Senior government and politics major
While many on-campus residents complain about dining plans, dining hall food and dining facilities, Dining Services has enacted beneficial changes within the past few semesters to make our experience more bearable.
One of my favorite Dining Services initiatives is the Green Tidings food truck, introduced in June. Parked at a different location on the campus each day, Green Tidings provides sustainable, locally grown cuisine. Dining Services reports that the food truck’s executive chef, Will Rogers, collaborates with local farmers to show off their culinary and agricultural skills. Because the menu changes every two weeks, food from Green Tidings is never mundane, and you can always find a refreshing dish to spice up your day. Recently, the food truck began accepting not only cash and credit cards, but Terrapin Express. You can stay informed of menu items and locations through the chef’s blog or Green Tidings’ Twitter feed or Facebook page.
A major problem for Dining Services in the past few years has been the vast food disparity between the North and South Campus dining halls. The former has long paled in comparison to its southern counterpart, which is complete with specialty stations like the Jalapeño Grill, an expansive and diverse salad bar and a pasta station. Luckily, governing organizations on the campus, such as the Residence Hall Association, lobbied Dining Services in the past few semesters to place the North Campus Dining Hall on a more even playing field.
While South Campus used to be exclusive in its Salad Sensations station, North Campus now offers a made-to-order salad station during the day at its former late-night sandwich joint, the New Yorker. Furthermore, South Campus no longer holds a monopoly on create-your-own pasta since North Campus adapted the pizza station Luigi’s to accommodate pasta requests. And while nothing can compare to the South Campus stir-fry, North Campus’ vegan-friendly Sprouts now allows made-to-order stir-fry using selected salad bar vegetables. Still, inequality persists as North Campus offers no substitute to South Campus’ delicious burrito and taco station, Jalapeño Grill.
Paradoxically, the relative victories of North Campus over South Campus go relatively unnoticed. North Campus’ Korean barbecue, sadly, has no Southern counterpart. This already excellent station has even improved just in the past year by offering more options. It introduced lo mein and noodles to the usual white rice monopoly and offers a strong variety of vegetable and meat combinations to tickle every palate. South Hill residents could certainly benefit from having a Korean barbecue station of their own.
While large projects such as South Campus’ recent late-night dining option are welcome additions to Dining Services, sometimes it’s the little things, such as the new dishes, that make a meal great. Previously, students eating in the dining halls struggled with plates that were too small and did not hold slippery food like pasta very well. Often, these students simply opted for the carry-out container to guard against an embarrassing spill. Now, especially at South Campus, students are given plates shaped like shallow bowls, which do a better job of keeping food off of the floor and promoting sustainability.
While Dining Services has done much to accommodate students’ needs, an area that could use further reform is 251 North. Perhaps unused swipes could carry over to new weeks in future dining plans, or there could be an ice cream option for dessert. And although many students eventually move off campus and have little contact with dining facilities, it is important to keep bringing ideas forward to improve our university for prospective students.
Tiffany Burba is a senior government and politics major. She can be reached at tburbadbk@gmail.com.
