Part of going off to college and entering adulthood is learning how to survive on your own, especially when it comes to food. College dining halls strive to provide adequate meals for their students that will fill in the dietary gaps of mom’s cooking.
Often times students have a hard time eating nutritious meals because they can’t always afford the best food or don’t have the resources to prepare it. Food Service Director, David Reilly, says they are working hard to improve the quality of each meal starting with breakfast, “We are doing a healthy breakfast once or twice a week now. Getting better morning foods like bagels, english muffins, avocados and hummus. We’re also going to start having the fruit smoothies more often. Right now we’re doing those twice a week as well, and they are made with real fruit and soy milk and no added sugar.” At Spring Hill, the cafeteria staff tries to provide a diverse palate of food that appeals to everyone. Allison Stuart, junior, explained “I really love the cafeteria cookies, the chocolate chip ones for sure. I’m always over there. But one thing that really bothers me is that the oatmeal cookies are left out at the end of the day because not enough people are eating them. I would also be really excited to have smoothies more often and not just in the mornings.” One of the hardest things about feeding the masses is making sure they all are satisfied with their food.
Trying to provide fresh fruits and vegetables is also a challenge due to the limited life of produce. The food service staff tries expand the vegetarian and vegan options as well as keep some junk food around. Senior Henry Lee said, “I really enjoy the cookies, and I wish the ice cream was out more often. I like the healthy meals but I like to have desserts every now and then.” Though it’s hard to please everyone all the time, the caf has made efforts to keep good meals and desserts in rotation.
The best way to accommodate the whole Badger community and enhance our dining experience is to give both positive and negative feedback. “In every retail unit my company has (Einstein’s, McKinney’s, the Cafeteria and the Golf Shop), we do a ‘We Care Wednesday’ or Tuesday where we take surveys about how we’re doing and where we can improve. You can also email or text me about dining services as well. Additionally, we have a Food Service Committee through SGA that takes suggestions,” explained Mr. Reilly. Students can create their own concoction if their favorite fruits are out of season, or try the various soups that are also part of the healthier options.
Even though Spring Hill provides a lot of nutritious meals, there are also more tasty things to choose from, such as pizza. Tempel Viti, junior, said he enjoys the morning options, but wishes there would be more snack portions throughout the day. “I like coming to the cafeteria in the morning to get my daily omelette. I also enjoy the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because I can take them to go. One thing I wish the Caf would improve on would be small snacks like bags of chips and other quick on-the-go options.” Giving students the option to pick and choose their healthy and unhealthy meals is better than only offering one type of food.