As I sitting here typing, I am eating a (delicious but not sufficient) bag of salt and vinegar chips given to me by a friend. It’s one of the many times throughout my week where my stomach goes “No! Lucy, not fair. Feed me real food.”

In high school and college, American teenagers get a ton of pressure about eating right while looking good while doing it all. It is one of my worst pet peeves: the generation gap where those supposedly wiser and older than us think we should be able to do something they cannot, simply because we are younger. But I won’t get into that… Basically, my question: How did we get to the point where my only food on a Monday is Lay’s potato chips?

Before I investigate IC’s favorite snacks and just-get-by meals, it is worth putting it in context. Before the dawn of cutesy lunch boxes and PB&J’s in the 1950s, most high school students and younger returned home for each meal. Dormitory food was in its best phase- though I’m sure there were complaints, as always. However, it has really only been in the past 50 or 60 years that packaged, processed food became a part of everyone’s daily lives. Nearly everyone I know has Easy Mac in their closet and Ramen was a staple before I even left for college. So while I may not love microwaveable pasta covered in artificial cheese, so many others do. Therefore, I will find out if that’s good or bad, and if we should even try to change it.