As you could probably guess, I was most excited about the free peanut better we received at the end of the Becker-Rose Cafe on Wednesday. But what was talked about during the discussion was also interesting, about how Cornell dining is aiming to improve the way students eat and about how they know what we like and what we don’t – they look at what comes back on the dish return, and they really make an effort to transform what wasn’t eaten or appreciated into something new the next day. While I don’t really care about the meat rationing, because I usually only want one serving or less, some of my male friends complain bitterly about it, especially if they’re trying to eat a lot of food in a short amount of time. It is a point of contention among many people, and in my experience the one time I wanted more than what was given (three chicken nuggets at a time) and asked for more, I was given one additional chicken nugget, which I thought was a little ridiculous. So overall I’m not sure what to think about it.

I noticed, however, that one rose house member suggested that the cookies not be kept right next to the fruit, and the next day the cookies had been moved to the dessert station. It was gratifying to know that the dining staff really do listen to our suggestions.

I appreciated our discussion of how we have to be more rude–a lot of times, especially on popular nights (like taco Tuesday), people wait in line for things they don’t even want because they feel they have to. We all have that instinct – see a line and get on it. But sometimes to increase the efficiency we have to be a little rude and be unafraid to go up to what we want and take it.

I honestly think rose house has the best dining hall, and I eat dinner there more than I do at any other dining hall. I haven’t been going to house dinner lately, but after hearing about the special desserts I might make more of an effort to go. Props to Chef Daniel for making awesome food.