On the rights the lentil crackers with cocoa powder. Photo Resource Working as a researcher often means long hours and the need for an energy boost — especially if you have sports planned right after work. It was therefore no surprise to see colleagues heading to the vending machine in the afternoon for their guilty snack. I was one of them, my go-to treat being a Snickers.
Then, one day, they were gone. Just like that — no warning, no explanation. In their place? Rice crackers with a chocolate topping. But that wasn’t the only change. Potato chips were replaced with their healthier, far less appealing cousins: lentil chips. A colleague and I tried them once, and their slogan should have been ‘We guarantee you’ll eat only a couple’. They were bland, with a bitter aftertaste. The same happened with the wine gums — so bad that even a gummy-addicted friend couldn’t finish them. Sugary soft drinks? Also gone. I realized how much I missed them one afternoon when I felt dizzy from low blood sugar and found nothing to replace them.
The final straw? Lentil crackers with cocoa powder. Inedible
But the final straw? The rice crackers with chocolate disappeared too, replaced by an even ‘healthier’ alternative — lentil crackers dusted with cocoa powder. They were inedible. And now I can’t help but wonder what’s next. The real milk coffee machine? (Rumour has it that ours is one of the last to still offer non-vegan milk.)
That’s when I said, enough is enough. I don’t mind having healthy options. In fact, I think it’s great. But replacing everything with only so-called healthy alternatives feels like an imposition. We should have the freedom to decide what we eat. After talking to some colleagues, we agreed — freedom of choice should always prevail in a university. And snacks can be both healthy and delicious, offering the perfect balance of nutrition and pleasure.
Coralia Manzanilla Pech, researcher in the Animal Breeding and Genomics group
Here’s an idea: take your snacks with you. Too much planning? There’s a supermarket on campus, with plenty of choice in unhealthy snacks.