August Pelliccio – Opinions and Features Editor
Food menus and the names of food vendors on campus can change as much as Chartwells would please, said junior Lilia Ricci, but at the end of the day, student satisfaction relies on no more than quality.
Two changes to dining vendors in the Adanti Student Center are new for the fall semester. Freshens has given way to a similarly themed station Create, and likewise, 2Mato has been replaced by BUILD: pizza by design.
The latter change, said student and Chartwells employee Enna Pierce, appears to have added appeal to the station.
“I think the pizzas are more popular this year,” said Pierce. “People mostly got pasta when they came [last year], but I noticed more people getting pizza now.”
The distinction is the way a student orders. Previously, a variety of pizzas with various toppings were served by the slice, according to Pierce, and now each pizza is a small, personal size, with topping requested by the student.
According to Pierce, despite the change in title, the ingredients are all sourced similarly to 2Mato.
“It’s all the same,” she said, “just a different menu.”
With pre-topped pizza being served by the slice, the lack of consistency meant students didn’t always get what they would have wanted, said Pierce.
“It’s more creative,” she said, “you get to do your own thing.
Daniel Norton is a sophomore Chartwells employee who said he worked at Freshens quite a bit last semester, and prefers the freedom that the Create menu offers.
“Now you just tell the what you want, and it makes it a lot simpler,” said Norton.
Previously, Norton said, employees working the Freshens line had to be cognizant of recipes for each menu item. Rice bowls on the menu had predetermined ingredients, he said, which were written down for employees to read with each preparation.
“People would always modify,” said Norton.
Therefore, he said, the individual rice bowl recipes were almost pointless.
“I do think it’s way easier,” said junior Lilia Ricci, “because there are so many combinations.”
First year grad student Bryan Silva agreed, saying, “I like having my options open to me, and being able to see what I can put in.”
Therefore, he said, Create is a superior dining option to Freshens, and he feels that most students would agree that freedom to customize is best.
Ricci said the times that she has gotten lunch from Create this semester, she sincerely enjoyed the food, save for one small observation: mushy, overcooked brown rice.
“As long as those individual ingredients are quality,” said Ricci, “whatever combination people make, they’re probably going to be satisfied.”
Photo Credit August Pelliccio
