Students have the right to be served high-quality food.
With the amount of money paid to attend this university, students deserve quality food including its preparation, presentation and service as each one passes the through the lines.
However, that does not seem to be the case. ACU students are fed food that is un-proportional, un-complimentary and, therefore, un-appetizing for the majority of the year.
As students rush in and out of the bean, the beeping of cards swipe left to right until unfamiliar voices rise in the distance. The footsteps of heavy boots, the chatter of loud women, and children yell from across the room as they stare into the buffet style lines- its Visitation Day.
Lines build, build and build filled with anxious students and parents eager to taste the tender meats, steamed broccoli and sweet cookies baked fresh out of the oven. Smiling faces, filled stomachs and open minds receive the preconceived notion that ACU must have one of the best cafeterias in the state of Texas.
As lines remain long and at maximum capacity, current students start to wonder why food is not always necessarily served and plated with as much effort and poise everyday.
According to Anthony Williams, chief business service officer, menus are prepared months in advance in four week and one day cycles. Williams said that because menus are prepared and authorized in advance, so no coincidence or conflict of interest is shown during visitation days. Modifications are only made to staff employment when larger quantities of people are scheduled to enter the bean.
Williams confirms that modifications are not done to the menu in regard to visitation days, unless it is scheduled on a Saturday and denies the allegations.
However, students are voicing their opinion over the Bean food as being minimal, unappetizing and, frankly, poor.
Everett Baker, a sophomore accounting major from Atlanta, said that the Bean seems to present itself like the beginnings of a relationship.
“Initially you’re doing everything you can to impress the other person, or ‘woo’ them,” said Baker.”Eventually the person falls for the other individual and things sort of stagnate.”
False pretenses and impressions stack up against the Bean. Students like Baker are tried of the fake impressions that the Bean offers to its students and its visitors.
To help further these allegations with evidence, students are able to see the menus scheduled for specific days separated by line, food group and meal time. The next Wildcat Preview Day is scheduled on February 19. According to the Aramark website under the Home Cooking tab, visitors will be served:
- Buffalo Meatloaf
- Creamy Mashed Potatoes
- Grilled Barbecue Pork Chops
- Steamed Green Peas
Though the scheduled meal sounds appetizing and perfectly put together, the meals placed prior to that on February 15 are as follows:
- Blackened Tilapia
- Seasoned Roast Beef
- Steamed Fresh Broccoli
- White Rice
Although the individual food groups themselves do not sound unappealing, the student could see the problem in its balance of taste. In the first menu, we see the balance of food groups- a coherent meal that involves an entree and side dishes that seemingly coincide.
However, in the second menu, we see an unbalance of food groups that clash against each another. Fish and beef are not as appetizing compared to the beef and pork combo advertised just a few days later.
The visitors meal follows the idea behind the Home Cooking station- a meal that takes you back to southern hospitality and country-style food. Nonetheless, the second menu presents food that does not mix well once plated and served. It is not as “Home Cooked” as the station implies.
With special days ranging from Admitted Student Day to Sing-Song Weekend, the Bean brushes off its dusty plates and touches up for the impression of a lifetime. An impression not only for the student and parent, but rather for the most important impression of all- a signed check made out to the university.
It seems once the check is signed, the impression ends. Food returns to its foundational mediocre stages.
