O.T. (Yes, me again). Trends in college dining hall food preparation.
(I am aware that this has nothing to do with Qualcomm).
January 9, 1999
Student 'Chefs' Learn Eating Trends
Filed at 11:29 a.m. EST
By The Associated Press
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Their white cooking coats are splattered with
the usual sauce and gravy -- and with that sticky reputation for serving
mystery meat.
College food service workers who gathered at Yale University last week to
study students' eating habits also set out to improve their much-maligned
meals.
Hailing from 17 colleges, including Michigan State, Rutgers and Smith, the
dining hall cooks learned the latest trends in collegiate cuisine -- vegetarianism,
low-fat cooking techniques and ethnic dishes.
In the kitchen, the college cooks broke into teams to whip up such items as
bruschetta, broccoli rabe, and pearl pasta with fennel and olives.
The results were graded by Lars Kronmark, a master chef from Denmark and
an instructor at the Culinary Institute of America in California's Napa Valley.
Kronmark said he hoped the cooks picked up new skills to satisfy thousands
of finicky appetites at a time.
The big lesson of the four-day symposium, he said, is that many students
these days are passing up the hamburgers and french fries for healthier fare
such as grilled and stir-fried food, and pasta.
''We're seeing a change in ingredients, not a lot of heavy creams and fats, but
a demand for rotisserie and spices,'' Kronmark said. ''It's up to the students to
choose. They can still get french fries and fried fish, but it used to be they
didn't have a choice.''
Not that they always appreciate the choices. Several of the cooks told of
learning the hard way what tough audiences they have on campus.
Lisa Dwinnell, who has been making meals at Smith College for 12 years,
once served blackened catfish.
Never again.
''They were saying, 'They don't know what they're doing in the kitchen!''' she
said. ''Don't even think about blackened catfish -- not at Smith College.''
The next day, she said, the campus was littered with empty pizza boxes.
Terry Crossman from the State University of New York at Morrisville said her
staff has tried everything to fix a chicken-broccoli-rice casserole and still can't
pay anyone to eat it.
''If you put those items out separately, they'll eat them. But for some reason
-- I don't know why -- you can't put them altogether,'' she said.
Mark Singer says that when he first started cooking at Messiah College in
Grantham, Pa., 16 years ago, he wouldn't have known a sun-dried tomato if
one jumped on his plate.
''Being a vegetarian is big now. It's THE trend, more vegetables,'' Singer said.
''Some kids will probably still go for the burgers and pizza, but hopefully just
once or twice a week.''
Dwinnell notices a seasonal change in eating habits among Smith women.
''In the fall, they'll say, 'Give me the junk food.' But the closer it gets to spring
break and the more they think about wearing bathing suits, the salad bar will
be cleaned out,'' she said.
A major focus of the curriculum is ethnic foods, including Asian,
Mediterranean and Moroccan dishes that use marinades and spice rubs.
Kronmark stressed ''authenticity'' in preparing foods like couscous because
colleges are drawing international students and U.S. students are traveling
more.
''When we put things that don't belong in a dish, they know,'' he said.
Yale executive chef Jeff Trombetta, who helped coordinate the program, said
students simply have savvier stomachs.
''It goes hand-in-hand with the global economy. They're all well-traveled. For
example, if you think you have an Asian meal because you throw in some
straw mushrooms and bamboo shoots, someone from Thailand may get
insulted. They say, 'We don't eat those things,''' Trombetta said.
Another trend is preparing meals in front of students. Omelet stations, for
example, allow students to see the meal as it's made and make suggestions
directly to the cook.
''A lot of universities are moving the kitchen into the dining room. The food
service worker has a lot of contact with the students,'' Kronmark said.
Nevertheless, Singer said, much of the art in dining hall work is mastering
such technical challenges as the huge vats that hold soup for hundreds or the
ovens that heat dozens of casseroles at one time.
But Trombetta said the biggest battle is fighting the idea that dining hall cooks
merely slop starchy items like macaroni-and-cheese onto plates.
''There's a terrible stigma to overcome,'' he said. ''You have to be creative,
because you can be a hero one night and a bum the next. The proof is in the
pudding.''
Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company |
