UNie Life

A student review of the Dining Hall:

Kelley Warre
Multimedia Coordinator

A a student who experienced the
controversy that the announcement
of the new Dining Hall brought last year,
I must admit that I was skeptical at best
about the new food options. Walking into
the dining hall feels awkward to me. I

am not a fan of the tunnel effect that the
design choice creates. The old cafeteria
flowed with the rest of the campus. This

stark white dining hall entrance feels alien.

Aesthetically, I would feel more at home
if the design was more cohesive: either
staying with the architecture of the rest of

the university, or closing the dining hall off

entirely with doors. However, aesthetics
are truly not that important in the grand
scheme of things.

The layout of the food and the options
being served were a more positive
experience. It is immediately clear that

you get a lot of options and choices
for your money, which makes you feel
a little better about spending the $10
for a single entrance or the $2000 plus
for the semester-long meal plan.

I really liked the make-your-own salad
bar. Being able to put in exactly what you
want by yourself is incredibly convenient
and welcome. | also picked up a small cup
of coconut curry soup and some sushi

for round one. This brought me to my
first major annoyance: the lack of trays
in the dining hall. I was later told that
the lack of trays and small plates was

a purposeful decision to keep students
from over-serving themselves and
contributing to food waste. While this
made me a little more understanding of
the decision, it did not make the balancing
act of two plates, a cup of soup, cutlery,
and a glass of Sprite any less difficult.

Some of the food was mediocre: the

sushi was lackluster, with a non-optimal
rice-to-fish ratio. However, some of

it was really good. The coconut curry
soup was delicious, and I thoroughly
enjoyed my salad. While the small plates
were not really a problem, I found the
small glasses incredibly inconvenient.

I was constantly getting up to refill,
because the glasses were child’s sized.

I finished two more rounds, tasting a

little bit of everything. I appreciated the
small serving sizes for this reason--tasting
multiple items in such a way was not an
option we had last year. The food itself was
pretty good, and the quality has definitely
increased. If you utilize the options well, it
is definitely worth the price. Most new and
returning students I spoke to felt the same.
If you break down the price of the meal
plan and compare it to restaurant meals,
you definitely come out ahead, and there
is less stress of having to figure out meals.

There are still parts I am skeptical

of. My Pantry, for instance, sounds
wonderful on paper, but may not live

up to our expectations. The kitchen is
quite small, so I am unsure how it could
accommodate all the students who may
want to cook their own meals, especially
once they start removing the kitchens
from the student residences next year.
For students with specialized dietary
restrictions it will be nice, but for others
it may be more hassle than it is worth.
While it stocks fresh ingredients and

an array of spices, there seems to be a
reluctance to stock premium ingredients.

Ultimately, my final verdict is that the new
food options are neither better nor worse,
they are merely different. The Dining Hall
is not bad enough to make me actively
avoid it, but it is not good enough to drag
me out of the Thirsty Moose either.