As the end of the semester draws to a close, the Dining Department hosted its last Culinary Council meeting of the semester on April 3 in Clewell Dining Hall on South campus. This meeting focused primarily on recommendations from students that will be explored and potentially implemented in the fall semester.
During this meeting, students were able to get a meal that was currently being served at the dining hall, with the ready-to-order station, as well as broccoli cheddar soup, and Mediterranean-themed options.
At the previous meeting, Dining shared that new chefs had been hired for Clewell’s dining hall. In light of this, the head chef is looking to change and add more variety to the menu. Currently, the dining hall serves mostly smaller bites, and they are hoping to create more meal staples going forward.
One student asked if there was an update on any changes made to the labeling of items based on dietary restrictions. Students with dietary concerns were advised to reach out to campus Dietitian Susan Hurd who is on campus once or twice per week and can be reached by email at [email protected]. Her contact information is also found at the Simple Servings station in The STAR.
The lack of coffee availability on South campus was brought up by a South Campus Representative. Dale Fisher, Dining retail manager, said the most accessible and realistic option for Dining to provide this is to add Starbucks coffees that are available in the B&G to the vending machines on South campus.
In Clewell, there are plans to expand the variety of health-conscious meals to provide students with an array of options, covering a spectrum of extremely health-conscious to less-conscious options.
With the newly implemented seasoning table in The STAR, one student suggested a condiment table as well. Dining was very receptive to this suggestion and will be looking into implementing it.
Shifting to the retail side of dining – the B&G, DeLight’s Café, and vending – general feedback from students started with a desire for more vegetarian sandwich options in DeLight’s. Dining will look into rotating different options to create more diversity for students.
Another suggestion was to bring Starbucks’ blonde espresso to DeLight’s. However, because the café isn’t a Starbucks, but rather a location that “proudly serves Starbucks,” Fisher said it is impossible to implement all beverage and addition options. Dining selects a certain number of options to serve in the café.
More vending machines will be coming to South campus to provide meal options when Clewell is not open. This should help offset the limited dining options available to students on South campus.
Once students return to campus in the fall, Culinary Council meetings will resume, with the first meeting most likely happening in September on North campus.
