Cafeterias

Yesterday I ate at the cafeteria in an Ikea store. Like most things at Ikea, the concept was better than the reality, but it was still a memorable experience. Best of all, it made me think about my love of cafeterias as a means of distributing food. In elementary school, I eagerly awaited the cafeteria's weekly pizza lunch. One of my family's favorite dinner destinations was Souplantation, which is cafeteria-like in its setup. In college, I stayed on the school meal plan longer than most of my peers, and actually looked forward to eating at the dining hall. Now, I sometimes fantasize about working for a large corporation (or at least, a government agency) with its own employee cafeteria. Here are some reasons why I enjoy cafeterias:

* I love to eat, and I like to exercise total control over the content of my meals, but I don't enjoy cooking.

* Busing one's own tray and plates is a reminder that someone has to clean up, even if it's not the person eating.

* I'm not a big stickler for knowing where my food came from, or whether it was produced locally. In fact, I think the current tendency to view food consumption as an urgent political matter is a bit misguided.

* Cafeterias are associated with large institutions--schools, corporations, museums, hospitals--and I am fond of large institutions, probably because people love to complain about how faceless and impersonal they are, which I think is stupid.

* The constraints established by cafeterias provide a ready-made framework for expressions of creativity in consumption.