Project 2: Research Proposal
1. Your research question
⁃ How effective is the daily menu of the FSU dining halls in demonstrating the necessary nutrition facts and allergen information to students?
2. A working title for your project
⁃ A working title for my project is “University Dining Hall Nutrition: How Much Are They Actually Telling Us?” This topic came to me when realizing that the dining hall menus does not cover every item available for consumption and lacks clear allergen information. I believe it is vital to the health of students to have access to clear nutrition facts and labels, especially when dining halls are their only option for their daily meals.
3. A summary of your project. Identify your topic and describe what you will be looking at in terms of the topic. Include some key terms and additional questions that will guide your research.
⁃ I will be researching university dining halls and their emphasis on nutrition. Specifically, I plan to search for the regulations the university must follow in terms of what they are serving and why the menus leave certain details out. I intend to interview the university nutritionist to be able to get her perspective on the menus, the meal plans, and how they affect the community of students with mandatory meal plans. Some questions that will guide my research are the following:
Exactly what nutritional information, according to law, is required to be accessible to students in regards to their meal plans?
Why don't the dining halls list ingredients or brand names on the daily menus for students to know what they are putting into their bodies?
What are the effects of the lack of nutritional importance among dining halls?
Why is there such little options for students with specific dietary needs or health-conscious students?
4. A description of your purpose for working on this project. Why did you choose this topic? What do you hope to learn from this project?
- I chose this topic because I am a part of the community I will be focusing on. As a full time, on-campus student, I have a mandatory meal plan that requires me to eat in the set dining halls. As someone who values nutrition and health, I have found it difficult to come across foods that I feel meet my dietary needs. In addition, I struggle with lactose intolerance and a predisposition to ulcers, and therefore require dairy and acid free foods. In one instance, after trying to make the healthy decision to eat an egg white omelette at the dining hall, I watched the chef add butter all over the dish without asking if I wanted it drowned in dairy. From this project, I hope to learn ways to improve the menu, food options, and distribution of nutritional information to students looking out for their bodies.
5. A discussion of the key challenges you will face or you imagine you will face. What concerns do you have regarding the research/project?
- I imagine I will face difficulties when trying to locate specific regulations in university food service. Most of these rules are vague and allow wiggle room for the sake of funding. I will also probably struggle to get a genuine opinion from the university nutritionist, who cannot openly bash the options at the dining hall and must simply offer suggestions for healthy eating. Lastly, I am afraid my topic might veer off into a rant about unhealthy dining hall void and miss the prompt of focusing on a specific text (the menu) and how it affects a community (students with a mandatory meal plan).