Since COVID-19 has started it seems as if the dining halls have not had many options for food. There are several dining halls on campus including Lakeside, Cooper, Littlepage and Pathfinder and they all provide different food options. It seems like they are on a rotation of the same meals every few weeks and each dining hall following a different rotation. With this schedule it can feel repetitive at times. I personally do not eat in the dining halls often, only like once or twice a week but I do often see the same handful of meals as the weeks go by.
Some things in the dining halls and food selections have changed in the sense of the effects of COVID-19. Late night is a thing again and people can get their own drinks again and there is no longer takeout options.The food though in the school year of 2019-2020 seemed to have more variety to it and had a lot more to offer to students.
The meals are also planned out in advance as there is a calendar online that shows the meals at each dining hall for the next week or so to come. I have always liked this to see what I want to eat that day for each meal.
College is a place where we live for months at a time so being an on-campus student means our meals come from our meal plans in the dining hall. We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in these places so to have the same meal options every two or three weeks makes it get old and boring.
The food still tastes good. Obviously everyone has different tastes in what they do and do not like but nothing I have tried in the dining halls has ever been extremely gross or disgusting.
Even with the limited food options though they still almost always have something that would be of interest to eat. They offer salads and sandwiches at all times and there is often pasta and a grill line at lunch time. Even though the main meals may not be great at times it’s not as if students will starve.
Compared to the variety though the service is always great from what I have seen. The lines usually aren’t too long and usually move pretty fast. The dining hall workers are ready to ask you what you want and have always been very nice.
I also often see dining hall workers cleaning the tables when they are empty so we know things are being cleaned. Especially in 2021 with everything COVID-19 related and even with sicknesses going around campus this fall semester, cleaning surfaces in which many people are touching it is important and it is good that it is being done in the dining halls.
It is understandable that it is hard to come up with different meal ideas and also to have to cook the large amounts it takes to feed students on campus but adding a bit more variety in the food rotation might be more beneficial for students. Being a student here on campus I obviously do not know what goes into coming up with meal plans and cooking the food and I imagine that is difficult. It could be interesting though to have new foods or meals introduced here on the SUNY Oswego campus for future semesters to come.
Photo from Flickr
