At the Culinary Construction Zone, the only tool students need is an appetite.
This fall, University Housing has brought a traveling theme dinner to the residence hall cafeterias in which Residence Halls Food Service staff members construct meals in front of students.
“It showcases the talent we have in the department that students don’t normally see,” Food Service Coordinator Bruce Haskell said.
“We’re showing them what we can do and seeing if they like it.”
The event will be presented at each residence hall cafeteria, with the last stop slated for April. It stopped at Holden and Wilson halls earlier this semester before heading to Holmes Hall on Wednesday.
Haskell said Food Service staff try to do one central event that travels to each hall every year, along with hosting other special dinners throughout the year.
Haskell said the food reflects an effort to keep up with changing student preferences. The new items bring bolder tastes to the menu.
“Traditionally we have not gone with a lot of spices because we had so many people we are trying to satisfy,” Haskell said. “But we are finding that students have more sophisticated tastes nowadays.”
This year’s event is part of an effort to build the Food Service menu by introducing several new recipes, each at a specially labeled sites in cafeterias.
“We felt the menu was getting too big, and we wanted to give them only the best of what we can,” Culinary Coordinator Dan Singer said.
A committee selected and tested the new recipes this summer with the help of student input. Some new items include flavored pastas, a Cajun shrimp scampi and buffalo wings made as spicy as students request.
“The idea for the event was to give the students some highly flavorful food,” Singer said. “They really like us to present and prepare the food in front of them.”
No-preference freshman Jon Harwood said his Wednesday dinner at Holmes Hall had a more homemade taste and he agreed it’s nice to see the food being prepared.
“It’s cool because then you see where it’s coming from,” he said. “The food’s awesome and it’s better than what we’re used to having.”
A survey conducted after the program’s first event showed a positive student response, with the exception of some complaints about long lines.
Harwood said he enjoyed his H
