In this article, I will be exploring one of the most debated and controversial topics at Drew University: the Commons Dining Hall. With so many differing views among students, loving or hating, it’s hard for outsiders to get a true, unbiased perspective of this main cafeteria.
As a freshman, looking into colleges was not that long ago for me. I remember just this time last year, when I was looking into Drew, one of the most confusing worries I had was whether or not the dining hall food at this school was any good. In my research, I stumbled upon a few websites that had reviews about the school, but still didn’t come up with a clear answer to my many questions.
I really didn’t know what to expect before coming here, which was daunting. This article is meant to clear up any confusion that prospective students might struggle with, through the results of the “Commons Dining Hall Survey” I conducted. We asked the students, and they spoke.
This survey was made and conducted using a Google form, and altogether received 72 anonymous student responses. The participants were asked to select their personal favorite station and meal offered by the Commons. 47.1 percent of respondents agreed that the favorite food station is the Allergy station, and 45.8 percent said that the best dining hall meal is hibachi.
The next portion of the survey asked about the food quality and enjoyment ratings. When asked to rate the food quality, including taste, appearance and texture in the Commons out of five, 43.1 percent rated it a three, while 27.8 percent rated it a four on the scale.
More similar results were found when asking the students to rate their enjoyment of the dining hall food out of five; it was close, with 34.7 percent rating their enjoyment as a three, and 31.9 percent rating their enjoyment as a four.
Last but definitely not least, the students were asked to rate the Commons Dining Hall overall on a scale of one to five stars. The results came back with an average rating of 3.10 stars out of five.
You heard it here first. From the data I collected, I can confidently conclude that the dining hall is not horrible nor is it absolutely fantastic; it’s simply average. While not required, students were also asked, as part of participating in the survey, to write down a short response detailing any improvements they’d like to see in the dining hall. The most common response had to do with “adding more variety to the menus.”
My opinion pretty much aligns with the average rating of the dining hall. It’s pretty average. But something that people need to take into consideration while forming opinions about this dining hall is that the cooks and the board who design each meal need to accommodate everyone.
That means, to me at least, not to expect the food to always have a flavor based solely on personal preference, because one person might like their food salty, and the person sitting next to them might absolutely hate salty foods. This same logic can be applied to sweet and spicy preferences, and even texture and the degree of how cooked something is.
All of this is to say that, in my opinion, people need to give the Commons some grace. I feel as though the cooks and board members do what they can to accommodate everyone they can, which is shown through having designed a “Global Eats” station.
When I eat in the dining hall, even when the food doesn’t match my own personal preferences, I am thankful knowing that the people making the food are keeping me fed with a, in a sense, home-cooked meal.
Nadia Yusko is a first year majoring in Psychology.
