Behind the counters: ACDC menu planning

Every day, students head over to the All Campus Dining Center (ACDC), swipe their V-Cards, walk through the entranceway and are immediately hit with a myriad of smells, noises, colors, and, most importantly, food stations. From the grill to the international station, the ACDC aims to offer students a menu that meets their needs and encompasses a variety of choices. Regardless of a student's appreciation and evaluation of the services rendered at ACDC, the staff persevere in their efforts to meet the demands of flavor, nutrition, variety, and cost that define the effectiveness of any catering service.

According to Vassar Head Chef Mike Conlin, "The menus are written at the end of the school year, around June or July. The individuals involved are myself, ACDC Director Diane Dalton, and Production Manager Brandon Walker. Everybody comes up with different ideas, and there's a lot of time and thought that goes into it," .

After formulating their ideas and writing down recipes, the staff utilizes an online database called "Prima Recipes." This database, which not only contains recipes for appetizers, meats, pastas, deserts, salads, cookies and chocolate, is able to sort recipes by ingredients and cuisines. Additionally, "Prima Recipes" offers resources on a variety of topics, from healthy cooking to international dishes. Conlin said, "We come up with the menu ideas ourselves and find the recipes on Prima. There's always room for change though, we can alter a few recipes to make them fit what we need."

According to Conlin, students' commentaries are greatly taken into consideration. Every week, staff members at the ACDC read through students' comment cards, discuss possible changes, and respond to them: "We take students' commentary very seriously. We respond to general concerns and address the needs of students who are looking for something special," said Conlin.

Director of Operations Laura Leone commented further on behalf of the necessity of student commentary: "The ideal dining situation is one in which every student feels welcomed and comfortable enough to tell us what they need." Leone, who is the dining representative on the Vassar Food Committee, a student-run organization composed of elected candidates from each dorm who elicit and discuss student commentary regarding dining at Vassar, expressed the strong feedback among by students, the trends observed, and the constant changes initiated.

According to Food Committee Chair Rachel Schorr '12, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) defines the Food Committee as follows: "The Food Committee meets to discuss different aspects of campus dining. As topics arise, the Food Committee makes suggestions for improvements that can be made in those areas." She added, "The recent topics we've discussed include pricing of food, quality of ACDC food, and increasing healthy eating options at Vassar."

According to Conlin, "A lot of thought goes into the menu, not just in terms of meal variety. The meals need to be visually pleasing as well. You know, we won't serve brown meat with a brown vegetable. There needs to be color variety."

Schorr described the ins and outs of committee discussion: "A lot of our time is devoted to alerting [Leone] to the problems that we notice with campus dining, usually little details like salt levels in soup, availability of certain foods, specific commentary, etc…" she explained. The committee also vocalizes specific well-received dish requests by students, monitors campus dining daily, and is currently working on certain long term goals. With regards to these goals, Schorr said, "I met last month with Triple J vending which handles about 90 percent of campus vending machines and we are working on getting more swipe machines and instituting a ‘fit pick' program that will highlight healthy options in the vending machines." Other initiatives include instituting healthier snack foods, such as natural soda and frozen vegetarian options, as well as promoting sustainability and the use of local food at the ACDC: "We're focusing our attention on general campus dining advertising, such as signs that say, ‘We serve cage free eggs,' in order to raise awareness about local vegetable purchases at the ACDC," Schorr said in an e-mailed statement.

According to Schorr, the Food Committee is also interested in adding more meal plan options, switching the coffee at Java City to a locally roasted coffee company called "Winchell Mountain Coffee," and brainstorming ideas for how to make dorm kitchens cleaner and more comfortable. Schorr expressed satisfaction at the small changes that have already been made: "I'd like to think that we have made some progress. Since last year there are new coffee brewers

in ACDC, more vegan options, more fruit, more nutritional education, seltzer dispensers on either side of the dining hall, more fish in the menu, etc…"

One of the most remarkable undertakings of the ACDC, something the dining center has done throughout the ages, is what Conlin referred to as the Monotony Calendar. The Monotony Calendar, similar to the menu, is also created at the end of each year and includes a variety of unusual and interesting events. This year alone, the ACDC has been host to a dinner honoring Chelsea Clinton's Rhinebeck wedding, a student pasta cookoff and will soon be host to a Thanksgiving-themed dinner. Conlin, reminiscing about past ACDC events, said, "We've also held Austin Powers dinners.

We hosted a Titanic-themed dinner called ‘The Last Meal.'"

Members of the ACDC Dining Staff and Food Committee work to be as helpful and responsive to student commentary as possible, providing students with a myriad of options to express themselves such as the well known comment cards, lesser known option of e-mailing their concerns to comments@vassar.edu and speaking to student representatives and dining managers. It is through these official channels that student feedback is guaranteed to be taken into consideration.

According to Leone, the overall vision of the ACDC is to be "a place where students feel comfortable and welcomed. If Vassar is your home, the ACDC is the kitchen."