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Show C ow down c t t rNe food truc KS BY STEFANIEAREVALO /STAFF WRITER PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER SAMUELS very day, packs of hungry students are on the prowl for the best bite on campus. Yen Yu, a master's student in engineering, said the food trucks parked outside the Marriott Library at lunch time are where it's at. "I like that I don't have to drive downtown to get some of my favorite foods':Yu said. "It is nice to have more selection and a full meal outside instead of going through a crowded space like the Union when I am in a hurry:" His favorite truck is Cafe Trang, which serves Asian cuisine and has brick-and-mortar locations in Salt Lake City, Draper and Murray. Kelly Roberts, a freshman in business, said the noodles at Café Trang are better than Panda Express. But the best part of the food trucks for her is the convenience. "I have maybe 15 minutes between my classes, if I want to grab lunch': Roberts said. "Thankfully for me, my classes are right in OSH, so I can just walk down the steps to Library Plaza and choose to have maybe doughnuts and some noodles, or maybe I E am in the mood for curry:' Yu often works late and wishes there were more food options on campus at night. "I have wanted to get some food at 8 p.m., and the Union is no longer serving': he said. "That means I must either walk to the library and visit Mom's Café or pack [food] of my own:' But Rebecca Dixon, an undeclared sophomore, isn't fond of the Heritage Center, where students can grab a bite to eat until 10 p.m. "I hated the stupid forced meal plan. It was nice that I could use my UCard to pay for food and stuff, but everything on campus is so expensive," she said. "I would have liked to be able to use my card at other places in Salt Lake like Cafe Rio or something." Dixon said she had to make due with the tater tots offered at the Heritage Center. "That was the food staple of my freshman year," she said. All of the U's dining locations can be found online at www.dineoncampus.com/utah. s.arevalo@chronicle.utah.edu @ArevaloStefani BY KYLEE EHMANN BY CHRISTINE KANNAPEL /STAFF WRITER PHOTO BY CHRIS AYERS ■ 1 11111,11r ASINI 111111L^--- I IINUM 4 { THECHRONY I NEWS I OPINION I ARTS I SPORTS I WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2015 } rom Panda Express to grab-and-go hummus wraps, students have a lot of food choices at the Union — both healthy and unhealthy. Chartwells, the company in charge of most food locations on campus, picked what food is available at the Union. In all, there are nine stations, including the U Market Place, Jamba Juice and Einstein Bros. Bagels. Light Bates, a junior in technical art and a frequent customer of the Union food court, said healthy food is a "relative term" at the U. "I do not have any objections to the Union': he said. "[But] if I'm going to order at Panda Express, I'm not expecting it to be healthy." For him, the food is better at the Union than at the Heritage Center because there are more options and it's quicker. He said if students are trying to be healthy, they can opt for salads instead of burgers. Carlyn Dahlquist, an undeclared freshman, said it's possible to eat healthy at the Union. "I buy my food [there] based on price and how healthy it is," she said. She prefers purchasing her food from the food trucks but will grab lunch at Einstein Bros. Bagels or a smoothie at Jamba Juice in a pinch. For her, it's still not enough. "I think that there needs to be more and healthier options at the Union," Dahlquist said. If a student is counting calories, they can look at menus for the Union eateries online at dineoncampus.com/utah/show. cfm?cmd=menus. For example, a whole tandoori chicken salad from Chop'd, the Union's salad station, is 372 calories. A student can also go to myfitnesspal.com , an organization that Chartwells is working with, to research the nutritional value of menu items. c.kannapel@chronicle.utah.edu @chriswritine F - tly 1\_/_1(mi(rjf - /STAFF WRITER good meal on campus is hard to find, especially if there aren't any places serving food you can eat. For the U's Muslim minority, eating food or drink permitted under Islamic Shari'ah law is difficult at best. There aren't any venues on campus that serve what are called "halal foods': which must be prepared in a certain way — for example, meat should be slaughtered humanely. Thamer Almansour, a senior in urban ecology who is Muslim, said he has eaten on campus a few times, but he typically makes his own food or buys off campus (with about nine possible restaurants around Salt Lake). "Honestly, I have never seen halal food in campus at all so far': Almansour said. "Not every Muslim is OK with any food like me. Some of them only eat halal food, so they have to bring their own food or wait until they finish classes to go eat:' He thinks the U otherwise does a good job at including Muslim students on campus. ASUU funds the Muslim Student Association, and there is a prayer room in the Union. "The only thing that they should do more for us is providing halal food on campus," Almansour said. Food that is "haram': or forbidden, in Islam includes alcohol, pork, carnivorous animals and birds of prey. Animals also must be killed by a Muslim while facing Mecca. Before the animal is killed, the person says "Bismallah" (in the name of God) and then "Allahu akbar" (God is the greatest) three times. A sharp knife is drawn across the animal's throat without cutting the spinal cord, and the blood has to be drained. This is thought to be the least painful way to kill for meat. Almansour said it may be strange to understand, but people should think of it in the same context of kosher food, the dietary restrictions of Judaism. While Muslims make up a small minority of students at the U and residents in Utah, they are a growing population. As the university and the U.S. Census Bureau do not collect data on religious affiliations, exact numbers are hard to come by. But according to a 2008 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, less than one percent of Utahns (about 13,226 people) identify as Muslim, though the actual num ber may be around 20,000. Additionally, students from Saudi Arabia — a country where nearly all residents are Muslim — comprise four percent of the total international student body at the U. There are also many second and third-generation Muslims from Utah's Somali and Bosnian refugee population attending the U. Kim DiNardo, marketing manager for the U's Dining Services, said while the university doesn't have it readily available, they do providing catering of halal foods. She also said if a student is on a meal plan and has dietary restrictions, they A Students o p t for Union food in a pinch •••■m• - Muslim students search for meals on campus I 121: :410 % 5.82-0195 WWW.thOliam )xis.nxi E. 5 82-5700 can sign a meal plan accommodation form and meet with a chef or director. "We want to make sure our students are eating and getting the most out of their meal plan': DiNardo said. DiNardo said if having halal food is important to enough students, it may be possible to have it as a more mainstream service. She said those interested should reach out to her via email at kim.dinardo@food.utah.edu or Reggie Conerly, the district manager for Chartwells dining at the U, at reggie.conerly@ food.utah.edu . "It's important that we try to take care of all students that come to the U," Conerly said. "We should try to accommodate and celebrate all cultures through food and be inclusive to everyone:' k.ehmann@chronicle.utah.edu @Ehmannky NEARBY RESTAURANTS THAT SELL HALAL FOOD Kabob Stop 291 E 3300 S South Salt Lake : Curry In A Hurry 2020 S State Street Salt Lake City Hayat's Grill 120 S Main St. South Salt Lake Eastern Groceries 1616 W 3500 S West Valley City O'Falafel 790 E 2100 S Salt Lake City Shahrazad Market & Restaurant 1615 W 2100 S Salt Lake City Horn Of Africa Bistro 1320 S Swaner Road Salt Lake City Zabiha Market 3460 S Redwood Road West Valley City Thai Spice 854 Fort Union Blvd. Midvale IT'S TIME IN THE FO LLOW I N G AREAS: Business Communications Community Leadership Counseling Education Nursing WESTM I NN, 801.832.2200 I VOTED BEST PIZZA By the Standard Examiner G City Wetly Header westminitErcollege.edufgrad Like us on Facebook! • 5 |