Computer Chow - Brief Article

Careers and Colleges, March, 2001

It's a dilemma any frequent computer user knows all too well: How do you manage to eat while sitting in front of the monitor without getting your keyboard all sticky or needing to take a post-snack nap? The Art Institutes (www.artinstitutes.edu), a system of 20 schools nation-wider recently asked their culinary arts program instructors to develop high-energy, healthy, "computer friendly" snacks for the school's design and animation students.

"[Students] spend many long and hungry hours at the computer. We asked some of our chefs to help develop foods that would not only be easy to eat-i.e., lowmess factor-but also supply enough energy to avoid the sluggishness that comes from too much junk food," says Jeff Durosko, spokesperson for The Art Institutes. Christine Geyer, a chef instructor at The Art Institute of Los Angeles, likes to advise keyboard jockeys to try yogurt-based high-energy snack drinks which are especially suited for computer users when served in a glass with lid and a straw.