New, Permanent Cafeteria – Vanderbilt University Hospital

This is my new home. Come say “Herro.”

I’ve already spent the last year and a half here–its old and temporary manifestations, to be precise–and have eaten approximately 200 meals. Two. Hundred. Marginal. Meals. I’ll be spending the next two and a half years eating here, too, so I better appreciate my new kitchen. I’ll be eating another couple hundred meals here in the future (Will there be no mercy on my tastebuds?). And thus, the long-awaited first impressions of NEW PERMANENT CAFETERIA! (cue trumpet fanfare)

I don’t have a picture of the actual grand opening, but this is pretty much it–although there was a giant (un-sneezeguarded) chocolate fondue fountain where everyone could get a dipped dessert; I chose not to partake because I would still like to remain free from MRSA and other nosocomial infections. My friend Luke, though, did take a dessert. He loves dessert. And, well, I guess his currently-enlarged cervical lymph nodes containing millions of viral particles reminded me that I made a good decision in skipping the fondue.

As per the actual cafeteria, it’s basically the same as it was before, except with a shiny new look and more walking room. The old cafeteria induced claustrophobia on a daily basis. Now, I don’t have to worry about going crazy from the crowds. I’ll still probably go crazy eventually, just not so soon. I won’t be smacking people with my backpack, either. I feel like a better person already.

However, despite making more walking room, the cafeteria failed to add in more stations to distribute food, so said walking room really becomes waiting-in-line room. I’m still waiting in long lines for food, and somehow, despite adding more registers, am still waiting even longer to pay. Renovation fail.

They also took away the “salad of the day” station, where Amy, the salad lady, would make awesome salads which always had tons of chicken for my naturally pseudo-Atkins-diet-craving tastes. What did they do with Amy? They replaced her with Starbucks machines. DAMN YOU STARBUCKS. They also didn’t do much to improve the other food. It still tastes the same. And in case you don’t know, same = crap. Usually I’m not this harsh (well, actually I can be haha), but I’ve had enough experience to judge the food here. Take, for instance, what I had on this particular day: tilapia with pineapple salsa, greens, and corn pudding. The fish was dry and lacked flavor. The salsa had no trace of pineapple flavoring. The corn pudding was not corny and not sweet. The greens were ok though–I do enjoy a nice batch of potlikker juice! Food at the cafeteria is usually a hit-or-miss usually. The only difference that’s occurred is that food is more expensive now because the hospital has to cover the costs of the renovation. AW CRAP. If it weren’t for the sake of sparing my brain from another hour of mind-numbing lecture, I would actually prefer to take free boxed lunches at lunch lecture. Almost.

I’ll still pay the money for food from the cafeteria. I’ve learned that lunchtime is more about socializing and *gasp* gossiping more than it is about eating. As long as my stomach stops growling at the end of the meal, I’ll be satisfied. Plus, I’m gonna be here for another couple of years, I might as well get used to it. But at least I’ll say this in closing:

New look, same taste.

Everyone can finally wear those “I survived the renovation” shirts for real now!

Temporary Cafeteria – VUH

After four hours of lectures that inundate the brain with overwhelming amounts of information, which can cause everything inside the cranium to herniate down into the brainstem from the sheer amount of volume overload, or cause the neural system to enter prolonged periods of abscence seizures, we medical students have one thing to look forward to: lunch. Specifically, lunch at the temporary cafeteria at Vanderbilt University Hospital, where medical students can find solace for an hour before returning to the same routine they faced in the morning.

It wasn’t always the temporary cafeteria; there used to be a permanent cafeteria, which is now undergoing renovation, which also makes me wonder why the employees are already wearing “We survived the renovation” shirts when it seems like we’re months away from seeing an actual cafeteria. The food, however, is almost of the same caliber, except that a lot of the better parts of the old cafeteria–namely, the salad of the day and the panini press–are gone. All that we have left are a Southern food station, a potato bar, pizza, premade sandwiches, and premade sushi (which is probably on par with sushi I can at local sushi bars for triple the price). Oh yeah, there’s also a lunch truck outside that serves hotdogs and burgers. I usually check out the rotating menu at the Southern food station because I like eating foods that I can’t buy frozen or premade at the local Kroger or Harris Teeter.

I assume that getting a meal from the Southern food station is a good bet because it’s probably akin to getting Chinese food from China (I will refrain from getting into how they’ve made an abomination out of Chinese food here). On the whole, the Southern food here is satisfying and cheap. Today, they were serving fried catfish with some sort of creamed spinach I believe. For less than 5 dollars, all I can say is that it’s enough. Enough of what? I’m not quite sure. But that’s the only adjective that comes to mind when I think of it. The fish reminded me of unagi–for some reason, I kept thinking that there were small bones in the filet. The hush puppies were dry and not really worth eating, except with ketchup. The spinach was good, but stuff slathered in cream and butter usually is. Like I said, my brain only comes up with “enough” when I try to describe the food.

In medical school, there’s usually three options for lunch: 1. free lunches of boxed sandwiches or pizza, 2. bring your own lunch if you have time to make it and aren’t too lazy, and 3. buy lunch at the cafeteria. There’s a secret fourth option of going onto 21st and eating at a real restaurant, but we all know that medical students don’t have time for that. And since I’m too lazy to make my own lunch and don’t want to sit through lunch lectures for free lunch, and because I have a test coming up at the end of the month, you can expect more pictures of lunch from temporary cafeteria! Maybe even (gasp!) NEW PERMANENT CAFETERIA!!

Courtyard Cafe at Vanderbilt University Hospital

Nashville, TN