Winged Post: First, tell us a brief summary of your stance on the eternal question: when you enter lunch, is it wiser to first go to Fresh Mex or Manzanita?

Anvi: I think it’s worth it to go to  Manzanita because at Fresh Mex you either like the entree or you don’t, but with Manzanita there’s a lot more options.

Rose: I would argue that really the wise choice is to neither go to Fresh Mex nor Manzanita, because it’s often wiser to wait until the line is gone, so that you don’t waste as much time in the line waiting for food.

WP: Now that you’ve heard each other’s opinions, what is your initial response to the other person’s view?

Anvi:  I think it’s not really a waste of time that much to be in line, like, of course if the Manzanita line is way longer than the Fresh Mex line, you’d go there, but you often get to like socialize with your friends in the line if you happen to be next to them. So it’s not really, like, the time flied by pretty quickly.

Rose: That is true, but there’s a lot of happenstance involved in having your friends next to you, especially if you come from different areas of the campus, and I really think that going to Manzanita initially might seem like the better option, but if you wait for the lines to sort of taper off, that’s not just wiser, but more efficient.

WP: Addressing your points specifically, Rose, what about the consideration that when you enter both Fresh Mex and Manzanita later, often they run out of certain entrees, or the food gets colder?

Rose: The concern of running out of certain entrees is not that great, especially if you perhaps aren’t really going to eat that anyway, so I think, I guess what I’m advocating for is a more of a planned approach to the lunch line than just going there. For example, looking at the lunch menu, to see whether there is an entree that you would mind running out.

WP: What is the deciding factor for you, Anvi, between how much faster Fresh Mex’s lines tend to be and the greater diversity you experience with Manzanita’s options?

Anvi: I think nowadays Fresh Mex’s lines have also been really long, and even if you want just chips or something, you have to wait in the entire line. And especially for me, because I’m vegetarian, there tends not to be a very enticing vegetarian option at Fresh Mex, so I would go to Fresh Mex later to get chips or something, but not at the beginning, because I don’t want to wait in such a long line for just chips.

WP: Any closing remarks on other aspects of lunch?

Anvi: As a short person, I hate the mobs in front of all the entree places: I feel like people are just holding their food at my face level, so they’re kinda just shoving their food in my face. If there’s a way to make mobs more into lines, that could obviously be nice, and I think that when they open the international station in the auxiliary gym, the lines should also be reduced.

Rose: I think there’s a balance between how hungry you are and whether you want to wait to get food in order to avoid the lines, and recognizing that that balance exists is the first step in making the lunch line experience more enjoyable for you and just generally more appealing. Recognizing the different options for the decisions you can make is really important to learning how to spend your lunch time.

This piece was originally published in the pages of the Winged Post on October 12, 2017.