I recently enrolled at my local community college for continuing education, and while I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed being back in school, I was even more surprised at how difficult it was to get decent food on campus.  It got me thinking about how great it would be to have healthy vending machines in school!

As an SF Bay Area veteran, I was used to vegan and vegetarian, organic, and fair trade options wherever I went.  Yet all I could  find on this campus was a meager cafeteria…. And, oh yeah, some dirty, very old-looking vending machines with all the typical junk food snacks that I would almost never choose to buy.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Doritos, but it just isn’t what my body craves these days.  I got to thinking, who chooses these vending machines anyway?   Vending machines in school could be so much cooler!

If you are a fan of NBC’s The Office, you might remember an episode where the whole office is trying to lose weight for a corporate incentive program.  To facilitate the process, Dwight empties out the break-room vending machine of all its normal chips and cookies, and replaces them with raw fruits and vegetables which he hammers into place.  While his execution might have been a little off (later in the episode you see him spraying bug repellent into the machine to try to kill off the fruit flies that have accumulated), his idea was a great one.

Healthy diet options, including veganism and vegetarianism, are becoming ever-more popular diet choices, especially among college students.  One study estimated that as many as one in four college students are interested in vegan meal options.  Replacing the old vending machines around college campuses with ones that offer healthy snacks would be a welcome change for the student population!