Daniel Sweat
Features Editor
Campus Dining has recently begun two new initiatives that aim to provide students with healthier and better dining options.
The first of these programs is the “Clean Bean,” which began at the request of several students on the Campus Dining committee. The canned black beans that were previously available at the Vegetarian section in Lowry have been replaced with cooked black, navy, red kidney and pinto beans which are soaked overnight and cooked without any additional ingredients.
Since the previously available beans contained less-than-desirable amounts of sodium and preservatives, the Clean Bean is one of the ways Campus Dining hopes to incorporate less-processed, cleaner options on the vegetarian menu. Moreover, Campus Dining’s commitment to the cleanliness of Lowry’s beans represents both a commitment to student’s suggestions in regard to what they want to be served and a commitment to student health.
Campus Dining Director Marjorie Shamp encouraged students to “combine them with other ingredients for a healthy, plant-based meal.” Shamp also noted that students are free to add their own seasoning from the spice rack if they find the beans a bit too clean for their taste.
In addition to implement new policies that encourage student health, Campus Dining is also looking to implementing more sustainability programs both on and off campus. As Shamp said, “Our department not only operates Lowry, Kittredge, Old Main, Mom’s and C-store, but also provides all on-campus catering (over 1600 catering orders a year, from boxed lunches to served, plated gourmet meals), schedules and supports more than 32 summer camps and conferences between May and August and provides ceremony and reception services for weddings.”
Last year, they began the Lug Your Mug campaign, which has been widely successful, and the Clean Bean program is just another in a, hopefully, long list of sustainability efforts. The fact that the College’s food service is the only self-operated food service operation in the Ohio 5 (Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster) allows Campus Dining some considerable flexibility when revising their menu and looking for more sustainable options.
The second of these programs is “Taste Test Tuesday” (TTT), which campus dining uses to test out potential foods before officially putting them on the menu. Students can sample a variety of potential menu items and vote on whether they ought to be included on the menu. Shamp said that TTT helps both “to break up the monotony of the cycle menu” while also giving students an opportunity for their voices to be heard. “The comments we have received on the TTT comment cards indicate that students really enjoy tasting the new items and providing input, even if they don’t care for a particular offering,” said Shamp. The next TTT’s are scheduled for Feb. 14, 21 and 28.
Taste Test Tuesdays is one of many ways that Campus Dining uses to evaluate student opinion. Other methods include comment cards, emails from students and food committee discussions. Shamp uses all these resources to comprehensively evaluate the dining menu over the winter and summer breaks. Less popular items are dropped from the menu and newer items may be added in. The process of changing the dining menu is, indeed, slow; however, Shamp emphasized that the role of student feedback is critical.