Food for thought.

We sat down with aerospace engineering sophomore Astrid Raisanen while she was eating in the Student Union Memorial Center.

Wildcat: OK, you’re on the spot. What is it that you’re eating?

Raisanen: I’m eating a wrap from IQ.

W: What’s in there?

R: It has chicken and lettuce and tomatoes in it.

W: Cool. OK, so what do you feel about body mutilation in the developing world?

R: Can you specify exactly…

W: It’s recently come out that women in China and Nicaragua have been forced to cut off their clitores.

R: OK, well I think that if it’s something that’s forced, that’s not right. But there are a lot of things that other people do in different countries that we can’t necessarily judge ourselves just because we don’t know what the reasons that they do them are for.

W: Yeah. I see what you’re saying. What about the state of the prison systems there? Do you know for example that they don’t have enough food so the prisoners have to be fed month-old shellfish?

R: That’s disgusting. I guess once again, I feel like I’m lucky to be living in the country that I’m in. But, as far as these other countries, it’s really important that these people be helped also. I guess I’m not sure who exactly is going to take this stance. The problem is at so many different levels, it’s really hard to encompass it down to a sole solution.

W: How would you feel if you had to eat month-old shellfish? Because sometimes they don’t even know, it’s just kind of slipped into their food.

R: I guess if you don’t know, then you don’t know how you’re going to feel about it.

W: Yeah, it’s not until the next day that they’re vomiting and having diarrhea. It’s just horrible, especially since they don’t have good sewer systems and everything. That’s another question, sometimes diarrhea even gets into the water that they’re drinking. What do you feel about that?

R: A lot of it comes down to the money that we need available and engineering that can be used to fix these problems.

W: And another problem is just how people produce water. Some water is shipped to other countries, and other people could be drinking it through bottled water, especially this Fry’s water. (Points to her water bottle.) You never know where your water comes from. You know?

R: That’s true.

W: Another thing is, the price of beans has drastically gone up. People have been digging from the garbage to eat. How do you feel about that?

R: I mean, that’s obviously a really tragic thing, but it also is based on something much more globally and

economically encompassing.

W: What’s the worst possible thing you could ever find in your food, in something you’re eating?

R: I hate when I find hair in my food.

W: Would you still eat the food after you found it?

R: If I make it myself, then I’ll eat it. If the restaurant is kind of sketch to begin with, then I wouldn’t eat the rest of it.

W: What about IQ Fresh?

R: So far I haven’t found any hair, but if I did then I guess I probably wouldn’t eat it.

– interview by Andi Berlin