One Tuesday every month, EMU’s cafeteria (also known as “the caf”) provides students with a special supper menu commonly known as Steak and Shrimp night. As the name suggests, the menu consists of steak and fried shrimp among other side options. 

I don’t know about everyone else but shrimp and steak night is definitely one of my favorite nights to have supper at the caf. Ever since my first year, I always enjoyed steak and shrimp night. I’ve always been a lover of fried shrimp and good steak so it makes me very happy to have that at my leisure once a month.

Now despite my love for steak and shrimp night, I do want to say that there is something I can’t seem to understand. Why is there a limit to how much steak and shrimp we can have? If you’ve ever gone to the caf on steak and shrimp night then you know what I’m talking about. 

As soon as you enter the caf and scan your student ID, you’re handed a small slip of paper with instructions stating that you can exchange the slip for either one piece of steak and four pieces of shrimp or eight pieces of shrimp and no steak. That is it. There are no chances for seconds or another slip.

To be quite honest, this doesn’t make much sense to me. I mean, I understand that the caf has to make sure that there is enough food for everyone but why is this the way that they do it? On any other night, students are free to have as much food as they want for supper but not for steak and shrimp night.

Steak and shrimp night is very popular which leads me to assume that the reason the caf limits portions is so that they don’t run out so fast. I assume that the caf’s reasoning is that if there was no portion limit, students would probably eat so much in the first hour or two, there wouldn’t be much left for the rest of the evening. I could be wrong but I feel like it’s a realistic assumption.

Now my problem with this is plain and simple. I don’t want to have to be limited to  either one piece of steak and four pieces of shrimp or eight pieces of shrimp and no steak. I don’t think anyone should be limited in how much food they get at the caf.

I understand the importance of making sure the caf doesn’t run out of steak or shrimp but I think there should be another way to avoid the problem. Students pay good money to eat these meals; I do not think it’s fair to limit how much we get to eat. Plus, I feel like one piece of steak and four pieces of shrimp or eight pieces of shrimp isn’t even an ample amount of food, at least not for me. I definitely would not feel sufficiently satisfied with only eight pieces of shrimp for dinner.

I am very grateful for the caf and everyone who works there to provide us with meals everyday. However, I am not going to lie. This issue has rubbed me the wrong way for a while now.

When I was a first-year, we were served the same amount that we are served now but at that time, there was no such thing as a pink slip. As a matter of fact, if you waited for a little and went back up to get seconds, you would often have no trouble getting more shrimp or steak. However, it has become a lot more serious with the introduction of the pink slips and I am not a fan of that.

If I had to give a suggestion, it would be to perhaps make enough steak and shrimp for everyone at the school to have more than just a limited amount. If we can do it with other meals, I think we can find a way to do it with steak and shrimp nights.