Column by Jordan Panning

Walk into the Student Center cafeteria for lunch and, depending on your entry point, you will encounter greasy food, greasy food or greasy food. Either way, you will not be able to avoid the line at Chick-fil-A. In this lack of anything green, it is hard not to wonder why there isn’t anything healthy. To be fair, there used to be a salad bar next to Chick-fil-A, but that went by the wayside for Sbarro (greasy food). Subway has some good options, but they can’t possibly handle all the students that want to eat healthy food in one of the busiest cafeterias on campus.

The simple fact is that these companies were brought into the cafeteria because they bring in money. The eateries have proven that they excel at just that, which makes a lot of people happy. I admit that I eat at them occasionally. I am not writing about getting rid of these profitable franchises. I am writing to, and for, all those people who think that deep-fried just isn’t enough, and especially all for those people whose meals are bound by their Wildcard ID, as mine once was. I am aware that Chick-fil-A cannot be purchased with meal swipes.

OK, so what is good, healthy, local food? I’m glad you asked. Local food is food that has been grown in Kentucky and that is sold in Kentucky; this can either be in farmer’s markets (more on this later) or in supermarkets, such as Kroger. You can identify local food by the Kentucky Proud logo (Kentucky Department of Agriculture). Some of the food that you eat in the campus cafeterias is locally grown. The closer the farm to where the food is eaten, generally, the more sustainable it is.

A good source of information on local foods can be found at www.kyproud.com. The Web site states, “The average food item in America now travels at least 1,491 miles from farm to plate.” In Kentucky, and at this university, we can change that.

Here on campus, I am the vice-chair of the student group Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. KFTC believes that there needs to be healthy, local, sustainable food options on campus for students, especially those students that have limited means of transportation. We are aware there are a few campus cafeterias that have salad at them. There is a “Simpsons” episode where Homer sings, “You don’t make friends with salad,” and I think this is a fitting remark. While salad may be good for you, there are thousands of other vegetarian dishes that get neglected.

If this sounds like a campaign that you would like to be a part of, one that can reduce Kentucky’s exceedingly large carbon footprint (as was recently discussed in the Kernel), bring healthy, local, sustainable food to the university, and that can help support Kentucky’s hard-working farmers. Then, please join us at our weekly meetings. KFTC will be meeting every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Student Center in room 111 (and occasionally in room 115). You can find us on Facebook (UK KFTC) or online at www.KFTC.org. If you come to our meeting, you will have a voice and we are open to your suggestions. We also have other campaigns that you can become involved in.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not promote Lexington’s Farmer’s Markets. There is one on the corner of Maxwell Street and South Broadway on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Wednesdays, there is a market at Lexington Green from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., and there are also weekend options available. Please go to www.lexingtonfarmersmarket.com for more information.