Comparing the College Cafeteria to Dinning below the Poverty Line :: Compare Contrast Comparison

Comparing the College Cafeteria to Dinning below the Poverty Line At the beginning of every school year I have to decide whether to get the $6000 carte blanche meal plan or the next smallest $5900 meal plan because I am required to have one of these two options as an on campus student. It's not a tough decision to go with the carte blanche because it is only $100 more for many more meals. The worst part is writing the check and imaging the money being moved from my account. But for the people of Jubilee Partners, a Christian intentional community in rural Georgia, meals have a much different focus. The people of Jubilee Partners intentionally live below the poverty line so that they will not have to pay federal taxes, a portion of which goes into the defense fund. This is just one of the many ways that they choose to live differently from the rest of the world. The thirty residents take turns to make the food that is eaten at their communal meals. During my stay I helped three Central American girls prepare an evening meal. As it was an evening meal, we were allowed to make something new rather than just use leftovers. Lunch always consisted of the preceding nights leftovers, fresh salad from the garden, bread, cheese, and peanut butter. If there were no leftovers, as there often were not, we only ate salad, bread, cheese, and peanut butter. As I looked around the small, simple kitchen, I wondered where were the large stainless steal pots and shiny stove that I was familiar with. The girls instructed me in broken English that I should make bread. With flour-covered arms I mixed and kneaded the dough in an old plastic bowl and smiled as I listened to the excited laughter and rapid Spanish that I could not understand. As Gabby showed me how to roll and form the loaves, I watched as the others make lasagna with synthetic meat from a government surplus. Meat was rare at Jubilee as it was expensive and much of the food they ate came from a food bank. Meat night, which was held once a week, was a special occasion anticipated by many. Standing in line in the Goshen College cafeteria, I examine the array of food spread before me trying to decide what I want. I had glanced at the menu board as my id was scanned but still am not sure what I am hungry for.