By Elizabeth Ednie
Before moving away to college almost four long years ago, I always thought the food was going to be so much better than what my mom would cook at home. I was excited to make my own choices and have variety in my diet. But boy was I wrong. Over the past four years, the food quality has gone downhill, and fast. Especially within the last year and a half with COVID, the options we have been getting at Stonehill College have been disappointing as they rotate on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, and there isn’t much variety. It’s also hard to make healthy choices when the “healthy” menu items are bland, soaking in oil or the same everyday.
Everyday I find myself wishing I was home for my mom’s cooking, or able to opt out of the meal plan to make my own food. I love cooking, it’s become such a fun hobby of mine and a unique way to express myself. I know what good quality food is supposed to taste like, and Sodexo just ain’t it. It’s also disappointing and upsetting that we have no choice in the meal plan and that we are forced to eat the food they make here. And don’t even get me started on the BITE U app that we order from at certain dining facilities. They either make it 30 minutes earlier than your desired pick up time, or you are waiting past your time for your food.
Eating at college shouldn’t feel like we are eating at a prison. We deserve good quality food that nourishes us and fuels out bodies so we can do well in class and help the school with good academic ratings so more people can attend. After all, the students at every college institution across the world are solely the ones paying all staff and faculty’s paychecks. The school should listen to what we have to say, because we are more than capable to leave a review on the school, listing all the reasons why perspective students shouldn’t come. The food quality being at the tippy top.
Food and eating on campus is such a major part of a college decision making process, and the tour guides when I was touring definitely were not transparent about the quality of the food here. It doesn’t seem like a big deal before you enroll in a college, but when schools like Stonehill don’t allow a meal plan level to choose from, it makes it nearly impossible to get out of it. I find myself spending my own money on food and cooking utensils to make my own healthy meals which wastes my mothers money on the non-refundable meal plan and my own money for just trying to be healthy. A healthy variety of meals not coated in oil that is the same every week isn’t too much to ask for, so I don’t understand why it’s so hard for Stonehill and Sodexo to listen to the students who have been complaining for years.