The Story
Tribe Vibe: When Cardboard Pizza Goes Stale
This article is the latest in The DoG Street Journal's weekly series of opinions pieces, "Tribe Vibe." Tribe Vibe discusses the most important aspects of William and Mary, the Tribe and life in Williamsburg.
Few students come to college expecting a gourmet spread at every meal (and those students that do go to schools like Yale and Bowdoin), but academic eating, even at the College, can be a lot more than ramen noodles in a dorm room or mystery meat in a dining hall.
And for those students who aren't satisfied with just eating what is put in front of them -- whether for reasons of taste or health -- there are a few easy ways to monitor exactly what is being put on your plate.
Tip 1: Get to Know Each Dining Hall
To new students, the Sadler Center RFoC (the "UC"), the Commons Fresh Food Company (the "Caf") and the Marketplace Café (I call it the "Muh-Place," but it hasn’t quite caught on yet) can be easily confused, but each dining hall can provide eaters with unique pleasures.
Vegetarians and generally picky eaters may find it easiest to go to the Marketplace, where what you see is what you get. All your food is prepared in front of you at stations, so if you don't want black beans in your burrito or cheese in your wrap, it's as easy as telling the person preparing your food.
The Caf has some of the freshest-tasting foods, with a reliable (though sometimes less-than-tasty) vegetarian/vegan section. This dining hall also features nutritional information for most of its food, which lists not only nutritional facts but also ingredients, so students with food allergies can easily spot the inclusion of tree nuts or tomatoes that may trigger a negative reaction.
The UC is convenient because of its location, a bridge between old and new campus, but the food is often lacking in taste and variety. It seems, looking back, that my freshman year was filled with the UC's cardboard pizza, salads from the salad bar with syrupy raspberry vinaigrette and vanilla soft serve -- three of that dining hall's unchanging staples. When the UC is good, it rivals any other dining location on campus, but that happens so rarely that it is always a risk. One standout staple is the location's breakfast menu, which is always hearty and delicious, especially the made-to-order omelets.
Tip 2: Take Advantage of Take-Out
Those eco-friendly cardboard take-out boxes at the UC and Caf aren’t just for grabbing a quick bite when you don’t have time to sit down. And those bins of apples, bananas and oranges aren’t just for decoration.
Food is put in the dining halls for us to eat, and we pay lots of money every semester for the convenience of pre-prepared, ready-to-eat food (the cheapest “Gold Plan” is $1,726 per semester -- that’s a lot of apples).
So don’t be ashamed to stuff your backpack with as many mealy apples or spotted bananas as you can grab. Fill a take-out box with a few rock-hard bagels for the unavoidable midnight munchies. I’ve even seen people walk out of the UC with whole bags of hoagie rolls.
Tip 3: Flex Your Shopping Muscles
A lot of students forget about the Flex points that come along with their meal plans (at least $125) until the last few weeks of the year, requiring a last-minute shopping spree at the Students’ Exchange (often referred to by students at the College as the “Sexchange”). While a few pounds of bulk candy and cookie dough can certainly sugarcoat the stress of finals, you may find it better to use your Flex points to add perennial spice and variety to your dining plan.
Explore the Students’ Exchange beyond the sushi and candy sections. The back wall (near the poster board and greeting cards) is home to a lot of interesting international, vegetarian and organic foods. Dining Services provides a list of such brands that can be found on campus.
The local Domino’s also takes Flex points, so as long as you’re willing to wait half an hour, you can call up and get an unhealthy but delicious meal delivered to your room. Keep a few dollars in cash around for tips, and you and your friends can rotate who “Flexes” the pizza each week. One plus about Domino’s is that they deliver pretty late into the night.
Tip 4: If You Don't Know, Ask
On a day-to-day basis, it's hard to tell by looking at it (especially with often aesthetically displeasing food from the dining halls) if a certain dish contains meat or tree nuts or dairy. While the nearest Dining Services employee may not be able to immediately answer your questions about dishes that aren't so clearly marked, they will point you to someone who can.
For larger, perpetual dietary concerns, students should not hesitate to contact members of Dining Services with questions and comments. Questions about food should be directed to Executive Chef Denis Callinan and Food Service Director Matthew Moss, who offer to meet individually with students (as well as with the Dean of Students and Student Health Center) to discuss solutions to students' dining problems.
Tip 5: Take Matters into Your Own Hands
When push comes to shove, no student can expect a perfect meal every time he or she sits down at a cushy Caf booth.
The easiest way -- the only way, really -- for students to be able to control every part of everything that they eat is to cook it themselves. For most of us, though, schedules packed with classes, clubs, sports and some semblance of a social life don't allow us enough time to adequately cook ourselves hearty meals. And the limited resources in dormitory kitchens and duty offices only make the process harder.
But taking the little time necessary to do something as simple as boiling a few pounds of pasta or steaming in the microwave whatever vegetables were on sale at the supermarket can allow you to throw together fresh, preservative-free meals to your specific tastes in very little time.
If you have a big chunk of free time every week (for me, it was every Sunday afternoon), get together some friends and make the building blocks for a cheap, satisfying meal that will be available in your fridge at all hours of the night for the next week.
Jake Robert Nelson is Executive Editor and an opinions contributor for The DSJ. His views do not necessarily represent those of the entire staff.