the Independent Student Publication of the University at Buffalo, Since 1950
r The S pectrum ubspectrum.com
Volume 62 No. 44
Food issue, Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Can the basketball team cook? Story on page 12
Student baker starts business from her passion
Story on page 6
Confessions from behind the counter Students dish on what it’s like to work in food
UB professors dismiss “Food Desert” title
SARA DINATALE Senior News Editor
RACHEL RAIMONDI Asst. News Editor
Joseph Wojnowski, a sophomore history major, calls himself the reigning king of his local McDonald’s back drive-thru. With that title comes knowledge of fast food culture – including the frisky things that can happen in the backroom freezer. When two McDonald’s managers hooked up in the freezer, the end result was a McBun in the oven that broke up a marriage. “The guy manager was married, got [the female manager] pregnant from the freezer sex, broke up with his wife, and now they’re together but manage at different McDonald’s,” Wojnowski explained. He has a list of quirky bits of information and funny stories that have come from his three years working at McDonald’s – but he’s not alone. It’s universal for most students who have logged hours in the food industry to pay their way through college. Whether it is Dunkin’ Donuts, Panera Bread or a family operated deli – employees all have their own stories to share about what it’s really like to work in food. Irate costumers have hurled shoes at workers’ heads, people have taken their trip through the drive-thru as the ample time to start foreplay in the backseat and it only takes 45 seconds to cook a normal McDonald’s hamburger – 55 for a quarter pounder. For Wojnowski, the weirdest thing he’s heard of or seen wasn’t the woman who came in every day to steal the straws and napkins nor the individual who managed to smuggle the huge ketchup dispenser in the dining room out of the restaurant – it was the illegal immigrant found living in a storage shed. The man was sleeping in the shed by the dumpsters – among brooms and shovels – at Wojnowski’s store owner’s other McDonald’s location. Police were called to remove the man.
There are elementary school children in Buffalo who have never tried chickpeas. They don’t even know what zucchini is. In the inner city of Buffalo, sometimes dinner means getting snacks from the convenience store around the block. The media has dubbed Buffalo and other similar areas “Food Deserts,” communities with little or no access to fresh and affordable healthy foods. Instead, the inhabitants rely on fast food chains and bodegas. “I don’t like the term ‘Food Desert,’” said Samina Raja, associate professor of urban and regional planning. “It implies that something is broken or missing from the system. In Buffalo, this is not the case. There are many successful local farms and consumers who want and need healthy food. However, there is a gap in the system.” Affordability of food, cultural preferences and geographical proximity are factors that have contributed to the “Food Desert” label. But there are several dimensions of the term, according to Sara Metcalf, assistant professor of geography. For urbanites, the lack of supermarkets in their area affects their eating habits significantly. And going to Wegmans and Tops may be difficult for someone who would have to take a bus to the suburbs after a full workday. The easy solution to hunger becomes a 99-cent bag of Cheetos from the corner store, Raja said. She said these snacks are cheap on the person’s wallet but costly to the local economy and his or her future health. “By undercutting the local farmer, consumers are taking away a dollar from the local economy and then, in turn, are making sure their own wages never rise because Buffalo sinks together as a whole,” she said. Continued on page 9
Art by Jeanette Chwan
Wojnowski shook his head and laughed, “It was the weirdest thing ever.” Jessica LaPiano, a sophomore pharmacology major, spent the summer before her freshman year of college pouring coffee at a local Dunkin’ Donuts. LaPiano quit after six months of struggling with what she described as poor and messy management – specifically her store manager. “My manager was a nightmare to say the least,” LaPiano said. “She was just a gross person. You could smell her when she came in … [the staff] questioned whether or not she showered.” When the manager wasn’t using the sinks in the bathroom to wash her hair, she was sleeping in a lounge – during store hours – designated for customers, LaPiano said. LaPiano cited the poor management as why she quit but laughed recounting her most shocking encounter while working the drivethru. Around 9:30 p.m., shortly before close, her headset beeped and she took a seemingly normal order of a medium coffee from a young woman.
“But when they pulled around and I went to get her card from her, in her backseat there was a couple making out, and [they] literally just started taking each other’s clothes off,” LaPiano said. “They were just going at it, completely oblivious, coming through the drive-thru, ordering a coffee.” LaPiano was amazed the couple couldn’t contain themselves while the driver, who was ignoring what was going on behind her, came through to get her order. But what really sticks with LaPiano from her days at Dunkin’ Donuts is her feelings about its food. She found a few-month-old egg patty when cleaning up a food station – its appearance alarmed her. She noticed the color hadn’t changed; it was slightly shriveled up, but no mold had grown on it. Put off by the amount of preservatives that she feels must be in all the products, LaPiano – now a happy employee of a local Panera Bread – vowed to never eat anything from Dunkin’ Donuts again. Wojnowski, however, could not live without his McDoubles and fries. Continued on page 10
Comida para la alma: Food for the soul UB student Santana finds niche cooking for Buffalo’s Latino community ELVA AGUILAR Senior Arts Editor On any given day, a group of young Latinos can be seen walking down Lisbon or Minnesota Avenue. It would be easy to assume they’re on their way to cause trouble. The laughing, joking and anxiousness surrounding them can be easily mistaken as a recipe for disaster, when in fact, the group is only on its way to get a taste of home. Another dinner by Felix Santana, the people’s chef. Santana, a senior international business major, attends UB with a full course load, but off campus, he’s recognized as one of the best cooks by his friends – and even some strangers. Santana currently caters small, private events for friends and family for free but hopes to expand his horizons by opening a food truck in Buffalo and, eventually, his own restaurant. “I feel like the kitchen is my office; it’s work,” Santana said. “I can see myself doing this for 80 hours a week and not complain. My back [will] kill me, I’ll feel pain, but it’s all mental.” Last Saturday, Jan. 26, it wasn’t Santana’s friend’s kitchen that was his office. Santana hosted one of many “coros,” a Dominican
slang term for get-togethers but with a Latin twist. The group of approximately 15 consisted of both UB and Buffalo State College students. Within five minutes of being at the Lisbon Avenue apartment, it was easy to see the camaraderie. The music alternated between bachata, merengue and hip-hop, but the mood stayed the same – comfortable yet hungry. Although Santana’s friends considered him the host, he seldom made appearances in the living room and only exited the kitchen to get fresh air followed by a pull from the hookah placed on the coffee table. Santana’s best friend and pseudo-sous chef, junior nursing major Amanda Torres, grew up in the world of catering. Her mother, a caterer herself, taught Torres from a young age how possible it is for a person to singlehandedly feed hundreds. Santana has never had any formal training, yet Torres considers him a genius. “We jokingly called him ‘the food whisperer’ the other day,” Torres said. “His love for food and catering to others and seeing them enjoy his food: that is what gives him his talent. He has a huge heart and he puts all his love into his food and the people he makes it for.”
Inside
Last Saturday’s coro was a light day for Santana. While friends sat a few feet away discussing the Knicks-Hawks game, their fantasy basketball rosters and social plans for that night, Santana and Torres made a Dominican-style dinner. The menu for that night included ribs, morro de gandules (rice and pigeon peas), pastelitos (baked puff-pastry filled with savory beef) and pastelon, or Dominican lasagna (sweet plantains, beef and cheese), according to Santana. Despite waiting hours to dig into Santana’s one-man potluck dinner, the get-together at the Lisbon home didn’t end when the food was served. In fact, conversation became louder and more spirited, and while some ran back to get second and third servings, others organized a post-dinner game of dominos while they digested their food. Nights like these are common for Santana, according to Marlene Ferreris, his old roommate and a 2012 alumna with a Bachelor of Arts in geography. “Sometimes living with Felix felt like we lived in a soup kitchen,” Ferreris said. “He loves doing it for others, and being in college, it’s something that makes everyone around him feel at home, away from home … [his cooking had] a lot to do with our house being the center of socialization.” Continued on page 4
Adrien D’Angelo /// The Spectrum Senior international business major Felix Santana aspires to one day own his own restaurant, but for now, he gives the Latino community at UB a taste of home.
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