The Dining Hall. We love to hate it. Everyday, someone complains about the food’s nutrition, the price, the lack of variety or all three. After the first few weeks of school last semester, I was one of these people. Everyday the food was the same. I thought it was overpriced after a little bit of watermelon cost me $4. I thought that everything was unhealthy and the service was slow. I also hated its hours of operation, especially on the weekends.
Some of these things are still true, but lets examine what is positive about the dining hall. We all have to eat here at some point or another. I was so frustrated with the dining hall that I wrote a paper in English 101 about how the dining hall contributed to the freshman 15. Then, just my luck, I had to write a paper considering the other side. This time, I examined and thoroughly thought about how the dining hall worked to do good things for the students. After this paper, I came to the conclusion that the dining hall does work to help students, but it is up to the students to make healthy choices. They can’t force feed us vegetables, but maybe they could designate a healthy eats section that allows us to immediately know we are eating something nutritious.
The a la carte system is a blessing in disguise because it causes us to eat less. It may be more expensive, but the temptation of unlimited desserts is too much for anyone to handle. We only take what we need to eat, eliminating much waste. The a la carte system also allows for more made to order items such as stir fry and pasta to create a more personal touch. The a la carte system allows for UMD to further its sustainability initiative by reducing waste and increasing composting and recycling. Many complain that they want all meals to be buffet style like at 251 North. When has someone gone to 251 North and not seen it busy? It always is. But would you really want to pig out every single night. Those mini-cheesecake bowls and endless cookies are delicious, but not good for you in any way. The pizza might be even better than at the diner. Yet, if you ate all you can eat every week, we would be wasting lots of food or overeating, or both.
Regarding the set up of the cafeteria, the salad bar is at the center of the dining hall. It is easy to grab fruit and vegetables. At South Campus Dining Hall, the healthy items such as the deli and value meal are in the center and front; the less healthy items like cookies and pizza are in the back. Likewise, the cookies and desserts require staff to give them to us, which means we might be less likely to grab them. However, if you do get the desserts, they are really, really good.
Unlike other colleges, our school makes its own ice cream. I think that that’s pretty special. And it’s delicious too. So, even if you are trying to eat healthy, indulge in a scoop of ice cream or milkshake once in a blue moon. Mocha s’mores is my favorite.
Finally, those tv monitors that display the menus items are actually really nice. Sure they cost thousands of dollars to install ,but the display looks like professional and are easy to see. Not only do these tvs let you know the menu, symbols have been placed next to the items to designate things such as low fat or contains nuts. Next, UMD should display calorie and fat info so we know exactly what we are eating.
So girls, stop complaining about the food, and look on the bright side. The dining hall isn’t as bad as it seems. The dining hall is the main source of nutrition for a student. You have to eat there. Appreciate the fact that the food is often decent and that you can get a good meal. Of course there are things that we would love to change about the dining hall, but for now, lets accept it the way it is. If you’re concerned about eating healthy, take some extra time and look up nutrition data at the kiosks or research healthy foods. Maybe if we stop complaining about the dining hall, others will too. No one wants to eat in a place with a negative vibe – that’s more toxic than fried chicken.
Photo Credit:
Top: Jacyln Turner
Bottom: UMD Dining Services
Article Rep: CVS.Umd.Edu