The gourmet generation
How students wound up eating so well is as much a cultural story as it is gastronomical.
School Days 2011-12
Today’s college kids grew up in a foodie culture. Chefs are celebrities. The Food Network has even gone after the MTV demographic, with Emeril Lagasse showing viewers how to cook dorm-room Western frittatas (an upgraded omelette). The environmental consciousness on campuses has evolved into calls for sustainable, organic food.
“These students are more educated about food than any other students before them,” said Ted Faulkner, senior associate director of dining services at Virginia Tech. “It is a challenge to keep up with them. They know what they want in food, and they expect that it will be offered to them in interesting ways.”
In 1989, food service giant Sodexho surveyed students about what delighted their taste buds. Top menu trends: chicken nuggets, fruit and cottage cheese plates, half sandwiches and cups of soup, chicken chop suey and chili. In a similar survey this year, the answers were unmistakably different: fattoush and sumac, couscous chicken stew, orecchiette with broccoli and garbanzo beans, and wild mushroom risotto balls with pesto aioli.
“When I was in college, which was a long time ago, we had one cafeteria and we had one line,” said Mary Soto, the chef at American University. “I’d go to eat and I’d remember saying, ‘What kind of critter did that come off of?’ You couldn’t identify what kind of meat you were eating. Everything was frozen.”
Today’s entrees are often cooked to order, right in front of students. This helps keep costs down; the only food prepared is food that is ordered. At 251 North, there are options for Italian, Asian, American and other cuisines, with professional cooks and students grilling beef, mixing noodles and slicing artisan pizzas in front of the patrons.
“I think students enjoy watching and knowing the food is cooking fresh in front of them,” Mullineaux said. He showed off 251 North’s replacement for a standard roll at the salad bar: a mini-panino with boursin cheese and prosciutto.
A selling point for schools
Campus officials say that while the more highfalutin dining entrees can sometimes drive higher revenue, they are more interested in food as a recruiting tool. At Virginia Tech, the school’s football coaches take potential recruits to eat at West End Market, which has a steakhouse, a sports bar, an Italian bistro and a deli. Another large nouveau-dining hall is planned for next year and will feature wood-burning grills.
Alexa Lewis, a junior from Philadelphia, became smitten with Virginia Tech while still in high school when she visited a friend on campus. Her friend promptly took her to eat the West End Market’s piece de resistance: London broil at J.P.’s Chophouse.
“I’m not going to say it’s the only reason I came here, but food is important, it really is,” Lewis said, in between bites of salad at J.P.’s. “My mom always makes fun of me. She says, ‘You picked your college by the food.’ ”
The increased focus on the junior gourmands does not mean they have completely lost their appetites for chicken fingers and tacos.
Virginia Tech still has Chick-fil-a, Pizza Hut and Cinnabon. Maryland still offers heaping portions of fried food and hamburgers. Snack shops have not abandoned Doritos for edamame.
At Gallaudet, where the cafeteria lists the source of ingredients and the distance they traveled to get there, some students are pining for fast food options to be served alongside their chili-lime-chipotle carved pork loin.
“McDonald’s,” freshman Casey Hicks said, standing in the cafeteria line. “Or Burger King.”
Read more stories on PostLocal.com.
Loading...
Comments