Here at Berea College, we have always since I can remember anyway, had the Crossroads Café that we could eat at and obtain food from (on most days) 7 AM to 12 Midnight. There were fried food options, the last on campus might I add, a sub sandwich line, freshly made salads, fruit cups, and these amazingly soft, warm, fresh baked cookies. I personally liked the Macadamia Nut cookies.
Before the end of the last semester (Spring 2016), the student body got notice that our meal plan options were changing along with our café. We now have what is called Wholly Habaneros. According to Berea College’s website, is a restaurant that “Offers up a delicious selection of tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, and burrito bowls. Customize them with your favorite toppings and add a little extra spice to your life,” and I am not the only one who does not believe this statement. The first time I tried the new place, I bought a quesadilla with cumin chicken, refried beans, “cilantro” rice, queso, and pic de gallo. I put cilantro in quotations because I want you to think about what cilantro rice is. Normally, at least I do, get a picture of white rice flavored with cilantro. When I went there, and the times that I have been since, I have gotten a crusty yellow rice. Not exactly what you want to eat. The food was subpar. It tasted like nothing. The only thing that made it a bit better was adding salt onto it.
I recently polled Berea College students to see what their thoughts were on this subject. I used the hashtags #bringbackthecafe and #changeisgood. We were, according to a student comment on the poll, got an e-mail towards the end of last semester with a survey asking us about these changes. I, along with other students I asked, do not remember receiving this e-mail.
I got a varying amount and type of responses. Among them were some suggestions to make it better. I will be putting all of these comments in this article. I will also be sending this along to David McHargue, who is a manager of dining services. I got upwards of 30 #bringbackthecafe hashtags, with only one #changeisgood definitive answer. Among some of the comments, from a student, Tyler Rider, said “#bothplease” and when asked to clarify he replied “I think they made a smart move by opening food service for a longer time to make up for the limited hours at the taco place. That helps. But they also serve tacos consistently at food service and you get burned out pretty quickly. Variety would be good. I like that they are trying to change things up but limiting the cafe to only tacos leaves students with fewer options that were available before,” which is something I would like to point out. Food service frequently serves what passes as Mexican food each week. Why should we be forced, to eat this when our other option is the same?
Another student, Ciara Felty commented “I think I'm the most irritated by the fact that we get $50 Berea bucks and a burrito or w/e is like $5+ . . . They've only been open like a week or two and people are already drained of Berea bucks. #bringbackthecafe,” to which I reply with a question: Why is this new option so much more expensive than students were used to?
Sydney Meade commented “Also Lara please suggest they get to-go boxes with lids! Or bigger to-go bags! Trying to swaddle your loaded nachos in two of those paper boats and a tiny paper bag to get it back to your dorm is just way too much haha,” which I completely agree with. The quesadilla I ate was extremely messy whereas before, it was not and was a lot more accessible to bring around campus.
Minasha Zareel Lamisa posed another great point when she said “I also wanted to mention that cafe until midnight over dining until midnight was so much better. This is because I knew my options at the cafe, so I could walk in knowing exactly what I wanted and actually be able to get them 99% of the time,” whereas at food service, we have literally no idea what we are going to walk into to see. I believe this is a problem.
On the opposition (if you could call it that) Keifer Williams replied “I enjoy food service being open all the time. It's fantastic. However, on some evenings say 9-12 pm their food is not the greatest, and being able to go to the cafe during that time would be neat, except the cafe is closed now during that time. In terms of Wholly Habaneros VS cafe I don't even care. I just like having edible food available always. But overall I really appreciate that food service is trying a new thing because I'm full way more of the time. One night at 9:30pm I was eating chocolate chip pancakes, and I was almost brought to tears of joy,” and I applaud food service. They have become slightly better about their food options. Except for when the vegetarian line is full of potatoes that have been there a week. To which, I have noticed a positive change to some of comments about that.
This may not mean much to you, and that’s okay. It’s also not the most important thing on campus that I could be writing about (just wait for next week’s article), and I didn’t get enough responses as I would hope. However, I am going to beg and plead with the administration to take these thoughts into consideration. Mr. McHargue, please think about implementing some of the old things back. Especially the deep fryer, as one student, Eilish Flannery came up with a great idea “My ideal situation would have been to just make the sandwich line into the Mexican subway stuff, [as] there's so much room back there that I just feel like they could have kept more of the old machinery as well?” and that is what I will leave you with. #bringbackthecafe #whyberea
*** Some comments have been edited for grammatical or clarity purposes***
