Gwinn Dining Hall Food Repetitive or are Students Unappreciative?
At the start of Autumn Quarter Gwinn Dining Hall seems like a luxurious buffet, but by spring quarter the students began to get tired of using their swipes everyday for repetitive choices. While the chefs at Gwinn offer six different meal stations and often a dozen entrees, students still complain.
I decided to go around Gwinn recording students to see what their opinions on Gwinn were, and left out their names for privacy.
(Gwinn Simple Servings Food, Photo taken by Michelle Kamau)
Student A said, “I think Gwinn food is pretty good overall. They have a lot of variety and options that I have been able to try out a lot of different foods. The staff are pretty nice and offer to help out in any way. However, I do wish the utensils,bowls, and plates were a bit cleaned more thoroughly. Cleanliness could be worked on but in all I enjoy all the food and different flavors at Gwinn.”
One Chef said, “Working at Gwinn is fun, I like meeting the students and everybody is nice here. The favorites are always mac and cheese and fried chicken that everybody loves. Staff is good, the pay is great, so I just love working here.”
Student B said, “I as a student have a lot of food allergies, and only get to pick from simple servings only. Because I have to avoid foods like wheat, soy, shellfish,sesame, tree nuts, and peanuts. Gwinn does make my choices a bit more limited, and sometimes when I go to simple servings the meat is very dry. But since I don’t have that many options to go for and alot of limitations on what I can eat. I just have to eat the gluten free pizza that is usually frozen and just reheated every day. I mean overall it is pretty good, but same thing about the dishes they could be a bit cleaner. If you have no other choices it is a good option to have.”
(Two SPU students, photo taken by Michelle Kamau at Gwinn Dinning Hall)
Student C, “I have mixed feelings about Gwinn, it’s not that bad and I feel like we get better options compared to other schools but like sometimes it just doesn’t hit. They either don’t get the texture right or it’s too dry. But honestly it’s not that bad, you just kind of get tired after a while and it’s still pretty decent. I don’t think it deserves all the hate it gets.”
Student D, “I really appreciate that Gwinn has multiple options, some days are better than others. Genuinely I wish that they would serve less pork throughout the day and even in the simple serving station that is supposed to be the healthy side. There are still pork chops there, and pig isn’t the cleanest animal. However I am grateful to have healthy food, but it would be nice to bring back steamed broccoli or vegetables. Rotate out the fresh fruits and send out the message of eating healthy. Even like small gentle nudges for the students, we have foods with high sodium, high cholesterol, and that is encouraging bad habits. Overall, you have to learn how to mix and match the foods and play around with the sauces. But just being mindful of healthy options in all, since us students are on a meal plan and this is all we get. It’s responsibility on both sides to choose what we eat, responsibility on chefs on what they feed us, and responsibility for the students to pick what foods they want.”
(Two SPU students, photo taken by Michelle Kamau at Gwinn Dinning Hall)
Student F, “How I feel about Gwinn honestly I don’t like Gwinn, only because I am used to food being seasoned and it’s not as seasoned at all. I am African and our food is always seasoned. The food is barely seasoned as to what I am used to, so it is kind of hard to adjust to Gwinn food. It’s not bad, if I was to rate it I’d say 3/10. I honestly don’t like Gwinn.”
Student G, “Overall I think that Gwinn is pretty good, but I feel like the options are quite repetitive and I eat the same things throughout the week. My one complaint would be the repetition of Gwinn but the food is not too bad overall. I am grateful they have a lot of vegan and vegetarian options. They do well with that compared to other schools.”
(Four SPU students, photo taken by Michelle Kamau at Gwinn Dinning Hall)
Looking at the students’ feedback, I can tell that they are not ungrateful or unappreciative. The school dining hall does have an issue with giving out the same repetitive food that is either dry, not seasoned well, or reheated. I know as a chef working at Gwinn everyday it would be hard to hear this feedback. However, I think this is some of the changes Gwinn really needs to work on, because students have been complaining for a while now.
Student H, “I think that the Gwinn food is very repetitive but when they put in the effort it is absolutely phenomenal. The fries especially, are always so good.”
Student I, “As a vegetarian Gwinn feels like an adventure because it is hard to like what they come up with. I have gained an appreciation for their tofu bowls and I love their lentil soup and we miss the chia pudding. However, everything cooked is just repetitive.”
Student J, “ I think Gwinn is very average and sometimes the food can be pretty good. However towards the end of the quarter it feels like they are just giving you the leftovers they found in the back of the fridge and they just want you to leave. Also if you have any allergies you can’t be eating breakfast here at all, because you will only be able to have oatmeal and fruit. There is not a lot of allergy friendly food at all or religious friendly food either. If you can’t eat pork for religious reasons and also have allergies, it is hard and you basically won’t be able to eat. Since they always serve a lot of pork.”
(Gwinn Fruit Recently photo taken by Michelle Kamau at Gwinn Dining Hall)
In all Gwinn has a lot of work to include and improvements in the type of food that they give out to their students. Student ratio going to Gwinn in the next few years will begin to decrease drastically. I got to interview and record just a dozen of students and they all said the same things. If I got to interview students daily, I feel like they would all say the same thing. That is a big problem, and Gwinn managers and chefs should change the variety of food they cook. However, recently after interviewing all the students and chefs. There was some new changes implemented in Gwinn. Both these pictures were of lunch one rainy Friday. I was very surprised because they improved things very quickly. Gwinn can change, students just may be unappreciative at times.
(Gwinn Charcuterie Board Photo taken by Michelle Kamau at Gwinn Dining Hall)
What do you think, can Gwinn redeem itself after student feedback?
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