Admit it: all of us in the Choate community have, at one point or another, complained about SAGE food. It is not a sin, and complaining certainly falls under the vast realm of human tendencies; however, the extent to which the hardworking men and women of SAGE are criticized is both alarming and disgusting.
When a high school kid is handed a high-end education, whether from the pockets of their parents, financial aid from the school, or some combination of the two, it comes with a sweeping sense of entitlement. While many would correctly argue that meals are included in tuition, the actual student is never the one providing said tuition, therefore receiving free food. So why is the most common lunch conversation a passionate denigration of the very service that provided the meal before you?
The ever-present slandering of the food services at Choate is not something to shrug off. While there is nothing wrong with complaining about a certain dish, even a certain meal, explore the entire selection before jumping down SAGE’s throat. If you cannot find a single dish in the entire dining hall that suits you, make a sandwich. There have been worse tasting and worse quality meals in history.
Perhaps worse than the act of complaining about SAGE is the way the entire school, students and faculty, condone such behavior. From third to sixth form, students sit around the table during Meatless Mondays throwing pity parties for their stomachs when they aren’t given the exact dish they had in mind. As a non-vegetarian, I understand the disappointment, but what percentage of the student body knows the motivation behind the famed meat-barren Monday lunch?
The weekly meal started as a way to reduce our meat consumption, which does very well unbeknownst to Choate students. Feel free to look online: the statistics of Meatless Monday are all there for your consumption. What percentage of the endlessly whining students have made suggestions to SAGE or requested themes, foods, or any sort of change?
I returned from the baseball spring training trip to Georgia, during which the team ate at Chick-fil-A six times, to find my fellow teammates complaining about the choice of five main courses, a full salad bar, and an ethnic food station. The standards that students attempt to hold SAGE Dining to are unfair, unrealistic, and pitiful. The incessant whining is disrespectful towards the many workers of SAGE and makes Choate students seem ungrateful for all the opportunities they have been granted.
As a Wallingford native, I can assure you that this type of blind entitlement is a key motivator for the cultivation of animosity from town residents toward Choate students. For the sake of the SAGE workers, our community reputation, and our own image, I call upon the entire school to stop acting like elitist food critics and enjoy the wide selection of food available every day.
The next time you sit down at your table, poised to moan about the quality, taste, or appearance of your meal, think twice before you spread your contagious slander to those around you. Enjoy your food and find a different topic of conversation. The next time you notice a friend being unfairly critical of SAGE, call them out. This issue seems insignificant, but the alarming number of ungrateful Choate students seems to increase exponentially. By drawing attention to the unnecessary criticism of SAGE, the Choate community can move forward with a more reasonable, unbiased critique of the free food we are being served.
