We eat surprisingly well here in the intentional community where I reside (called JPUSA, short for Jesus People USA). When I moved in, I thought I was surrendering to a life of cafeteria/school lunch type food for the most part. I knew they worked to serve the vegetarians/vegans in the house, so it wasn't totally like my school experience...but I thought I was settling for a pretty unspectacular diet.
I've been happily astonished at the menu. While weekends are made of easy to cook/not so healthy entrees, weekdays show that good food for large masses of people IS a reachable goal. One of the elements of that is: the salad. Weeknights always include either "large salad" already mixed up, or a great salad bar where I never get stuck with iceberg lettuce and can almost always choose fun things like chick peas and nice quality olives in addition to all the usual veggies. JPUSA does salad very well.
Living here for 8 months, I have developed a salad habit. I never don't get salad if it's available. I didn't realize how nicely that habit has entrenched itself into my life until I was off-site for over a week for Cornerstone Festival. I'm not gonna lie - I love vendor food. Deep fried, fatty, sweet, salty, bad, bad, BAD for me and I love it. BUT. A few days into living on it, I realized my body was begging for salad. It has been a beautiful thing to be back home where I can easily get it. Last night I even skipped the main entree and just built a huge salad for my supper, with a little bowl of baked sweet potatoes on the side and a bit of good chewy bread.
I'm definitely taking this "salad every day" thing back with me when I move.
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