OPINION: USC dining halls must improve their breakfasts’ nutritional value

In theory, USC Hospitality strives to provide healthy cuisine and elevate “culinary strategy as a nutritional advantage,” according to its website. And to meet its food philosophy, one of its strategies is to “focus on fruits and vegetables first with great diversity across all meals periods and snacks.”

In reality, however,vegetables are hardly prioritized in USC dining hall breakfast menus, if present at all. The only dining hall to regularly offer vegetables during breakfast is Parkside Restaurant and Grill, which mostly uses vegetables for omelet fillings. Even then, frying vegetables into an omelet not only adds fat and calories, but also renders them inaccessible to students with egg allergies or similar dietary restrictions.

While all dining halls serve vegetables during other meals, breakfast is the most important. It is the first source of energy for many students. USC’s breakfast dining menus have daily offerings of waffles, eggs and variations on breakfast meats as well as several other rotating dishes. However, vegetables fail to make an appearance every day.

USC dining halls’ continual lack of vegetable options in its breakfast menus is a missed opportunity to promote healthy eating. Given that many Americans — and by extension, USC students — struggle to meet dietary requirements, the dining halls’ failure to focus on vegetables first has far-ranging implications on students’ nutrition and performance in the classroom.

For a menu whose selections resemble the classic American breakfast, vegetable options may be a strange proposition. Vegetables, however, are normal breakfast items worldwide. China, India and South Korea — the three most represented countries among international students at USC — all feature vegetables in breakfast dishes from their respective ethnic cuisines.

Given that USC prides itself in being a global university, it is unreasonable for dining halls to limit their menu selection to a single culture’s food preferences. Other cuisines are represented at other meal times, but breakfast sorely lacks cultural diversity. The University has much to learn from foreign cuisines, and the dining halls can take a positive step forward by introducing those cuisines’ vegetable-heavy dishes.

If anything, maintaining familiar customs is far less important than empowering students to develop healthy eating patterns. The 2015-20 Dietary Guidelines for Americans specify that “higher intakes of vegetables … consistently have been identified as characteristics of healthy eating patterns.” The MyPlate model similarly recommends that the average person eat two-and-a-half to three cups of vegetables a day.

Following these dietary recommendations usually leads to positive health outcomes. The Dietary Guidelines reports that an association exists between healthy eating patterns and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, several types of cancer and obesity. The more vegetables a student eats, the more likely they are to lead a healthy lifestyle.

To facilitate healthy eating patterns, the dining halls must offer a greater quantity and variety of vegetables during breakfast. They could incorporate dishes from other cultures, like Korean doenjang-jigae, a soybean paste soup, and Indian uttapam, a thick pancake with vegetable toppings. Increasing the number of opportunities to eat vegetables increases the likelihood that they will meet the MyPlate model’s three-cup quota. Vegetables also provide high amounts of potassium, fiber and other important nutrients as well as a low-calorie alternative to traditional American breakfast items.

Likewise, limited opportunities to consume vegetables often leads to poor health, which poses major economic consequences. The National League of Cities estimates that addressing obesity alone costs the United States over $190 billion, and these costs are likely to grow with the increasing obesity rates. Individual students’ health collectively take their toll on the entire USC community, even those in good health.

In addition, a wealth of evidence exists linking dietary behaviors and academic achievement. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that an association exists between the lack of adequate consumption of specific foods — such as vegetables — and lower grades. Without the nutrients that vegetables provide, alertness, problem-solving and cognitive performance  all suffer.

Inadequate vegetable consumption ultimately hinders USC students from fully engaging in the learning process and limits their potential to process useful skills and knowledge. If severe enough, this could affect the academic prowess integral to USC’s reputation.

USC dining halls should incorporate vegetables into their breakfast menus, whether it be through introducing foreign dishes or even adding a breakfast salad bar. Any choice promoting vegetable consumption will elevate the dining halls’ culinary strategy.