“The dining hall is really good, better than home,” said international student Many Pang in our Features section on Sept 17.
When I first read the interview, I was admittedly in shock. In the four years I’ve been here, it’s the first time I’ve heard anyone say so. It’s the first time anyone has been honest about the dining facilities here.
You might hear in passing on Brock Commons on a weekday: “The eggs are fake.”
“I had cereal for dinner again.” “I can’t believe they put onions on waffles.”
From the same issue of this newspaper aforementioned, in this very section, you would have found dropped on the page: “Mile-long panini station lines.”
Or worse, you can pass by the dish room and see comment cards that might have read: “There’s nothing to eat here.”
Does the food not taste good? Or do we just not know how to Google the uses of a spice rack on our 5G iPhone 6? You know, the spice rack that the dining staff made space for in the center of the buffet area at our request last year?
Or do we really expect a dining facility serving thousands on the daily to flavor each dish as we individually so desire? Beyond the naïveté that is vested in this attitude fostered by the world of plenty here in this liberal arts college (and perhaps, by the comfort of our parents’ house), I feel confident in that the dining facilities more than adequately provide FDA recommended items. One whole plate of which can easily surpass the recommended calorie count per meal per average adult.
We have two salad bars, two separate drink stations, a made- to-order sandwich section, a pasta bar, two hot foods section (one vegetarian/ethnic), soup stations, and I haven’t even gotten to the new Panini press and smoothie station at opposing salad bars. It is not that there isn’t anything to eat. This is not only irrelevant, but also utterly irreverent.
Too many times have I seen the half-eaten Italian trio sandwich haphazardly hanging on to whole cookies on the dish room conveyor belt.
For too long have I witnessed blatant hypocrisy. It will not be the first time tomorrow at lunch that I’ve seen the plates of French fries and pizza, neglectful of the lentils and brown rice and vegetable medley.
Look, the dining hall is not perfect: hundreds of racks of dishes later some residue from the turkey meatloaf will cling on to a dinner plate. Trays after trays of chicken breast at dinner. It’s a miracle only a few pieces missed the spice rub. Trucks of produce frozen and unfrozen arrive. It’s a wonder we can get bananas during the off-season. Can some of these services be improved? Certainly, with specific, constructive criticism. Then again, let’s see you do all this on a public university contract budget for the entire academic year, storm or snow.
Do the staff not bring out their best at each month’s birthday dinner? Do the short order cooks not make your omelets as you like it no matter how long the line is? The man in charge of the vegetarian options, in my opinion, deserves an award for experimenting with the marsala and all the other ethnic dishes.
Not to mention, I would have never thought Philly cheese steak would be better than fried chicken on waffles until the staff hooked me up. (It even had an onion ring on top.)
Surely, we as citizen leaders striving to be mindful and compassionate human beings can make more intelligent choices with each bite and each word?
Please, thank your dining staff. Thank your fellow red shirts in their first year here. Be thankful and mindful of your food, where they come from and who prepares them for you.
There’s no need to think of our dining hall as better or worse than home. Respect it like your home.
