life figured out. What matters is making the most of your experience and developing as a person.

What to do with an Arts degree

In life, you never stop learning. You will continuously have new experiences and develop in both your career and your personal life. A lot of students are fixated on jobs that they feel their degrees directly lead to, which can be daunting. This is especially the case for Bachelor of Arts students, who are unsure how to parlay their studies into a profession because a BA isn’t necessarily a professional designation degree.

“As an Arts student, you must see yourself as a jack-of-all-trades,” Maillet said. “You have qualities and some expertise in a variety of topics. You can navigate working with many different stakeholders and you’ve been taught to be a critical thinker. So it’s not just about the marketable skills. It’s about using your critical thinking skills and knowledge, and continuously developing them.”

Your experiences at McGill matter more than you think. What you do outside the classroom, whether it’s participating in newly-opened clubs and athletics, organizing events, or contributing to student associations (yes, even in your third year), are very valuable for your personal and professional growth. Through these experiences, you will discover more about yourself, learn transferable skills that you can’t learn in class, and take on tasks that will help guide you toward a career you’re interested in.

So don’t worry too much. Go with the flow, let one experience lead you to the next, and never overlook the value in seizing different learning opportunities in all their forms.

Benefitting from McGill services while you can

If you need help navigating your post-graduate options, you should also try using Career Planning Services (CaPS). CaPS at McGill is like your personal career GPS, guiding you to your dream job and helping you develop the skills and experience to take it on. With CaPS, you can explore different career options, get expert advice on job search strategies, and learn how to make your resume and cover letter stand out. They also provide interview preparation support to help you impress prospective employers.

In addition, CaPS offers exciting career workshops and events, employer information sessions, and networking opportunities to connect you with employers and industry professionals. Plus, you’ll have access to exclusive job postings and internships to jumpstart your career.

With the click of a button, you can find everything on their website. They are also very accessible, open every day from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and are always present on the second floor of the Brown Student Services Building.

Susan Elizabeth Alersh, associate director of CaPS at McGill, shared some of the benefits of this service in an interview with the //Tribune//.

“The goal of CaPS is to get students to start thinking about their careers as early on as they can,” Alersh says. “Whether at orientation or before students even come to McGill, they should be aware of these services to get exposure right away.”

So, as a McGill student, try benefiting from these services available to help you succeed!

Moving forward toward growth

Although my university experience has not been the one I imagined, I feel that I owe it to my younger “COVID-student” self to take advantage of everything I can on campus in my third year. Whether it’s using the McGill-offered career services, joining clubs and student associations, or even having conversations with professors during office hours, I constantly look for new opportunities to experience, learn, and grow. I’ve found this to be tremendously beneficial, allowing me to find internship opportunities and research assistant positions, and helping me figure out what career I potentially want to pursue. I truly believe that by adopting a similar mindset, others can enjoy experiences that bring them joy, light them up, and, who knows? Maybe eventually you’ll figure out what career path suits you the most, or at least, which step to take next.