Last week, Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel held a discussion about Cornell Dining and the programs and ideas being implemented. As the Director of Cornell Dining, Paul is in charge of managing 30 venues that serve 22,000 customers/transactions per day. That is a lot of food to coordinate. Currently, Cornell Dining’s main goal is to promote healthier eating. This can be seen in the changed menu that includes more vegetable and fruit options as well as whole grain foods. I really liked the idea of infused water with fruits so that people avoid the sugary drinks. In addition, there have been programs such as 5 Days of 5 where their try to promote eating more vegetables rather than protein.
At first I was against these changes, especially because the dessert bar disappeared for Becker brunches and the dining hall limit how much protein you eat. But these changes are needed to work towards promoting healthier diets. I have actually been eating a lot healthier with these changes, especially with their most recent change to move the cookies away from the fruit table in Rose. I look forward to December 8th where the dining halls will give back to the students healthy and delicious food creations.
I can agree with both your disappointment about the lack of desserts and your appreciation of healthier food. I’ve seen more fruits in the dining halls recently and really enjoy it.
I was wondering where the desserts at Becker brunches went! Haha! After reading your post about Cornell trying to move to healthier options, I am very glad they made those changes. Students are now able to practice eating healthier which may continue as they leave Cornell and start cooking for themselves!
At first I was a bit upset about the changes in dining this year. However now, I see myself eating a lot more healthier because of these changes. I still wish we had the desserts at Becker brunches though.
When I ate a meal in a dining hall here for the first time with my family, my mom’s first reaction was surprise at the fact that there was a variety of healthier options, compared to the mostly fried foods and pizza she was accustomed to when she went to college. It’s nice that Cornell Dining really does try to cater to student’s well-being.
I didn’t know the infused water was a health initiative. When I first saw them, I thought it was some sort of elitist water – because who really needs infused water. Seeing watermelon infused water made me the most confused because watermelon itself is very watery. Hearing that it was a health initiative makes a lot more sense now. There are people who drink water all the time and those who drink soda all the time, and maybe the infused water is really helping encourage people to cut back on some unhealthy sugary drinks.