Kwantlen Polytechnic University – Impressions Catering

If I ever again find myself in the cafeteria at Kwantlen’s Surrey campus, I’ll try to remember to come armed with Canada’s Food Guide. I’ll also be sure to eat before arrival. The food—I use that term loosely—was horrendous.

We had a hard time choosing our meals since nothing looked particularly appetizing. Three pans of pizza had already sold out and were obviously not going to be replaced any time soon. Beside me, a student picked up a tray of plastic-encased nachos, stared, and warily put it back on the rack, like a man handling a bomb. Next to the industrial nacho cheese pump sat a clear-fronted fridge pimping three colours of noxious energy beverage.

The broccoli and cheese soup might have once been great, but the vat was scraped clean. The only good thing one could say about the oily beef and barley stew is that it was hot. A veggie burger with Swiss cheese for $4.20 turned out to be nothing more than a vehicle for white bread. The bottom of the veggie patty featured four bitter burnt stripes from the grill and the cheese was wafer-thin.

The same could be said for the glamorous-sounding chicken BLT with pesto, which set expectations high at over $6. It turned out to be 80 per cent white bread, 10 per cent burnt chicken and 10 per cent BLT.

I thought I had taken a carrot muffin, but the tray was mislabelled and I got a dubious cinnamon roll muffin instead. The best part of the meal was the overpriced Jell-O cup for $2.50. It was flavourful and familiar. Too bad Jell-O isn’t a food group.