This Rose event was extremely interesting. It was amazing to think about all of the ways we can trick our brains based on physiological knowledge. There are countless factors that affect all off our decisions we make when eating. This sparked my interest in learning more about behavioral factors that affect people’s choices especially when it comes to food. As a food scientist, it is a critical component to understanding and trying to influence the choices people make. For example, if you want consumers to purchase more produce it was found that placing arrows on the floor of supermarkets increased produce sales by 10%. In addition, I also found it interesting that placing the salad and vegetables on the table while leaving the main course on the stove makes people eat more vegetables because they are more likely to reach for the salad which is right in front of them rather than get up and go to the stove to get another plate of food. People tend to be lazy and knowing this can help influence the decisions people make. Also, another thing that was discussed is avoiding grocery shopping when you are hungry. People tend to buy more and unhealthier food options when they are hungry. Also, what you eat before you go shopping can affect what you buy. If you eat a healthy snack such as an apple, you are more likely to purchase healthier foods. I really enjoyed hearing from the food and brand lab experts and I hope to learn more about human behavior regarding food in the future.

It was incredible to hear about the work and thought process that is behind a dining hall. We are so fortunate to have dining on campus that is healthy, varying, and full of quality and care. It was nice to hear about the initiatives that are being taken to reduce food wastage and more healthy eating. One request that a student made was to move the cookies so that they are not in plain sight under the fruit. That was a great suggestion that I hadn’t even thought about! Placement of food can very well define what you eat. Surprisingly Chef Daniel took the suggestion and moved the cookies away from the fruit. It will be interesting to see the impact of this subtle placement change. It was also very interesting to hear how much business Cornell Dining has on any given day. There are thousands upon thousands of transactions everyday, and since there are not many other eating options on campus, most of those food transactions go to Cornell Dining. Cornell Dining is a lot larger scaled than I originally thought it would be.

There’s no wonder why Cornell has one of the best dining hall programs in the nation and is #1 in the state of New York. The Flora Rose House dining hall food happens to be my favorite on West Campus with their offerings of fresh, sautéed vegetables and overall, well-cooked food. I can only help but think how spoiled I am compared to my friends at other colleges and that getting healthy food and the necessary nutrients isn’t my biggest concern while attending college.

One thing that I found interesting and very resourceful was that Chef Daniel looks at the food left on the plates that are at the dish return. This helps him determine which dishes were successful and favored by the students and helps him signify which ones needed improvement. It is a good and honest way to determine which foods will make an appearance again in coming weeks. Additionally, this would also avoid the need for surveys, which has the potential to provide false information. Using the dish return method blatantly shows which foods were disliked.

What I respect most from Cornell Dining is that they have been making a continuous effort to show people that it’s beneficial to eat healthy and be kind to the environment. One example is the fruit/veggie punch card as an incentive to receive a free fruit/veggie when buying 10. Another thing is that Chef Daniel expresses that it’s important to utilize the unique produce that Cornell Dining is now able to gather and incorporate them into new applications. Cornell Dining also makes a valiant effort by showing how important it is to compost and recycle materials correctly, which will be most beneficial in the long run and help our thriving community.

While I’ve liked most of the Becker-Rose Cafes so far, I appreciated this one because of its relevance to my everyday life. I eat on West Campus at least once every day, often in Rose, but I rarely give much thought to the behind-the-scenes processes and people that allow me to do so. I’ve always told my friends at home about how good Cornell’s food is, but I’ve never really known why that was the case.

After listening to Chef Daniel and Paul Muscente talk, at least one of the major reasons why Cornell Dining is so great became a lot clearer. While I think their system for feeding thousands of people every day works very smoothly, they were still actively looking for suggestions for improvements from the students. Every decision that they made, from moving greens and whole grains to the center of the plate to putting out flavored water, seemed to have the best interests of the students in mind. They responded to every question or comment from the students (both positive and negative) with interest and openness. This attitude of constant adjustment based on the needs of the student body must be one of the main reasons Cornell’s food is ranked so highly.

The scope of their jobs seems overwhelming to me, so I couldn’t believe that they have time for so many initiatives in the first place, but they seem to be taking on new projects enthusiastically. I’m very grateful to have such passionate and creative people behind Cornell Dining, and I really appreciated the chance to talk with them.

Last Wednesday, I attended the Becker-Rose Café Series talk given by Paul Muscente, Associate Director of Cornell Dining and Daniel Czebiniak, House Chef/Manager of Rose House Dining Room. They began the talk by giving some background on the different eateries at Cornell and how Cornell dining has ranked in the previously and as of late amongst other college eateries. We have consistently been ranked within Princeton Review’s Top 10! Both Paul and Chef Daniel then elaborated on some of the initiatives that Cornell Dining has taken as a whole and West Campus dining has taken in recent years. Such initiatives include the Cornell Dining Mug Club to reduce the use of disposable cups, Five Days of 5 in which everyone on campus was encouraged to eat five cups of fruits and veggies for five days last semester, and the set servings of meat to encourage students to fill their plates with more veggies and fruits and less protein.

It made a lot of sense to me that Chef Daniel and the dining staff look at what gets returned to the kitchen to gauge what students like and do not like as much. But what stood out to me most was the amount of care that Chef Daniel, Paul, and the entire Cornell Dining staff puts into ensuring that all students’ dining needs are met. There is a nutritionist who will work with students if they have allergies or other dietary guidelines and restrictions. Chef Daniel will also prepare foods especially for people with allergies. This personalization and dedication speaks volumes. I would agree with Paul that in addition to the variety offered on campus, what makes Cornell Dining so unique is the staff’s willingness to work with students and ensure that everyone has a pleasant dining experience. I was really impressed that the day after this talk, the cookies were moved away from the fruits to where the other desserts were as one student suggested. I applaud Cornell Dining’s efforts to help students eat healthier and to be more sustainable.

I would be lying if I did not say that a highlight for me was receiving Cornell peanut butter at the end of the talk. I think that this also speaks to how special Cornell Dining is. We are able to enjoy products that are made right here on campus, such as peanut butter, yogurt, and apple cider. We also reach out to local producers and donate food to local food banks. A large portion of the Cornell Dining staff is also comprised of student and local workers. All of this is extremely important in building relations within the Cornell community, as well as, the greater Ithaca community. I can tell that the Cornell Dining staff takes great pride in their work. For that, I just want to say, “Thank you” to them for all that they do. I am so appreciative. They certainly do a great job with a so many mouths to feed day-in-and-day-out. Cornell Dining, you rock!

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.

Mass production normally does not imply high quality. When it comes to Cornell dining, however, this axiom is not the case. Serving over 19,000 meals per day, Cornell dining seeks to both sustain and satiate our community— and it does just that.

As Chef Daniel made clear with his stories of watching the dish belt, no detail goes overlooked: the chefs here are committed to their craft, and for them, no job within the kitchen is too small or too meaningless. While Cornell dining is a massive undertaking indeed, it is one approached with a great deal of care.

And it shows. As a transfer, I can say this with some degree of certainty: not all university dining is as good as, or can even compete, with what we are offered here at Cornell. The biggest takeaway, I think, is that we should be thankful.

After eating in the  Cornell Dining Halls for about a year and a half, I had so many questions about how the food was prepared every day, the amount of time it took to prepare the food, and how the dining halls managed to organize their menus for each day. Chef Daniel and Paul Muscente were able to offer us some valuable insight on how Cornell dining functioned every day and the hours of labor and thought that it took to prepare meals for thousands of students on a daily basis. I was surprised by the mass scale at which Cornell produced its food which was about 10,000 meals every day. In order to support such a large undergraduate population, the dining staff was comprised of both students and non-student food service workers who were willing to put in hours during the food rush hours  to support the heavy influx of students. During such rush hours, students invariably formed long lines behind the specialty stations that offered the best meals of the day. Therefore, many students inquired if Cornell Dining had a feasible plan to reduce the long lines during rush hours; however, Muscente suggested that only students could help reduce the lines by waiting until the line had cleared up instead of diving right into a long line. The lines were going to form no matter what day of the week it was, but the students had a choice to skip the line for the time being or follow what everyone else was doing. I found myself thinking about the times when I would just blindly go into a line without even knowing what food was being served on the other end . Such experiences made me more aware of the fact that following large groups was not always the best idea and sometimes it was better to join the less crowded line.

During this talk, I learned that Cornell has been actively trying to promote healthy eating on campus by cutting out deserts and rationing meat in the dining halls. Paul stated that 3 years ago, one could find  3 different pies, cakes, and cookies in every dining hall, but now there are only one or two dessert options at the most to encourage moderation. Chef Daniel stated that he and his team have been trying to include more veggies and whole grains into the food at Rose and ration the protein because it is wasted a lot of the times. Many times people take a lot of protein and end up throwing it away because they feel like indulging in ice-cream, waffles , french fries , etc, but they don’t realize that the protein is the most expensive and hard to prepare item on their plate. Instead of offering large quantities of meats and protein to students, the dining staff is trying to mix the protein with vegetables and healthy grains like quinoa to offer a more balanced meal.  College students tend to eat irrationally when they see a plethora of good food in front of them; therefore, it is important that they are carefully choosing what they eat. I realized that I eat more healthy when I have fewer choices of fried and starchy foods to choose from. Therefore, I support Cornell dining’s efforts to reduce the quantity of unhealthy food being served everyday and replacing it with healthy alternatives.

When one is hungry, they could usually care less about where their food comes from or how much effort goes into making it. Especially as busy college students, we are often so consumed in our schedules, that we prioritize our studies over our eating habits. That said, it is awesome that Cornell Dining has made it their priority to deliver food that is both great-tasting and nutritious.

I was blown away to learn that Cornell Dining serves over 20,000 meals per day. Paul and Chef Daniel’s accounts of the elaborate steps that go into every meal speaks to Cornell Dining’s hard work, effective coordination and professionalism and why it has been consistently ranked one of the top dining systems in the United States. New initiatives to provide more fruits and vegetables and healthy options for those with special food needs are great in that they ensure all students are accommodated and that all students have the opportunity to receive the nutrients they need to be healthy, happy, and successful in their academics.

Having lived on campus for my first three years, I can definitely attest to the top-notch service that Cornell Dining provides. Now that I live off campus, I have a new-found appreciation for Cornell Dining since I must now fend for myself every time I am hungry. I think about Chef Daniel’s cooking every day as I ration out my Cheerios and frozen burritos.

P.S. Someone, swipe me in!!!

At the Becker-Rose Café on November 4th, associate director of West Campus dining, Paul Muscente, and Chef Daniel Czebiniak of Rose House shared with us how Cornell dining operates to provide the best dining service to students at Cornell. Cornell Dining is consistently ranked in the Princeton Review’s top ten for best campus food among all colleges and universities in the country. A few days prior to the Becker-Rose Cafe, Cornell was actually honored to be the best university dining in the state of New York and among the top 10 national-wide. I am grateful to have such pleasant dining service at the college I attend. I think it is superfluous that students enjoy their meals so that they can acquired all the nutrition they need for staying healthy and maintaining the brain power for productive studying.

It was very interesting to learn that Cornell obtains fresh ingredients from nearby farms as well as from our plantations. Cornell also strives for dining sustainability. This means the dining services look into ways to reduce potential food waste and also promoting food compost . From the cafe, I also learnt about the reusable coffee mug program, in which you buy a reusable coffee mug from Cornell Dining and you can purchase any coffee size using that mug at a price of a small-sized coffee. As a coffee lover, the program would not only allow me to save some bucks over the year, but it also helps me to be more environmentally friendly. With this initiative, I would no longer be wasting a coffee cup every time I buy a coffee. Last but not least, I found out that if If a student has food allergies or food intolerance, or require special meals, the Cornell dining service can make special arrangement for them. Cornell Dining cares so much about the students, the environment and the local community, no wonder why it is ranked one of the top dining services in the U.S.

At last week’s Becker-Rose Café, Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel led a great discussion about the inner workings of our dining hall system. I’ve always enjoyed the food here, but I’ve never really considered the amount of labor that goes into providing thousands of meals each day. Prior to this talk, I had already known about a couple of the new health initiatives; for example, many of the Cornell dining halls limit the amount of meat students can take at one time. However, Muscente talked about a lot of new dining initiatives that I had never heard of (such as the Menus of Change program, which aims to get students to eat 10% more fruits and vegetables). That explains the reduced dessert options and the fruit-infused water.

I was personally impressed with how Cornell dining really seems to care about what students are saying. For instance, Chef Daniel said that he personally goes to the dish belt and takes note of the food items that are being thrown away. Near the end of the talk, a student noted that the desserts should be moved away from the fruit so that people who walk over to the fruit station aren’t tempted to take a cookie instead. And they listened! Two days later, I noticed that the desserts and fruit were separated in the Rose dining hall.

Cornell Dining is one of the best services here offered at campus and being far away from home and mom’s cooking, I am thankful for everything Cornell Dining does for us everyday. I was able to get to learn more about the people behind the scene and what they keep in mind when serving students. One interesting cool thing I did not know about was the punch card for fruits and veggies. I knew there was one for drinks but not for food groups, which I feel shows Cornell Dining is caring about what students really eat in a healthy way. The head at the Rose House shared with us in how he evaluates the food choices in making sure he incorporates new food styles such as having more grains and couscous available for students to eat. Furthermore, I found it interesting that he had worked previously in Europe at a hotel learning catering management and in general how to take care of the guests primarily. The enthusiasm in how much he enjoys his job now as managing the food behind the scenes in going to serve students on campus just further shows the dedication Cornell Dining has for us in making sure we get good food everyday. Thus, overall I think Cornell is one of the few universities that actually has good food for students and that is all due to Cornell Dining and the decisions they make.

I love Cornell for many reasons. One of the reasons is the great dining options that we have available and as a Rose House resident I get the opportunity to consistently eat in the west campus dining halls. As a student who enjoys Cornell dining, I really enjoyed last week’s discussion with Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel. Because I was Rose Scholar last year, I had heard Mr.Muscente speak last year about Cornell Dining. It was great to hear Chef Daniel’s experience here.

Mr.Muscente gave a good overview of Cornell Dining. I learned that Cornell Dining serves over 10000 meals to each day. The number was astonishing. It takes a lot of work and good organization to run such a large organization and still provide high quality food. I always had a great appreciation for the quality of food at Cornell, especially after trying campus foods from other universities. It was great to hear Chef Daniel talk about all the things they consider in making choice for meals. The staff really look at what is being thrown away the most to try to figure out if there is something better they can offer. They are always striving to improve which I think is one of the main reasons that Cornell Dining is always in the top 10 colleges for best campus food. In addition to learning about Cornell Dining, we also learnt about Chef Daniel’s experience working at the Ritz-Carlton and the Statler before becoming House Chef at Rose House. I really enjoyed the entire discussion and learnt a lot about the places I eat at.

Has somebody else made that pun yet?  I’m sure somebody else thought of that already.  Meh, I’ll keep it.  Anyway.

I thought that this Becker-Rose Café was nice because it is directly relatable to a facet of our everyday lives.  I’ll be honest, this was probably the least interesting one that I’ve been too in quite a long time–while I of course see the value of various food initiatives, I don’t find them particularly invigorating.  That said, I eat at Rose a handful of times every week and last week’s café has helped enhance this experience.  This is for two reasons: first of all, it’s nice to get a deeper understanding of the faces behind the food that I get to enjoy.  Secondly, I;m much more aware of the thought processes that go into what ends up on my plate.  Being aware of these processes has actually made me more likely to go along with the (healthy) logic behind them.  For example, I hadn’t noticed that the selection and layout of the food in the hall is designed to make me want to focus on vegetables.  Now that I am aware, however, I have been consciously deciding to put more vegetables on my plate.  It makes me appreciate Rose that much more–not only the tastiness of the food, but also the concern for the welfare of the students behind it.

On Wednesday at the Becker Rose Café, Chef Daniel Czebiniak of Rose House and Paul Muscente, associate director of West Campus dining, came to elucidate the workings of Cornell Dining. Recently, Cornell has been rated as #1 for university dining in the state of New York and within the top 10 nationally! As students, we barely see how the corporation operates, so Chef Paul and Daniel took time to introduce and explain in detail some of the new programs that Cornell Dining has been instituting.

Cornell Dining’s goal is, obviously, to provide students with nourishment to supplement the harsh days of cramming and studying for classes. However, it is also important to make sure that what is being served to the students is actually healthy. In previous years, the dining halls have been known to serve delicious desserts, such as tiramisu, chocolate covered cream puffs, chocolate eclairs, etc. While these desserts do boost morale in some students, they are not particularly healthy. And Cornell Dining’s initiative in joining the Menus of Change program hopes to change that.

You might have recently noticed that there are a lot more fruits in the dining halls. Or you might have noticed that there are a lot more fresh vegetables. Or you might have noticed that meats are starting to be portioned. Or you might have noticed the decrease in delectable desserts. Well, there’s a reason for that! The Menus of Change program aims to bring healthy nourishment to students and decreasing the amount of protein and sweets that could potentially ruin their health! Hence Cornell Dining has increased the orders for steamed vegetables and fresh fruit for the student population. However, that is not to say that you shouldn’t go and starve yourself of meat. These are just nutrition guidelines that Cornell is trying to expose to students, but you should go and ask for more meat if you’re hungry!

So go to your nearest dining hall today and grab yourself a plate of vegetables and a piece of fruit togo! Eat healthy!

Also, it is rumored(Paul Muscente said it) that there is to be a steak/salmon night (Prime Night) in December because Cornell has been named #1 in New York State. So keep an eye out for that too!

I thoroughly enjoyed attending last week’s lecture with Paul and Chef Daniel. From the very start, I could see how enthusiastic Chef Daniel is about his job. All and all, there were a number of interesting questions raised about the dinning here at Cornell. While I have only been at Cornell for one semester, I am very appreciative of Cornell’s food especially coming from a university that adamantly did not focus on dinning.

In regards to potentially expanding dinning hours on West, I was not appreciative of the answer that Paul gave regarding this idea. I understand that there are budget constraints and union concerns, but the fact of the matter is that Cornell does not have a true “Late Night Dinning” on West where students are able to grab something to eat very late at night after classes or after going out on the weekends.

Nonetheless, I was shocked to see their swiftness in listening to some of our concerns. For example, within the next day or so, the Chefs in Rose House moved the cookies away from the fresh fruit stand to better adhere to nutritional and allergy concerns.

I am still not sure why House Dinners are more limited in the dessert department. I enjoy the nuanced desserts, however, I do not believe the dinning services should limit students even more with their limited selection.

I enjoyed Paul’s presentation on Cornell’s dinning services beyond West campus and certain changes that he and his staff are looking to make for years to come. I feel as though this lecture/presentation made me more aware of the food preparation and hospitality practices with a behind the scenes look. I am very glad that I attended this lecture last week.

Last week Wednesday, I attended the Rose Café event with guest speakers Chef Daniel Czebiniak and Associate Director of West Campus Dining Paul Muscente. They talked about what their various duties and goals are in their respective jobs. I found this Rose Scholars event to be very interesting. For a person who lives on West Campus and eats at the various dining halls all the time, I was interested in hearing about what goes on “behind the scenes” and how the food that I eat gets prepared. It was great to see that a lot of time, thought, and passion goes into every meal that is served here at Cornell. Because of this, it is very easy to believe that Cornell is ranked top 10 in the nation in dining halls and number 1 in New York State. What I also found interesting was the raw number of meals served each day. According to Mr. Muscente, over 19,000 meals are served at Cornell each day. The amount of food that 19,000 meals equates to is unimaginable. Overall, this was a great Rose Scholars event. It was a great opportunity to learn more about something that greatly affects our daily lives here at Cornell. Especially in the case of dining, I think that this area is often over-looked in terms of importance in college life, but after attending this Rose Café, I have found a new appreciate for all the hard work that the employees put in to ensuring that the students can eat quality food.

When I had the chance to listen to Paul and Chef Daniel talk about what Cornell is doing to listen to the students how they are improving the menus at not only Rose house but across campus. Personally I found it interesting to hear the different initiatives that are going on across campus such as five for five campaign that worked to get students to pledge to eat five servings of fruits or vegetables every day for five days. It was also interesting to hear about the Menus of Change Program that Cornell is participating in. Before I heard about this, I found it strange that someone was now serving me the meat and I couldn’t just get it for myself. The reason behind this is actually not what you would typically think, yes they are rationing the amount of meat we are given, BUT we are still more than welcome to go back up for more or, get this, ASK for more. Some people think that what they give you is all you get and this is not true. The idea behind serving between three and four ounces of meat is to make vegetables and fruits the focus of the meal. Raising cattle or pigs or chickens is very costly not only to the farmer but also to the environment so eating less meat and morevegetables will not only help us to be healthier, it will help our environment be healthier as well.

I also found it interesting to know that the chefs along with the Cornell dining program work very hard in order to ensure that every dish is labeled with the correct allergens and that this is updated if some type of cross-contamination does occur. Also, if someone does have an allergy they can talk to Chef Daniel if they are a part of the Rose house system or their perspective chef in order to get meals that are free of their allergens.

Now if we could just have more vegan desserts that would be great!

I really loved hearing the head of Cornell’s food program and out very own Chef Daniel discuss all the behind the scenes details about what we eat on campus. I eat at Rose House almost every night, and its very interesting to hear what goes behind making my daily meal. I heard of the many things Cornell does to manage waster, which I find very important because a campus with 20,000 students must waste a ton of food (and I know I throw away too much food from time to time in the dining hall) For example, Chef Daniel will stand by the food belt and see what students throw away or clean their plate of, so he can know what to keep or chuck from the menu. I think this is a great step, because if the students are all hating one thing, it would be a waste to continue serving it and throwing it away, or let it go to waste at the end of the night and end up in the garbage. Also, Cornell employs a composting service that comes and weighs the amount of food we compost every week so we can track how much food that wasn’t eating isn’t going totally to waste.

Listening to Mr. Muscente and the Chef, you also start to understand the scale of the operation. On any given night, the dining halls on West serve 400-600 people (and taco tuesdays do a killing with 800 people). Also, you see how hard they work to accommodate everyones schedule, having a dinner hall open at 4:00p.m. and open until 9:30. It is nice to know that at any time I can get dinner.

Also, during the question and answers section of the talk, one person raised their hand and asked if the dining hall could move the cookies from right under the fruit tree, because they’re very likely to mindlessly grab a cookie while they wait in line or on the way out. I found this to be a FANTASTIC idea because I can eat 3 cookies before I even know it, even if I didn’t feel like dessert. Two days later, the cookies were moved, and I haven’t eaten one since! All in all, I had a great time hearing all about the food I eat every day.

Last week, Rose dining Chef Daniel Czebiniak and Associate Director of West Campus Dining, Paul Muscente, spoke to Becker and Rose residents about the planning and preparation that goes into the meals we eat everyday. Chef Czebiniak worked at the renowned Ritz-Carlton before joining the Cornell Dining family, and he works among similarly qualified chefs on West Campus. It was interesting to delve into the thought process that goes into the dining preparation, namely how the chefs respond to student’s reaction. Chef Czebiniak explained that often he and other staff stands by the dish belt to see what is coming back and what the students are not eating, and reassess the meal based on that evaluation. By that description it is clear that the dining staff is extremely receptive to our needs and aims to serve the best dining experience possible. This aim explains how Cornell is constantly ranked extremely high when it comes to on-campus dining and was recently voted #1 in the state of New York.
Being a transfer student, I have the ability to compare my dining experience to that of my previous school. Coming from Rutgers University, which has close to 40,000 undergrads, the experience is completely different. At Rutgers, there was not a sense of attentiveness and care that the Cornell dining staff has. Additionally, I have noticed that I have significantly healthier options here as opposed to at Rutgers. I’ll admit, upon learning that my residential dorm had a dining hall in the building, I was scared that the freshman 15 I managed to avoid last year would make a comeback this year. However, with all the healthy options at every meal I feel that I do not need to worry as much about that. Coming from a different school makes me really appreciate the dining options Cornell has to offer and I thoroughly appreciated the insight Chef Daniel and Paul Muscente provided for us at the event. It made me even more appreciate to be a Rose House resident.

Last Wednesday’s talk about Cornell dining was really informative and it really made me appreciate how our dining system works. At the talk I learned that Cornell dining is one of the top in the state. I also learned that at other colleges, two dining halls might be serving the same thing but at Cornell as we can probably already tell, each dining hall has a different menu. At the talk I also found out that West campus dining halls were constructed in such a way that people didn’t have to wait on one line just to get to a station that might not be directly part of that line. At the talk, we were encouraged to be “rude” and just go straight to our desired food station. If you want to take out several pieces of fruit from a dining hall on West, you can just swipe yourself in multiple times and get the fruit. Other interesting stuff included: being able to talk to the house chef if you have any allergies and working something out,  new dishes with vegetables being designed to encourage healthy eating, rationing of protein, and the possibility of adding another dining hall to Central campus.

Overall, the talk was great, I learned a lot, and I now appreciate Cornell dining even more. I don’t know why some of my friends complain about dining hall food because I honestly really like it. At the end of the talk there was some free peanut butter but I didn’t get it cause I don’t like peanuts.

The talk about Cornell Dining helped me appreciate how much effort and thought goes into the food that I eat everyday. From how long the lines will be to how much food is thrown away, every detail is considered.

A few topics discussed particularly interested me. First the meat rationing system that has been established has positive and negatives in my opinion. It seems like a valid method of reducing waste, but it has some draw backs. If a person wants two servings of meat they will need to use two plates, which will create extra dishes. It also seems like an attempt to reduce costs by making it more difficult to consume the amount of meat you would like. Maybe there is a middle ground. Perhaps using a smaller serving implement would induce the same reduction in consumption while keeping to the “all-you-care-to-eat” approach.

I was also interested in the discussion about long lines at the dining halls. In my experience Okensheilds in particular has very long lines during lunch hour. The dining staff said that the facilities were designed to reduce lines by allowing people to walk up to the food they want. During low volume times, this system works great and people are able to get their food quickly. However, this seems impractical given the volume of people wanting to eat a limited number of dishes. Maybe this opinion is bias as someone who is accustomed to standing in lines. I would be interested to see what would happen if an experiment was done in which all people were told not to stand in line and just get their food. Would this work and reduce waiting time? It would be interesting to see.

Lastly, I was confused by the discussion about signs in Becker House from the New York City Board of Health which say “Sanitary Inspection Grade A.” I was confused not only because Becker House is not in New York City, but also because Tompkins County does not have a letter grading system. In my opinion, these signs are slightly deceptive because they indicate that Becker House received an “A” grade when it didn’t. I also looked at the Tompkins County inspection data and, while I was able to find inspection data for Rose House and others, I was not able to find any inspection data for Becker House. I hope that I missed the data for Becker House or this is simply an inadvertent omission.

Last week, I went to the Becker/Rose Cafe series with Chef Daniel and Paul Muscente, two of the big characters in Cornell Dining. I recall going to the same talk last year, which was just with Paul, and I remember not liking it very much. In my opinion, Paul treated the students more like “customers” last year, but this year I was pleased that he had a more personable presentation. I think Chef Daniel’s intermittent comments made the whole presentation more palatable.

Yep, there’s a pun.

What I appreciate about Cornell Dining is that they take their job to heart and make an honest effort to be a great dining program. I’ve had food at several other colleges while I was visiting friends, and I have to say that we beat them by a mile, which was unfortunate for me to recognize because it only made the meals there worse. It’s great that we can get chefs like Daniel Czebiniak who trained at the Ritz Carlton, people who actually know good food.

That being said, I’m still wondering what’s the point of limiting how much of a certain item we can take. I’m not talking about the cookies or fruits that we take out of the dining hall, I’m talking about the hot entrees that one of the dining staff has to physically put on your plate. I know they don’t want everyone to take heaping platefuls of turkey or pork loin, but honestly the serving sizes of what they give us are too small, at least in my opinion. And it should be said that I don’t eat that much usually. Still, it seems like I just end up hating the guts of the smug individual who puts a single chicken wing on my plate. I was going to ask Paul what the rationale behind this is, but I never got the chance.

Oh well, I should probably appreciate that I even can go to a dining hall in the moment before I go off into the real world and subsist off leftover pad thai four nights a week in a small apartment.

Being that I am directly impacted by Cornell Dining every day, I was very eager to attend a Becker/Rose Cafe series on, well, Cornell Dining. Paul Muscente, Associate Director of Cornell Dining, pointed out the myriad of accolades that Cornell Dining has received over the years. There were several facts that stood out to me. For example, I was always curious as to why some food items were rationed (e.g., chicken wings). Perhaps, I thought, this was done to deter an individual from taking 20 wings at a time, which could potentially starve everyone else in the dining hall. Interestingly, however, this is also done to limit one’s intake of protein. This knowledge has even made me a little more health-conscious when it comes to selecting food items. I was also fascinated to learn that Chef Daniel spends a lot of time near the dish belt in order to assess what students throw away.

There was one particular thought I had in mind throughout the talk. I was interested in having the issue of food waste addressed. Although I am sometimes guilty of this myself, it truly upsets me to see perfectly good food (even if one doesn’t think it tastes good) thrown away. Certain guidelines may prevent Cornell Dining from preserving and distributing food because it can be “contaminated.” Nevertheless, I believe there is no reason for massive amounts of food to end up on the dish belt. It is up to us as individuals to finish whatever we put in our plates. One should not simply grab as much as food as they can, eat what they can, and then throw away the rest. One should grab what they can eat. I understand that there can sometimes be exceptions/valid excuses (e.g., feeling sick, shortage of time, etc.), but these excuses should be relatively rare occurrences. I’ve heard that the United States could feed the world with the amount of food that it throws away. How should that make one feel?

It is evident that Cornell Dining takes the ideas of students into consideration. One of the students in the audience, a former high school peer of mine, suggested that fruit and dessert items should be separated. Some time after the talk, I noticed that Rose Dining Hall had actually implemented this idea. I openly admit that I sometimes complain about Cornell’s food options, especially on West Campus. I also admit, however, that I take it for granted. Cornell’s food isn’t spoiled: I am.

Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel detailed all the activities and planning that go into maintaining West Campus dining, and overall the Cornell dining system that is consistently ranked in the top for campus dining nationwide. He is in charge of West Campus’ five house dining halls and the kosher dining at 104 West! It is not easy to run a dining system

Due to Cornell’s location, it can take advantage of fresh food nearby by either getting it from nearby farms/plantations or growing its own due to Cornell’s efforts in sustainability. Each dining location is assigned a well renowned chef who are then allowed to create their own menus. This is giving leeway to Chefs that is often not found at other colleges and I as a student can appreciate it because it offers me more variety in food.

I was also happy to hear that if I have dietary restrictions or am unable to find something that I can eat, all I have to do is communicate with the chef and they will work through it with me and provide me with more choices. This is especially useful for people with food allergies or restrictions and I really appreciate Cornell’s attention to this matter.

This past week’s Becker Rose Café hosted Rose House Chef Daniel Czebiniak and Associate Director of Cornell Dining, Paul Muscente. First, we began by discussing all about Cornell’s vast dining options and high achievements. Just recently, Cornell Dining was voted #1 in New York State which is a huge achievement. Upon that, Cornell is consistently ranked very highly nationwide. We have 30 different eating options from All You Care to Eat dining halls, cafés, and finally the two markets on campus being Bear Necessities and Jansen’s Marketplace. They offer a wide selection food options and unlike other schools, each Dining hall hosts its own menu each night rather than the same food everywhere resulting in a ton of options for food.

After this talk we focused more on Chef Daniel and his experiences at Cornell Dining. He worked professionally as a chef in the Ritz Carlton as his past culinary experience. Following this, he worked in the Statler Hotel’s Kitchen, and now resides within the Flora Rose dining hall. He says the experience has been amazing. The technical background and intensity of the Ritz Carlton was definitely interesting but he also enjoyed working alongside students at the Statler Hotel and now in the Rose dining hall, he is able to create new menus and take a bigger role in keeping us healthy.

A huge part of the Chef Daniel’s job is sustainability. This means that the tries to avoid waste as best he can. This is done through properly ordering the right amount of ingredients, using leftovers in delicious and efficient ways, and finally making alterations to menus if he sees that certain dishes aren’t liked by students and thus a lot of it is being thrown away. It’s a big task, but with the help of his staff, he’s able to provide delicious, healthy options to better the Cornell community.

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.

It was really interesting to hear about how the dining system functions here at Cornell. The cafe gave me a better perspective on the decisions that the chefs make and why.

The talk helped highlight what makes the dining system great. The most important aspect to me is that each chef is able to prepare his own menu for each day which gives students a lot of variety day in and day out. Also, the chefs show their appreciation by making specialty days and creating amazing house dinners for us. Another aspect that sets our dining apart is the chef’s responding and adding in what student’s want.

The chefs also highlighted some of the health initiatives they have such as limiting the amount of protein (even though you can ask for more). There have been very displeased reactions to this. Some of the complaints have a basis and other don’t.

One thing I think  being lost is a sense of personal responsibility in your health and what you eat. Putting deserts in low traffic areas and limiting the number of deserts are great ideas because they will almost surely help improve the diets of Cornell students. I feel like the focus on these things is justified even if it can feel like they are coddling us. In the end, choices aren’t being taken way. The dining room should be set up in a way that emphasizes healthier diet options without forcing certain diets.

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.

On November 4^th, the Becker-Rose House Café hosted Paul Muscente, the Associate Director of West Campus Dining, and Chef Daniel Czebiniak, head chef of Flora Rose House. I remember a few weeks ago, Mary Jo Dudley, and Justine Vanden Heuvel came in and discussed who grows, and who picks our food. We had the opportunity to learn and ask questions about agriculture in the state of New York. Although we learned about how the vegetables grown in farms reach our dining halls, this week enabled us to ask about food preparation.

As Muscente and Chef Czebiniak talked about efforts to reduce food waste at Cornell, I though back to an article I recently read. Roughly one third of food produced, about 1.3 billion tons of food, in the world goes to waste. In May 2015, France passed legislation, which bans supermarkets from throwing away food. The legislation is a step to combat food waste, and any unsold food is to be donated to charity or used for animal feed. Supermarkets found throwing food out can face heavy fines or even imprisonment. It was great to hear about Cornell dining taking initiatives to reduce food waste. Some of these initiatives include making adjustments in food preparation to use all parts of vegetables and produce. Chef Daniel Czebiniak talked about the different ways to prepare hearts of palm; he discussed the various ways of preparing hearts of palm and how to use all parts. Being able to use all parts of produce is one way of reducing food waste. Dining halls also reduction the amount of protein consumed, offering more options like vegetables and fruits rather than proteins, like meat. The proteins are also served by dining staff. I often see other students piling on food onto their plates and barely eat anything. By having staff serve the proteins, students have limited serving sizes. I believe that this greatly reduces food waste and though many students feel like they shouldn’t be limited, there is nothing preventing students from getting seconds once they finish what is on their plate.

I hope that Cornell continues to take initiatives to reduce food waste. Hopefully, one day Cornell can partner with local food kitchens and charities to donate food and fruits to those less fortunate.

Walking into a dining hall is one of my favorite experiences on West Campus. The quality of silverware, plates, and napkins, the unique aesthetic and layout of each hall itself, and of course the amazing variety of food provided every day never fails to impress me. It was no surprise to me then to learn about all of the attention to detail paid by the Cornell Dining staff to each and every aspect of the dining experience and all of the accolades that have been awarded to the organization. Furthermore, I saw that the excellence in execution was matched in innovation through the various initiatives Cornell Dining has taken. Programs encouraging healthy and sustainable eating such as Menus of Change or Five Days of Five were particularly illustrative of that strength. However, the part of talk I really hope will stick with me is perhaps the beginning of the talk, during which Mr. Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel went over some of numbers reordered by Cornell Dining. 19,000 Meals served per day, adding up to 2.3 million in a third of a year, with 1200 full-time employees and 600 student employees. These numbers not only reminded me of the number of people in the Cornell community, but also the enormous amount of resources needed for all those people. For me these numbers make clear how each citizen doing his part to avoid waste can make an enormous change in the amount of resources we use if summed over the total population at Cornell. I only hope that this Rose House Café will serve as a reminder for me to continue to appreciate the great resources that Cornell Dining provides and to steward those resources as best I can.

The Becker-Rose Cafe this past Wednesday featured Cornell Dining’s associate director Paul Muscente and Rose Dining’s head chef Daniel Czebiniak.  Cornell University has consistently been recognized for having one of the best college campus dining halls in the country and we were able to get a glimpse into understanding why.

I had noticed Chef Daniel’s biography from time to time in the Rose dining hall, especially during House Dinners, but it was certainly interesting to hear from him firsthand about the internal operations of the kitchen.  I always thought that Rose’s menu was slightly better than the other West Campus dining halls (which may or may not have played a role in my housing decision) and I finally got to hear from the man behind it all.  In addition to his impressive culinary backgrond, Chef Daniel mentioned rationing certain foods to encourage students to eat healthier.  I think it is a good idea to have a kitchen staff member serve meat because personally, I am a carnivore and love my protein a little too much, so having someone distribute it will reduce the chances that I get too much.  I have not been eating as healthily as I should be since I have come to Cornell and I really need to change my eating habits.

Paul Muscente also talked about some past healthy eating initiatives that Cornell Dining has undertaken.  One specific event that I remember from my freshman year was the Five Days: Have You Had Your 5 Today?  The tables and posters set up at RPCC and Appel reminded me to eat my fair share of vegetables and fruits and encouraged me to color my plate.  I am glad that Cornell Dining genuinely cares about Cornellians’ health and puts so much thought into developing more ways to promote healthy eating.  Although it will definitely take some effort on my part as well, I will try to motivate myself to adopt a healthier lifestyle, starting with what I put in my body.

Cornell dining is moving toward sustainability. Rose House Chef, Daniel Czebiniak and Cornell’s Associate Director of Dining, Paul Muscente spent much of Wednesday night’s talk discussing the various ways in which Cornell dining is moving toward sustainable practices. Some of the initiatives include reducing pre-consumer waste by improving food preparation techniques, composting almost all of food waste, and encouraging students to make protein a smaller portion of their diet.

As an Environmental Sustainability Sciences major, I am very pleased to hear that the dining service is taking steps to improve their sustainability. However, as a student, I have trouble jumping on board with all of their methods, particularly the means by which they are attempting to reduce students’ protein intake. The primary way that the dining service is attempting to reduce the proportion of protein consumed is by cutting proteins into smaller portions, and serving them to the students rather than allowing them to serve themselves.

To be entirely transparent, I don’t have a problem with this practice in and of itself if it is truly being done for the sole purpose of being more sustainable. Unfortunately, I am far from convinced that this is the case. Reducing the amount of protein served is an easy way for the dining service to reduce its costs. I’ve spoken to several dining employees who have said that the dining service is struggling financially because its budget hasn’t been raised for several years; although I can’t say that this is definitively true, the way Muscente took care to avoid a discussion of economics on Wednesday seems to lend credence to it. The combination of these factors thus makes me wonder if the actual reason that the amount of protein is being reduced is simply for the purpose of cutting costs, but is being passed off as a sustainability initiative because it sounds better that way.

Sustainability is praiseworthy, but so is honesty. I’ll withhold my praise of the dining service’s sustainability initiatives until I am better convinced that they aren’t being used to disguise distasteful economics. In the meantime, the dining halls do serve good food, and the workers are friendly, so I’ll offer praise of these aspects instead.

Cornell Dining’s associate director Paul Muscente and Rose’s head chef Daniel Czebiniak spoke at the Becker-Rose Cafe this past Wednesday evening. I was looking forward to attending this cafe for a number of reasons, including the fact that I love the dining experiences on West Campus– the quality of the food, the variety, the convenience, and the presentation.

Mr. Muscente offered impressive facts about Cornell dining, most notably, that nearly 20,000 meals are served every day in the dining halls and cafes across campus. I was also very excited to hear that Cornell was recently ranked as having the best dining out of any college in New York state. Way to go, Cornell Dining!

A large portion of the cafe was spent discussing sustainability and Cornell Dining’s efforts to increase the quantity of local vegetables used, while also limiting overall food waste. I know that many students have been frustrated by the new meat rationing this year. Chef Daniel, however, explained the rationing as a means to prevent students from wasting uneaten meat, and also to encourage us to fill our plates primarily with healthy veggies. While Cornell Dining’s effort to minimize meat consumption and waste is off to a great start, I wonder if we can go even further with this idea. I recently spoke to friends about having a weekly meatless day in at least one dining hall on West Campus. In doing so, we might significantly reduce CO2 emissions from the meatless dining hall, and perhaps create a greater awareness for the importance of paying attention to what we eat– not only for our own health, but for future generations.

At the end of the cafe, one student suggested to Chef Daniel that the desserts be moved away from the fruit stand in the Rose dining hall. As students walk out of the dining hall, it is tempting to pick up a dessert and a piece of fruit, but if the desserts are separate from the fruit, students might be less inclined to take both. I thought this was a great suggestion, and I was impressed to see that the desserts and fruit were separated in the dining hall within two days of the Becker-Rose Cafe. The responsiveness of the team of managers speaks to what I think is the greatest strength of Cornell Dining– Mr. Muscente and Chef Daniel really do care about and listen to the community.

This week, the guests at the Rose-Becker cafe were Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel.  They came to talk to us about food on West Campus.  I hadn’t known much about how food was dealt with on west campus before, or on campus in general, so this talk was very enlightening for me.  I learned that all of the dining facilities are looking to reduce waste and to increase nutrition for students.  One of the things mentioned was the new initiative to have people specifically serving meat, so that students will only get a small portion to start with.  I think this is a good idea, because I might occasionally take more meat, thinking I would really enjoy it, and then end up not liking it as much as I thought I would and having it be wasted.  It also encourages eating more vegetables and fruits and grains, which helps support a more healthy lifestyle.

I think it’s very important that we eat well at college.  I was a bit sad when I discovered that fewer desserts were being served at the dining halls, but I have noticed that it has prevented me from eating as much dessert as I might have before, which is good for me.  Cornell’s dining is one of the best in the country, and I am always happy to brag about the fact that the food is so varied and good here, while at most other universities, it is not.  It was very interesting to hear more about how this works and why we are as good as we are.

We were fortunate to have Paul Muscente, Associate Director of West Campus Dining, and Chef Daniel Czebiniak of the Flora Rose House come tell us more about Cornell dining and West Campus food. This was probably one of my favorite events to date, as they provided us with a lot of insight into the decisions that are necessary for a high-level daily dining experience. For example, some people asked about the protein rationing and general decrease in meat items for a given meal, and they explained this decision was based on a push for healthier student diets and a more sustainable environment.

Prior to this event, I think I almost took for granted the level of detail and analysis involved in making Cornell dining such an elite and reputable service. The chef made it seem like they rarely take the approach of cooking everything ahead of time, keeping bins of food warm, and replacing empty bins when the time is appropriate, but instead are much more incremental in the way they cook throughout the night, which I thought was really neat and definitely makes for a better dining experience. In addition, they explained how after each meal, they always gauged and attempted to quantify the amount of waste in order to determine future portions and perhaps to alter menu items.

The guests were also very receptive to new suggestions and ideas for improving West Campus dining, such as the placement of dessert and fruit in the dining hall, in the hopes of encouraging a more healthy dining experience. All in all, it was a great event, and I’m confident that West Campus food will be even better going forward!

I didn’t realize how much work is actually put into feeding thousands of students on campus, three times a day everyday. Not only does Cornell Dining have to ensure that there is always something to eat for everyone and anyone with dietary restrictions for any course of the meal, but also that there are healthy options out there for us, even if it’s not what some of us are looking for. Chef Daniel mentioned that the goal is to push every meal toward a certain proportion on a plate, with protein being the smallest and veggies the largest. This is not just to ensure that we are leading a healthy lifestyle, but also so that we are more sustainable with our waste.

With so much work being put into our diet, I think many of us forget how lucky we are to have one of the top campus dining systems in the US. We are privileged to have a plethora of options offered to us everyday, to have veggies, meat, fruits and desserts at every meal!

Why is the Dining Staff so ungenerous when it comes to handing out meat in the dining halls? One student posed this question to Paul Muscente, the Associate Director of Cornell Dining. Yes, it is slightly annoying when you are handed three fried shrimp in Becker on Friday instead of the mounds you would have received self-served, but this is done for healthful and sustainable reasons.

Muscente explained that this was partially due to an initiative to push Cornell students towards healthier eating. He and Chef Daniel stress the idea that produce that should be at the center of a meal, and protein should be more secondary. Rationing of some of the meats and fish left more room for vegetables, fruit, and salads.

Chef Daniel, Rose House’s Head Chef, also mentioned that this was an attempt to reduce waste. Part of his job is to operate the kitchen efficiently; part of doing this includes standing at the dish return to see what/how much students are throwing away. He noted that students were throwing away large quantities of proteins prior to the rationing out method. He and the rest of Cornell Dining – correctly – figured that if students really wanted more protein, they would go back and get more.

I use it everyday, but knew little about the care and logistics that went into Cornell Dining, and this past Wednesday, Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel shed a light on our campus’ provision of sustainable and healthy eating habits.

I was surprised to find out how much work and pre-planning goes into making menus and ordering food to meet student’s demands, most of which eat an about 2 of their meals on campus every day. Cornell is ranked number 1 in New York for having the best food on campus. This is something that we need to recognize and appreciate. All of the chefs work hard to make foods that we love. They also take great care in  preparing and cooking the food. They do not cook everything at once and just leave it out. I was also surprised by all of the incentive programs that have been put in place to promote sustainability through education. It takes fewer resources to grow fruits and vegetables than it does to produce meat which can have a significant impact on the future of our food supply. Therefore recognizing the problem early on and working to find better ways to eliminate waste and promote a healthier life style will benefit everyone.

Cornell has a very effective system in place for keeping track of the amount of food going into compost to see what students did not like and what needs to be changed. When ordering from suppliers Cornell tries to buy as much food and ingredients locally as possible to help create jobs and support local businesses. I think we need to show our appreciation for the time and effort Cornell chefs and staff put into feeding all of us everyday.

This was a necessary event to go. Especially now in the midst of prelims and essays and applications and stress- it was a reality check. I was reminded of how lucky I am to be here. I think we all forget how lucky we are everyday to be a student at Cornell, we get caught up in the negative and stay stuck in the bubble, and just forget our place in the bigger picture, in the context of the university, of food scarcity, of privilege.

Cornell Dining is #1 in the state of New York, it’s in the top 8 and 5 across the country, it’s something of honor. While Chef Daniel was raving about our system, I remembered I heard someone complain the other day that his tortellini with artichoke & asiago wasn’t as good as the one he had in Venice. And then I realized that too many people just don’t appreciate what we have here.

Too many people do not eat as well as we do. They don’t get options in hours, in location, in dish; a lot of college students cannot afford to eat, let alone eat as well as we do. It’s a privilege to live in West Campus and eat in these dining halls. I’m not saying there are areas that can be improved and that we should stop complaining (I encourage it!) or forget about the food insecurity students living outside of West Campus face- but we should also remember to be thankful every once in a while. A lot of people crave our place.

I eat on West Campus at least twice a day, every day, but I had never really stopped to think about the people that make the food or the thought behind it. I was very impressed with the initiatives Cornell dining is undertaking. I had no idea that they have an app, which seems like it would be a very helpful thing to have. It provides information on dining hours, menus, and nutrition information.

Another cool program of Cornell dining is trying to make vegetables the center of the plate, instead of meat. This will help with overall health of students but also with sustainability. I also really liked that the chefs take our opinions into account. They analyze what food comes back uneaten, and adjust their menus accordingly. They also have an extensive compost program, which serves to help the environment.

I eat through Cornell Dining every meal of the day so seeing 2 men behind it all was like a celebrity moment for me. Chef Daniel, of our very own Rose House and Paul Muscente were the guests of our Rose Cafe this Wednesday and they shared what it is like to be behind the scenes in attempt at making sure we have food that we like ready to eat. I really like the initiatives Cornell Dining is taking with sustainability in mind. One of the initiatives that impressed me most is that they are trying to make vegetables the center of the plate instead of the typical meat as protein. Doing so is a huge challenge for them since they have hungry students that just want some meat, but what they are doing it has impacted me personally. The idea of rationing the chicken is not only for that though, but for food waste as well. Once the food is out, they have to throw it out so the less that gets on our plate, the better. It was also interesting to hear ideas that students had such as putting the deserts away from the fruit because of the temptation to grab a cookie instead of an apple. I remember that at Appel, I would always grab a fruit on my way out since it was by the door and I would be lazy to get deserts because they were hiding behind the soda machines. Basically, this cafe made me understand the crazy things that have to happen for us to get the meals we get everyday. Personally, I hope to be more considerate and appreciative of all of that when I go into the dining halls.

Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel presented an informative and insightful look into the logistics of Cornell Dining, a system that requires serving nearly 2 million meals a year. The manpower, coordination and efficiency required to keep that running smoothly is mind-boggling. Additionally, there have been initiatives introduced to better balance a student’s diet, such as 5 Days of 5 where students are challenged to eat 5 cups of fruits and vegetables each day for 5 days. The social element of posting pictures of those participants’ undoubtedly colorful plates on Instagram was a excellent way to further engage students.

This talk also allowed attendees to ask questions that one might not necessarily have the chance to, despite the amicable nature of the Cornell dining staff. The rationing of meat was something I was curious about and they had a sound explanation: promoting a better balance with protein. That being said, because of the freedom of choice inherent in an All-You-Care-To-Eat facility, one can request for a larger portion. I am not sure if that is always true because I tried it myself today and server was not really receptive to it. Your mileage may vary I suppose.

Cornell Dining is highly conscientious of how the student population feels about the menu every day, one way is analyzing food waste. Chef Daniel goes through the waste multiple times a day to gauge whether a menu option is popular or unpopular, if the food quality is up to standards, etc., and takes measures to ensure the students’ dining experience is consistently exemplary and improving. The combined efficacy, dedication and craft of Cornell Dining allows them to achieve Top 10 in Princeton Review‘s ranking for College Dining.

I was particularly interested in attending this event with Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel because I used to work in Rose Dining. Because of that, I know how hard it is to work 5-hour shifts focused primarily on feeding people and making sure everyone is eating clean and cooked food. I can’t even imagine having to manage something as large as a dining hall, let alone Cornell’s entire Dining operations. Mr. Muscente told us that they serve 2.289 million meals in a year, which boils down to about 19,000 meals per day. That number is so ridiculous that I can’t even fathom it. He said there are about 600-800 students working for Cornell Dining every day. That’s almost like 1 person serving 24 people at the same time. Although I do really support Cornell Dining and I wish that it can continue these operations, it really was hard for me to juggle working in the dining hall and studying for tests/writing essays/doing homework. If I could suggest one change to dining right now, it would be having the option of choosing shorter work shifts. And it may be more complicated to get the right amount of staff for each half shift, but it’s much more flexible for students. Like those who can’t make it to the beginning of a shift can make it to the 2nd half if there is an option for that.

To go on to the main idea of my blog post today, I was actually surprised at how much creativity and thought is put into creating the menus and meals for the students. Chef Daniel mentioned that last semester there was a 5-cups of fruits and vegetables challenge going on and the idea behind that was so students would make vegetables the center of their plate, rather than mounds of protein. He said these motives challenge them to get creative and come up with different ways to entice students to eat vegetables. He talked about how he incorporates whole grains into foods that we don’t even know contained whole grains. Although I didn’t stay for the entire time to hear him talk about some examples of this, I do think some of the tactics work. I think the strategic placing of carbs right next to vegetables makes people get the food in an assembly-line sort of style, so they take vegetables with them when they eat. Overall, I really think Cornell Dining does an amazing job of keeping students fed and their brains healthy. One day, when I graduate, I hope that there will still be continual progress in persuading students to eat healthier.

While the discussion seemed to be driven by the students involved in the service/dining industry, it was interesting to hear both the comments of the dining staff and the questions that students had for them. In terms of responses, there was one that stood out to me, because I know that it is untrue. The dining staff was asked about meat rationing in the dining hall system, and the speaker stated that meat would never be declined to a student that requests more when being served; I have experienced and seen, on multiple occasions, a refusal to serve more than one small scoop of meat at the dining halls. Besides this, I had no issues with what was stated at the event. It was interesting to hear the attempts to improve health and reduce waste in the dining system. I also received an answer to the most pressing question, after the event; Paul Muscente confirmed that North Star dining hall and Robert Purcell serve two different types of soft-serve ice cream.

Yesterday I was able to attend and participate in the Rose Cafe series with Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel. It was a very interesting and educational discussion. I really apprecaited that we were able to ask so many questions, and that they were so open and honest with the answers.

To start, I was unaware of the logistics that went into making cornell dining a top 10 dining school. First, cornell serves over 22000 meals a day, which is amazing. Additionally, each dining hall’s meals rotate weekly, (minimum), so you can theoretically go several weeks without eating the same meal. It’s amazing the variety of dining that Cornell offers.

What I found to be interesting is the way they determine the success of a meal. They mentioned they spend a large percent of the time checking the type and amount of food that gets thrown away. That indicates whether or not they should continue that meal, or if they should make less of it in the future. I thought that was very clever.

I asked what the new initiative to limit the amount of meat served to people, and they mentioned it was both for waste management, as well as for health reasons. My question to those reading this: what are your thoughts on this new initiative? Do you think it also has to do with saving money? Do you think they should or will limit the amount of cookies you can take, since they claim it is for health reasons?

I’m a little unsure if I believe that it is health related as they do not limit desserts which are much worse than having more chicken.

I’ve always liked the food at Cornell, and I especially enjoyed the food on West Campus. But before participating in today’s cafe, I had no idea that so much was happening at Cornell Dining. It serves around 22000 meals a day, and handling waste food, determining allergens, and setting up dining times all take more effort than they appear to be. The cafe covered a lot of miscellaneous things, but what I appreciate most about Cornell Dining is that they have been constantly trying to improve and introduce new things. Today I learned that Cornell Dining has now launched its own app, which I believe would be very convenient since I personally like to check menus and dining hours on my phone a lot.

Cornell Dining also has been trying very hard to promote healthy eating, encouraging us to eat more vegetables and fruit and control the amount of protein we intake. The ‘Five Days of Five’ event last semester, increasing about 10% more vegetables in the food served and rationing the meat in the dining halls all serve for this purpose. I feel this is very necessary because consuming excessive protein does not benefit our bodies at all but the production of meat uses up way much more resources than producing vegetables and fruit. Having more vegetables and fruit and limiting our proteins would both benefit our health and the environment. I totally support what Cornell Dining is doing and I hope it could really help people improve their diets.

Overall, Cornell dining is fantastic! We have great-tasting, high-quality food and there are always lots of options. Cornell has conducted successful initiatives to encourage healthy, sustainable eating and also works hard to accommodate students with dietary restrictions for medical and religious reasons.

Still, there are certain areas which I believe Cornell dining could improve:

• Lines. Okenshields (the only all-you-care-to-eat dining hall on Central Campus) is infamous for the long lines that form as soon as people finish their morning classes. And there are frequently long lines for specialty nights on West Campus such as Rose House’s Taco Tuesday. I believe that by putting a little thought into the problem and perhaps re-arranging the serving stations, these lines could be significantly reduced and students would be able to get their food with less hassle.
• Strict Policies on Taking Fruit. Despite the high meal prices (the required plan students who live on West Campus is $2,758 per semester) students are only allowed to take a single apple, banana, or orange out of the dining halls. Just last week I witnessed a student receive a JA (judicial action) for attempting to take extra fruit of the dinning hall. But honestly, aren’t there better things that the dining staff could be doing than meticulously checking whether students take an extra apple?
• Late Openings on Weekends. The West Campus dining halls don’t begin serving hot foods until 10 am or 10:30 am on the weekends which almost seems to encourage students to stay up late partying. For those of us who go to bed at a reasonable time and wake up early, it is inconvenient to have to wait several hours before we can get breakfast.

Thank you to Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel for teaching us about Cornell Dining. The scale of the operation (~19,000 meals per day) is extremely impressive and Cornell does a fantastic job. I know Cornell students are thankful for the food we have, especially considering that students at many other universities are not as lucky.

Today we were able to listen to and question the people who have one of the largest impacts on us during our time living on campus- the associate director of Cornell Dining Paul Muscente and Daniel Czebiniak the House Chef and manager of Rose House Dining.  While it may not be your moms cooking, they are providing freshly cooked meals to you everyday, but then again they are providing over 19,000 meals a day.  Not only are they filling our stomachs with delicious food and taking our stressed out minds off of prelims for a few moments a day, but they are also striving toward healthier food.  Not only are the menus custom made for each dining hall, but they are also adapted based on what it is that we are eating and enjoying.  If customizing a menu week after week for the taste’s of college students wasn’t enough, they also cater toward those with allergies.  My sister is gluten intolerant and so to learn that there is a nutritionist she could work with and that the chef would custom make her a meal is incredible.

It was really nice to hear all the updates occurring with Cornell Dining and learn about the many resources they have available to students.  One of these resources that I did not know about was that the nutritional facts about all the meals served in dining halls and cafes can be found online.  I also found it interesting that the dining halls were moving toward having vegetables be the center of the plate and that we don’t necessarily have to wait on line if there is something later on in the line that we want.

Before attending the talk on Cornell Dining, I did not know that more went into making and upkeeping menus and food that we see every day. In a single day, Cornell Dining produces over 19,000 meals. This is something I never take the chance to appreciate whenever I eat a meal at a dining. Which, I will start paying attention to because Cornell Dining makes an effort to cater to people like me: vegetarians. In addition, Cornell Dining believes that fruits and vegetables are not only healthy eating habits for everyone but also cut down on waste in our day-to-day lives. Also, I had no idea that Cornell Dining catered to people outside of Cornell and worked for the greater Tompkins area. Cornell Dining is so good at providing excellent dining hall food that it has ranked in the  Princeton Review top ten university dining halls that give excellent dining.

One thing that upset me a little was that Cornell Dining does not plan on bringing back Cascadelis to Cornell. This is very unfortunate because I knew it was closed for this year, but I was hoping it planned on bringing it back in the following years. I would have been a faithful customer.