Students document “Saga-Size Me”

Freshmen David Allen and Justin Campbell are tired of hearing students complain about the food at Sodexho, better known as “Saga,” and they decided there was something they could do about it.

“That’s kind of our motivation,” Allen said. “I think we’ve got it pretty good (with Saga).”

Allen and Campbell have been working on an eating competition that began last semester; the object is to see who can eat the most consecutive complete meals at Saga during each contest week.

“It’s really just an individual competition between two kids who love Saga,” Allen said.

Allen and Campbell said their competition is starting to gain notoriety, and so they decided to begin filming.

They started a documentary this Monday they labeled “Saga-Size Me,” somewhat of a spin-off of Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me.”

Although neither has seen “Super Size Me” in its entirety, the competitors say they are familiar with the format of the film. They will weigh in before and after the documentary is filmed to record health effects of the competition.

Allen and Campbell said there are two very important aspects of the competition: each meal must consist of an entr?e and at least one side, and there’s no such thing as taking a competitor’s word for it.

“You have to have someone there to witness what you do-it’s documentation,” Campbell said.

Campbell also said meals must be “mostly completed.”

“You can’t leave anything,” he said.

Allen said sometimes it becomes difficult to accomplish this task.

“It was getting pretty rough last time. I had pizza and a breadstick as my side- that breadstick was going down hard so I had to dip it in my water,” he said with a smile.

The documentary will feature music clips and interviews with both contestants, as well as their friends. Allen said more students are welcome to join in the contest and be featured in the documentary-all they have to do is “Facebook them” by sending a message or requesting to become friends with one of them.

It also isn’t difficult to spot them while filming at Saga; they sit in almost the exact same spot in the center of Saga with the same people almost every day, and they linger for quite a while at almost every meal.

Allen and Campbell are getting to know and recognize Saga employees. Allen said many of the employees have nicknames, including the “burger guy,” whom they say looks exactly like Morgan Freeman.

Allen and Campbell said they never tire of their visits to Saga.

“There’s usually a pretty good variety,” Allen said. “The stuff they have that I don’t eat is the same stuff I won’t eat outside of Saga either.”

Allen said he knows that dining hall employees do not like the term “Saga,” so he and Campbell have coined a new term for Sodexho to try to help them and their fellow students get out of the habit of saying “Saga.”

“We gotta keep the employees happy,” Allen said. “We call it So-Ho. That way it starts with the same syllable and has a part of each name, so it’s loyal to Sodexho.”

According to Allen, his 14-meal a week plan somewhat limits his ability to compete with Campbell, who has an unlimited meal plan. They eat anywhere from 14-20 meals a week at Saga, respectively.

Allen said they would like the documentary to grow into a competition that will increase in popularity over the next few years. However, he does have one concern.

“I’m still hoping I’ll have a meal plan next year.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 3 2006. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry