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Fireflyscout
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Posted: Thu Apr 3rd, 2008 03:18 pm |
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Carleton students are very, very happy right now. After 40 years of Sodexho, they are finally making the switch to Bon Appetit, which provides the legendary food services for St. Olaf.
When I visited on Family Weekend, I thought the food was OK but I imagine they were serving their best food for the benefit of those who pay board. What are your experiences with college food?
Last edited on Thu Apr 3rd, 2008 03:21 pm by Fireflyscout
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patsmom
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Posted: Thu Apr 3rd, 2008 04:11 pm |
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Rice University has excellent food! When we went to drop off S for his first semester, they had a luncheon for the parents that was out of this world. Of course, I'm sure they put their best foot forward that day - regular student food isn't that fancy.
There are several dining areas on campus, each with different menus daily, and students can eat at any of them. They can even log on to a website to check what's on the weekly menu at each one. Here's a good example:
http://food.rice.edu/index.php?groupid=5&subgroupid=78
One of the residential colleges even has a one-credit course taught by one of the servery chefs that's very popular.  Here's the online description:
COOKING WITH CHEF ROGER
This course has ten sessions. Each session has an appetizer, salad, two entrees with different proteins, starches, and sauces, vegetable of the day, fresh baked bread, and excellent dessert. The last session is the grand buffet. The grand buffet consists of an array of fancy hors d'oeuvres, carving stations, and mouth-watering desserts. Each course will start with a small lecture, followed by different knife techniques on how to cut fruit, vegetable, and meat. All sessions follow the same cooking pattern: bread, desserts, soup, entree 1, entree 2, appetizer, and salad
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scoop
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Posted: Thu Apr 3rd, 2008 04:16 pm |
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| DH works for the company that owns Bon Appetit. That's great news...I have heard nothing but raves from other schools that use them. A friends son goes to Roger Williams. When his parents came up to school and offered to take the kids out to dinner, they asked if they could stay on campus. Does anyone know of schools that offer particularly good vegetarian options?
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Wstrdg
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Posted: Thu Apr 3rd, 2008 04:17 pm |
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S1's food is surprisingly expensive, IMO. The meal plan (no option) is a la carte, rather than all-you-can-eat. The proferred advantage is that food may be removed from the dining hall, to eat in your room or wherever. Schools with all-you-can-eat generally don't allow food to be removed from the cafeteria (oops -- "dining hall"  ). He says the taste is "okay," but it struck me as typical institutional fare.
Most students tend to run out of meal points/dollars before the end of the year, and refill points are subsidized, available for purchase at 80 cents on the dollar. That helps, I guess.
The dorms don't have cooking facilities. There is a common microwave, and students may have mini-refrigerators. "George Foreman" grills are allowed, but there are no true stoves/ovens, and toaster oven/hot plates/popcorn cookers/coffee pots are all banned. Not that S1 would otherwise turn into chef Emeril, but this pretty much limits dorm cooking to ramen noodles and the like.
Students are allowed to eat in any campus dining hall, so that allows for variety.
Given the dorm situation (oops -- "residence hall" ), the majority of kids only put up with the dorm food for one year. In the second year, they'll have apt kitchens, on campus or off campus, and dining dollars will be used for convenient lunches between classes, instead of the primary source of meals.
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MaizeBlue
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Posted: Thu Apr 3rd, 2008 04:47 pm |
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| Fireflyscout ~ I don't believe food service should be a deal-breaker when choosing colleges, but it is a nice perk if it's truly better than expected. As big a supporter as I am of Carleton, the cost of meal plans during my D's past 3 years has bothered me. She went off-board last year with Northfield Option, but because she's back in Burton now, she has to pay for the full plan. It works out to something like $12 a meal. The change to Bon Appetit will be very welcome, but at what cost? (Haven't seen any college lower board rates during 8 years of experience with 2 kids). D worked in food service freshman year and basically became a vegetarian due to Sodexho's food choices and prep. Last edited on Thu Apr 3rd, 2008 04:48 pm by MaizeBlue
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jocelynDAD
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Posted: Thu Apr 3rd, 2008 05:22 pm |
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I never understood why Carleton kept their prior service when the example at St Olaf of Bon Appetit quality menu was so obviously better in all respects. St Olaf allows anyone from the community to eat at their cafeteria for a very nominal amount (except during Christmas Fest) and many Northfield residents (probably including Carleton staff etc) eat there, especially for lunch.
BTW D2 worked in Food Service both last year and this.
Last edited on Thu Apr 3rd, 2008 05:24 pm by jocelynDAD
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Lynda
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Posted: Fri Apr 4th, 2008 12:41 am |
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Son is at Univ of Redlands, they also use Bon Appetit. Son, even after 4 yrs is very happy with the selections. Several choices and diets available most days. There are several plans, Breakfast, lunch, Fri dinner and weekends are a la carte. Sun-Thurs dinners are all you can eat, no take out and part of most residence plans. It works for most, son has a very busy schedule and couldn't get to 3 meals a day if he wanted. He has a "low" plan but never runs out of money. There are always students with extra money or no money at the end of semester-sharing goes on. Also with the Sun-Thurs dinners you know that the kids will have at least one nice meal a day. Son said something about girl's purses at the end of the semester. I believe that girl's purses are kinda overlooked towards the end of the semester, so that leftovers can be saved.
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WestrnMom
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Posted: Fri Apr 4th, 2008 03:02 am |
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I agree, Bon Appetit is an excellent food service provider, although the menus differ at different schools. A friend's son also had that at his very small art school and didn't like it. UofR uses a lot of organic food and locally grown items. We've eaten there a few times and the food has always been delicious.
The plans at different schools need careful evaluation. Both my children bought smaller plans than average because you can always add dollars to their cards.
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warblers
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Posted: Fri Apr 4th, 2008 03:40 am |
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Duke's food was ok my freshman year, but they got rid of Aramark (after several years of complaints) and replaced them with Bon Appetit. The food, particularly at the freshman Marketplace, has much improved. 
Oddly enough, UNC seems to be very satisfied with Aramark. An article in the DTH suggested that competition on Franklin Street may have been the reason for the higher quality food. Last edited on Fri Apr 4th, 2008 03:42 am by warblers
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ellenrch
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Posted: Fri Apr 4th, 2008 02:15 pm |
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I have no idea who does the food my son's chosen school, but after one meal there (the food is terrific), he announced that his terrible eating habits are going to change next year. I didn't know whether to be relieved that he might start eating salad, or irritated that all these years of good home cooking were wasted on him  (And my H and I really are good cooks!) On the other hand, my adult stepdaughter was with us that day, and after she ate five delicious lemon bars from the dessert buffet she said she's so happy she went to a college with terrible, and less tempting, food.
By the way, this meal plan stuff totally baffles me because there are so many options. I'm concerned about wasting meals and money. At least they allow you to change your plans up to twice in a semester.Last edited on Fri Apr 4th, 2008 08:48 pm by ellenrch
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WestrnMom
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Posted: Fri Apr 4th, 2008 04:43 pm |
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My children ended up with lower cost food plans and added money as needed. One needed to add more, one didn't. Next year we might up the food plan by one notch. Most students will not eat 3 meals a day every day, unless they are athletes and enormous eaters. Don't all schools allow them to add money to their cards if they run out? The plans they have now are too complicated. When I was in school I thought we just paid for one plan that allowed you into the cafeteria when it was opened and if you missed a meal, you missed it.
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Fri Apr 4th, 2008 09:19 pm |
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scoop wrote: Does anyone know of schools that offer particularly good vegetarian options?
My son is a vegetarian, and my daughter leans in that direction, so this was something we considered with both their college searches. My daughter reports that she can almost always find something to eat at Beloit, although as with most college food, there is a lot of repetition. My son was happy with the options at Reed on his two visits, and also with the fact that Portland seems to have an abundance of restaurants and stores catering to vegetarian tastes. He complained about going hungry at Franklin & Marshall and Princeton during CTY, but that could just be summer fare. We also were told, by students, that there are good vegetarian options at Macalester, Carleton, Skidmore, Sarah Lawrence, and Bard. Since so many kids (at least here in California!) seem to be going vegetarian these days, I suspect these are by no means the only schools.
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Northeastmom
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Posted: Fri Apr 4th, 2008 11:10 pm |
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James Madison's food rankings:
"In its second year in the Top 10 of college cuisine, Madison ranked No. 7 in the nation for "great campus food," based on student surveys, in The Princeton Review's annual college guide for 2007, Best 361 Colleges. JMU had ranked sixth in 2006 for its food offerings, 11th in 2005 and 18th in 2004."
I found this on JMU's website. Their vendor is Aramark.
Last edited on Fri Apr 4th, 2008 11:10 pm by Northeastmom
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WestrnMom
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Posted: Sat Apr 5th, 2008 01:50 am |
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Bon Appetit has excellent vegetarian options, at least at S's school. Check the college website to see if they post menus.
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CardinalFang
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Posted: Sat Apr 5th, 2008 10:25 pm |
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I just visited Macalester yesterday. The food is fantastic, and there are many vegetarian and vegan options. I believe Bon Appetit is the caterer.
Last Monday I was at Beloit. The food there was, um, adequate. There appeared to be enough variety that my son, a foodie who likes most foods, would manage. But if I were choosing between Beloit and Macalester on the basis of food, Macalester would win by a mile.
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outwest
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Posted: Sun Apr 6th, 2008 03:55 pm |
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We are visiting schools next week and one thing my foodie D wants to check out is the food! It is important to her. She is going to guage all the schools food against Scripps and the Claremont colleges, which she has eaten at several times for high school events. They have terrific food. I hope one of her schools meets her expectations.
I agree, Carolyn, a lot of young people in CA seem to be going vegetarian/vegan. I worry about them getting enough protein, especially the boys. As long as they are conscious of nutrition, though, it is fine.
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Sun Apr 6th, 2008 09:02 pm |
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I think the food IS important to consider because there's nothing worse than trying to study when your tummy is doing summersaults from grease.
I also think it's good to consider the convenience of off campus alternatives. I could live with so-so food easier if I knew I could walk down the block for better food. At Beloit, options within walking distance are somewhat limited and get old quickly.
(Cardinal, my son loved the area around Macalester, and, while school wasn't in session at the time, we had a good meal in the dining hall.)
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CardinalFang
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Posted: Sun Apr 6th, 2008 09:08 pm |
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Several people at Macalester told me that although they didn't have meal contracts, they'd sometimes pay to eat at the dining hall. Having eaten at the dining hall, I can understand why. Even in an area filled with restaurants, like Macalester's neighborhood, the dining hall food is worth choosing.
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Thumper
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Posted: Sun Apr 6th, 2008 10:25 pm |
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DD's school also has Bon Appetit and it is good. She says the food variety is very good and fresh, and the food well prepared. She has no trouble finding food at every meal. Theirs is an ala carte meal plan and DD likes that...says that way she is paying only for what she is eating.
DS went to Boston University and the food there is also very good...lots of variety.
Still...both looked forward to cooking for themselves as juniors...in off campus apartments.
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outwest
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Posted: Mon Apr 7th, 2008 01:08 am |
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Thumper, your D isn't a Junior already, is she?! I remember you worrying abouther going far away. Has that worked out alright?
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