Guest blogger Hawk: On the ISS debacle

Hmmm… well, I felt inspired to do this post after reading Lunsj Dagensons thoughts on the disastrous findings in ISS’ cafeterias.

There are some points I would like to make on this, and after having visited the ISS website I must say that I find the gap between the promises being made on this website, and my experiences with ISS Catering.

I quote from the website:

Why choose ISS Catering?
- Individual solutions tailored to user needs and wants
- Varied, versatile and delicious cuisine based on fresh ingredients
- Great food experiences in welcoming surroundings
- Enthusiastic and skilled staff
- Short decision-making processes
- Ongoing quality assurance and satisfaction measurement

Well, what can I say? I can partly agree with what they say about short decision-making processes (probably way too short most the times), but I have yet to experience the rest of what’s pointed out here.

I have also noticed the pictures being used on the website, and I feel the gap between promise and delivery also being present here. There is something disturbingly familiar with the woman on the left and the poster so beautifully framing her head, but the rest of the picture I find totally unrecognizable. See illustrations below.

Government Inspectors find that only 2-3 of 300 ISS canteens are OK...

Finally, some support from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. The Authority spanked some ISS ASS on national TV yesterday - after their discovery of the total neglect of hygiene and basic understanding of food safety displayed by ISS in one of their canteens.

After checking some 300 canteens in Oslo - they found only two or three that acutally followed the rules. Two canteens were actually shut down there and then - and ISS now has to pay a fine for one of them. That's how bad it is.

Jan Petter Svinø of the Food Safety Authority - you are my hero. Keep diggin!

Oddly, ISS Faculty Services does not want to comment on this matter...

My plan now has changed: I get sick, i can sue - right?
Stay tuned...

Lunch-related signs and hip new media possibilities

Been lunching hard lately. Christmas coming up. Must practice.

Anywho: The relatively (lunchwise) challenged dynamic duo "Tynn & Trendy" moved their venture to Twitter due to the thin format.

Dagens Lunsj is looking into the same possibility - but due to the relatively low number of lunchrelated tweets we are holding back on this for now. Seems like the regular, unhip, web is the place to be right now. Stuff is happening, people meet - and so on. Blabla.

Anyway, lately we've been running into some pretty weird lunch-related signs lately. Two examples:

Guest blogger: "Trendy" from Tynn & Trendy

Just had lunch with a great friend of mine, Lunsj Dagenson himself. Nice guy, although he seems to lose focus every time he is in the presence of delicious food. Especially mid-day.

Anyways, we sat down for an hour, chatting about the bitches and the weather and the skin texture of obese people (you know, when it is pale and see through and you can see the fat and the arteries dancing underneath the skin). Lunsj-D had a big dish of something (i couldn’t bare myself to look at it), while I had my normal lunch routine: Snö&Coke. The coke keeps me going, the Snö keeps me fresh.

Thanks for the lunch, Lunsj.

xXx, Trendy (t&t’s least trendy half)

http://tynnogtrendy.blogspot.com/

Disclaimer:

The views and acts described by guest bloggers does not necessarily reflect the views of Lunsj Dagenson

I am not alone - lunch related problems exist all over the world

Now this li'l old lady choose to rather eat her cutlery than her lunch. I bet her lunch came from ISS. Sometimes it can be hard telling what's what on your plate, and i choose to believe that the 78 swallowed pieces of cutlery is a result of 78 accidental misshaps. Poor lady.

Most interesting part of this piece of news is that it is over 30 years old. Also it seems to be based on a nurses assumption of "some kind of mental disorder".

Caused by mental disorder or lousy lunch - i ask...?

Another lunch and fashion blog!

Jaoza. I found it. The only other blog concerned with both fashion and lunch. She might be only 17, but there is a clear light to be seen on the lunch+fashion future sky(?).

By the way:
None of us in the lunchblogging sphere has ever heard of whalesurfing before. Obviously a sport practiced by elderly men by poking a tied whale with a stick. Looks like fun. I knew i should have learned norwegian - but the images inspire me enough!


(Image borrowed from VG Nett)

Can we trust ISS?

It has come to my attention that ISS does not solely focus on providing weak lunches, they also try to advance in space research.

From an early age, one learns that focusing on your core areas is important. This might be the worst mixup in the history of lunch.

Also, if the personell in our canteen enjoys a paralell career as astronauts, i am seriously worried about how great this "star wars" stuff really is. ISS, you have me doubting - again.

It seems like they might be investing our lunch money in space stuff. I say: Give me back my 3038 billion NOK.

This is is

In norwegian this is called "is". The cup is made of what we call "isopor".
In other words: This is is isolated with isopor.

Is for lunch is good!

Expensive lunch

Jaoza... Not ISS but saturday lunch with the boys.
No further comments. Sorry for the blurry picture, but... You know.

Rice and whatever we've got

Two of ISS's favourite variations. "Rice with something we just warm up". The rice is like porridge - the warmed-up item is pretty cold. Bueaeah.

At least there is no worry to get dangerously obese by consuming the ISS food. It is not possible to eat that much of it - even though the nutrition part is aweful.

The guests are not the problem here, the restaurant is... I wish we at least had beer.

Beware: Easter has been moved…by ISS

The ISS website is like a bible to DagensLunsj and the DagensLunsj’ advertisers. This is where we go for inspiration and entertainment, and of course for all major news updates. It is basically our primary trusted news source. Our latest visit to ISS.no gave us a major heads up on an upcoming holiday, and we think it is important to share this with our readers.

When describing the canteen menu for March, ISS serves us with this controversial statement: March is the Easter month, and we should eat eggs. Lots and lots of eggs.

March?? Easter?? Our calendar clearly states that this years’ Palm Sunday is on the 5th of April. What are we supposed to think? Well – as usual, we believe in our bible. We believe in ISS.

So, by the power vested in ISS canteens - Easter has now officially been moved.

Happy Easter - we're in a hurry!

Oops, i did it again

I never learn. Five different types of pasta boiled for a long duration of time cannot be successful. It doesnt matter if you add broccoli.
Super-soggy and tasteless. Probably ment as a joke.

Norwegian Rockstar does not believe in lunchblogs!

image from www.smallbang.net

Singer and guitarist Øystein Greni from Norwegian rockband BigBang says in a web-meeting with the readers of VG, on the upcoming trend of lunchblogging, that he "...dont think that food is something to write about", and that "...this is something people should talk about".

It is clear that Mr. Greni at least have taken a stand on this issue - and we congratulate him with that. The worst thing to do is not to care at all...

In the end he says that "it is good to warn people of bad places", and thats sort of what this blog does, so...

We´re looking forward to your studio album, Øystein! But we strongly believe emotions and feelings is nothing to sing about - you are supposed to blog it.

In the meantime we are reading up on the subject of handling critizism while waiting for summer and looking forward to learn what other Norwegian celebrities think of lunchblogging...

Lonely Burger

An ISS classic. The lonely burger is back again. Heavily overpriced at 16 NOK. Bread not included... We need some serious investigating journalism here. Today Dagbladet can reveal the news of that soldiers get sick by using their weapons. When is someone going to look into what lunch does to us?

I'd rather have this. Or this.

By the way, check out the all-new spotify playlist. All lunch-related songs! Click on the ad to the right.

Same S*** - new price

The month of the egg is on. Omelette again. New price, same soggy piece of s***.

Please review earlier omelette-related postings for descriptions. Otherwise no comments. Gaaah.

Bad Bun

With a non-functioning camera today - here's a flashback from a few months ago. A bun with raisins for NOK 7. Dry and extremely expensive.

Here's what ISS promises us for March:
"Easter is the time to gorge in eggs. Boiled eggs, fried eggs, poached eggs, scrambled eggs, omelettes, gratins, pancakes and wafles. Eggs in salads, soups and cakes."

Maybe this is the time to go to sweden to get some cheap groceries, ISS? SEK vs NOK is weak and the road to Sweden is short... If you use a good car...

Painful Pedigree Pal Pasta

Kaboom. Here's a hit to your stomach.
Overboiled pasta with a tomato sauce that really could have been eaten if it wasn't for the "meaty" content. This stuff both looks and smells like the dogfood we all know - the one from the can that you really don't like to handle, you know. Or catfoood - whatever.

As one of my colleagues said. "It's like a funeral in my mouth - and a revolution in my stomach". Second that.

I will actually be surprised if nobody get seriously ill from this. Perhaps not like salmonella, but a vomit or two is expected during the day. Who knows what these lumps of "meat" really is? The threat from food is all over the news - and all over this blog. Stay tuned

Ups- and downs syndrome

Weird. It seems like ISS actually has taken some action. Somedays we actually get salad to the warm food - and sometimes the warm food is not THAT disgusting.

But...



Suddenly they're back to "normal" level. A soggy small piece of omelette for NOK 16 is not really a full healthy meal -is it?

Actually - not too bad!

Oddly enough - after a few weeks of lunch-campaigning food has actually gotten better! It was a huge surprise to suddenly find burritos, salad, salsa, cheese for NOK 30 last friday.

The main difference is that lunch now actually consist of more than ONE ingredient. Ok, fish cakes with green salad probably still is not to be considered a full meal - but with some additional bread it actually helps.

It is a welcomed stunt by ISS to actually start doing something. Not nearly as bad as the norwegian female skiers last embarresing behaviour - and it made me think that a potential lawsuit perhaps should wait, despite the recent inspiring lawsuit here in Norway.

The guys at NRK (National TV) complains about expensive orange juice. I am glad that more and more people are focusing on the food-offering at work!