One of my favorite things about Cornell is actually the high quality food that we receive everyday in the dining halls. Our food on campus is nationally ranked and after attending the Becker-Rose Cafe last week, I now see that it is because of our amazing and passionate staff behind the scenes including Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel of Rose House. They both really cared about what goes into our food and how we feel about what we are eating.

There was one example during the cafe that really showed how much the Chefs care about our opinions on the food. Chef Daniel mentioned that he will oftentimes stand by the plate belt and see which items on the menu students were throwing away the most. This helps him gauge what was popular that day and he takes this into consideration when preparing menus in the future.

I also really appreciated hearing about the many health initiatives that the dining system and houses pursue. Not only do they care about if we like the food, but they also want us to be healthy at the end of the day. Recently they have focused on making vegetables at the center of our plates, and pushing the meat off to the sides. Most people have noticed in west campus dining halls that the meat dishes have been given to us by student employees so that we only get one serving at a time. The goal is to decrease the amount of food that students eat so that we eat more vegetables. A few years ago, the dining halls also began to put out large containers of water that were naturally flavored with fruits or cucumber. This is a much healthier alternative to more sugary drinks for those who don’t want to drink just plain water.

Overall I really enjoyed learning about the dining systems on campus. I think that it was important for me to learn more about something that affects my life on a daily basis here at Cornell.