A Break Fit for Harvard Brains

The introduction of the Brain Break by Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) has given us Harvard undergraduates some literal food for thought. As we slave over problem sets, burning the midnight oil, we need no longer futilely strive to satiate our empty stomachs and salivary urges by chewing on pen and pencil ends. Cake, cookies and coffee sit just a short walk away in Loker Commons or our house dining halls for our snacking pleasure.

Or they do, at least, for those who get to Brain Break early. It seems that any time we manage to withstand our hunger cravings for a good half an hour or so into Brain Break time, we live to regret our forbearance. Despite the prevalence of baked goods and fruit, Brain Break provisions disappear, consumed by the famished hordes of our housemates and classmates, almost as soon as they are set out. In the wake of the mad rush for food, there is also usually an unfortunamte mess left to greet the dining hall staff the next morning.

Therefore, we urge students, in the name of common courtesy to both each other and to the staff that works so diligently to provide us with food every day, to exercise restraint in their Brain Break hoarding. And we call upon HUDS to provide greater quantities of food for students, in order to minimize our competition over this limited yet essential resource. In the true spirit of the Brain Break, it might also be appropriate if more "brain food" were made available. In other words, there should regularly be some kind of healthy option. Fruit, cereal and bagels are all items that we wish we had more frequent access to, along with the sugar cookies and brownies.

On the whole, however, this latest brainchild of HUDS is altogether a yummy invention.