Nestled within the heart of campus life, the SNU dining hall is more than just a place to dine, it’s a space where students converge for sustenance and sociability. In this exploration, we delve into the overarching quality, variety, and student-driven expectations that define our dining experience.
The culinary experience at the SNU Dining Hall is marked by a commitment to overall quality. Miles Berry comments, “If we talk about nutritional value, they have a really good standard. An exception is when they serve pancakes or french toast for dinner. The chicken, it’s like magic how it’s always dry. However, breakfast is always amazing! Sometimes lunch and dinner can be a hit or miss, so I’ll give it a 6/10 on consistency.” Cheyenne Gaymon adds, “The quality is good. It’s not mind-blowing, but it’s edible. I’d wish they’d season the steamed vegetables. I also wish the chicken wasn’t dry!”
Diversity is something that our SNU dining attempts to achieve on most occasions; however, many students have agreed on how there should be more rotation of foods that they serve, especially at lunch and dinner times, as well as more food alternatives for people with special dietary needs.
Berry speaks about variety depending on the time of the year, explaining that at the beginning it’s amazing, but it slowly starts to decrease as the semester goes forward. Gaymon states, “For breakfast, there’s no end. However, for lunch, there are a lot of options along with a salad bar. I think they should switch the meals and have different dinners; we do not want stir fry every Friday. There could also be more variety in the grill.”
While SNU Dining Hall excels in many aspects, students have expressed specific expectations for further enhancements. Some call for an improvement in overall health hazards and dietary inclusion for individuals who can only consume gluten-free foods. An anonymous interviewee shed light on this fact, stating, “I think they should make it safer for people with allergies, so having spaces that are allergen friendly, changing gloves, which sometimes they’re good at, as well as changing utensils because cross-contamination is real. I’ve heard people getting sick in their attempts to get wraps, which is one of the few alternatives for people who have celiac like me. The chefs are cutting it with the same knife every single time without wiping it off or cleaning it. When they do wipe it off, they only use a napkin, and at times it’s always the same napkin.”
When talking about overall experiences, most students can agree on the hospitality of the personnel, on rare occasions having food denied to them and at times being suggested to go to the back of the line if they wanted a slightly bigger portion. One student shares an experience about how they denied her a biscuit for breakfast, while another shares a witnessing of a scolding from an employee to another for serving too much of a portion.
As we navigate this culinary landscape of the SNU Dining Hall, it’s evident that the commitment to quality and variety is steadfast. However, the beauty of its canvas lies in its openness to student feedback. With the voices of students guiding the palette, the dining hall has the potential for continuous improvement and evolution. As we savor each dish and make a new memory, let us appreciate the efforts that make our dining experience unique and look forward to the next chapter that student input can add to this ongoing gastronomic journey.
Photo by José Ramos