Food For Thought See Focus link to the left for high-quality pdf

Author: Jason F. Siegel and James Dolan

Food occupies a special place in the lives of Middlebury students. Many plan their day according to when, where and what they are going to eat. As in other areas of life, students turn a critical eye to their food, questioning its quality, its source, its variety. The award-winning Dining Services, under the leadership of Matthew Biette, takes great pains to satisfy students' cravings, often in many ways that go unnoticed.
Dining Services is constantly thinking of new ways to please the ever-broadening palate of the discerning College diner. Last Thursday's Food Fair in Proctor Dining Hall, at which more than a dozen different vendors set up booths and provided free samples of their products, was a perfect example of Dining Services' efforts to involve students in menu-related decisions. Diners perused the booths and tasted products that seemed appetizing, sampling dishes like fried brownies, tortellini, vegan meatballs, gourmet cheeses and beer-battered shrimp. Votes were eventually cast for those foods students would like to see integrated into future menus. A large and enthusiastic Proctor crowd demonstrated widespread interest in the event.
Complementing the food fair are other means by which students can involve themselves in the dining experience. In addition to the familiar comment cards on which students gush over tempeh stir fry or complain about cold broccoli, Dining Services accepts recipes from students, which are often incorporated into the cuisine. They also will respond to requests to buy food from new sources. While some 35 percent of food served is produced in the state of Vermont, Middlebury began shiping its free-range salmon from a small village in Alaska in response to complaints about the quality of farm-bred salmon.
Students take their own initiative in creating culinary experiences. This past Thursday night, an hour after the food show, students from Wonnacott and Cook Commons faced off in an Iron Chef competition in Ross Dining Hall. In this edition of the popular new activity, students competed to prepare the best dish possible, using pineapple as the secret ingredient. This year Jay Yonamine '07 won for Cook Commons. [See "Iron Chef" on page 16.]
Another student-run event is Dolci, held weekly in Proctor Dining Hall. The food is widely hailed as being some of the best in town. Each Friday, student chefs have the opportunity to prepare and serve the classy, multiple-course meals. Using ingredients purchased by Dining Services and following a different theme every week, dishes vary from sweet potato casseroles to lamb chops and other fancy concoctions. That Dolci is both free and weekly only heightens its popularity. Students line up at The Grille the night before and wait patiently for their chance to grab tickets, which are available in limited numbers. Often, students are turned away because there are not enough tickets to go around. Even after all the tickets are given away, students still show up at dinner, hoping to find an extra seat.
Also on Fridays, Hillel sponsors a Shabbat dinner in Freeman International Center. Although the dining halls have many kosher ingredients, the Shabbat dinner is the only exclusively kosher meal served on campus. Freeman Hall, home to the Jewish Center, also hosts other special events for Hillel, including a bagel brunch on Sundays of Fall Family Weekend. This week, however, Hillel and Dolci teamed up, uniting the two events in Proctor Dining Hall.
On special occasions - at least once per month - the dining halls sponsor a large event to break up the monotony that regular dining can sometimes present. Every year, a Thanksgiving dinner is prepared the Thursday before the holiday, offering turkey, venison stew, mashed potatoes, stuffing and cranberry sauce. In past years, there has also been a Super Bowl Tailgate Party, infamous for its streakers. There are also special campus-wide events such as the recent karaoke contests, in which students competed for a $500 gift certificate in their quest to become the next Middlebury Idol. According to Biette, the Earth Day picnic is the next special event this spring. He also hinted that there are "a few more up our sleeves that we are currently working on."
Perhaps the most beloved tradition is midnight breakfast during exam weeks. Recently moved out of Proctor Hall and split between Atwater and Ross Dining Halls, the breakfast provides a much-needed respite for study-weary students. Whether students are participating in the famous doughnut-eating contest or just looking to avoid studying for their exams, midnight breakfast is a peaceful haven at the most stressful time of year.
Sometimes the dish itself is reason to celebrate. When Atwater serves Asian cuisine or Proctor boasts Chicken Parmesan, students flock to the respective locations so they can indulge in the food Middlebury has to offer. In the absence of great food, students will create their own concoctions with spice racks, panini machines and microwaves.
In addition to providing meals for the entire campus, dining services is also responsible for catering luncheon seminars that take place in John McCardell, Jr., Bicentennial Hall. Justin Wright '08 commented, "I walk by the seminar room and can't help but indulge in the delicious sandwiches presented in front of my eyes." Many students have admitted they have attended one of these seminars not because they were interested, not because their teacher required them to, but because they wanted to enjoy a sandwich, cookies and sugary lemonade.
It is not a stretch to say that Middlebury students have an insatiable appetite for both the food and fun served up by Dining Services.

-Jason F. Siegel and James Dolan
Focus Editors