we must be pigeons

what is it about cafeterias? how come they're synonymous with wretched food? aarrrghhh!! almost all cafeterias in my area are run by nationwide caterers. and yet they suck. maybe that is the problem. I want the canteens and food courts back in malaysia!! my primary school had 2 vendors. 1 chinese, 1 malay. the food was awesome. my secondary school had a chinese soup noodle seller, a chinese fry when you order seller, a malay economy rice style stall, a fruits stall, a snack stall and a drinks stall. it was all good!! and when I worked at a university in malaysia, there were more than 6 different food outlets on campus with multiple vendors each. it was soooooo good!!! if I wanted chilli stuffed fish, I knew where to go. western food today? no problem. economy rice? hmm.. mm.. char koay teow... the choices were endless!! endless I tell you!!

not the case over here. there are more than 6 cafeterias in this 10 block radius of hell and the food is bad bad bad. why??? every cafeteria is set up the same way. salad bar of course. dessert bar with sickeningly sweet crummy cakes. pizza of course. sandwiches that I don't really like. so for me it is either the entree section or the salad bar. the salad bar is the best because who could possibly mess up the salad bar??? thank goodness for the salad bar. to think that I could not fathom having just salad for a meal before coming to the states. and the entree section. the food is as bad as the american high school cafeteria food seen on tv. my college cafeterias were not that bad, but that was before the caterers came. anyway, the entree section usually serves overcooked food, be it chicken, fish, and everything else. horribly yellowed vegetables. green greens can only be found in the salad bar.

but even though the food is unappetizing, it is still edible. if only they would stick to potatoes and pasta. but they also serve rice dishes. and I like rice. soft fluffy rice. now who can't cook rice? if you're freaking lazy, you don't even need to wash it. just dump it in, fill as much water as indicated on the rice cooker and press the button. it is that simple!! if not, use uncle ben's instant rice! I've never done it but the ads on tv show kiddies on their tippy toes putting the bowl in the microwave. not so short kiddies can do it! I've even cooked rice on the stove. seriously it is not that hard. I've also microwaved regular rice in college. granted too much water will not ruin pasta but too much water might turn rice into gruel but it can't be that hard. then why is it that the freaking cafeteria can't ever cook rice??? the rice is always undercooked with 30-70% inedible grains of undercooked rice!! do we look like pigeons?? and on top of that, they serve jasmine rice, spanish rice, basmati rice... why bother if they're all going to turn out like gravel?!! I must never never ask for the rice again. never ever!!!