Photo Credit | Nikki Victory
The ATU cafeteria has been struggling to produce nutritious, delicious food to its students this semester. If you have been to the cafeteria in fall of 2024, then you have witnessed this problem. Now take a very picky person, such as myself, and imagine what I deal with on a daily basis.
While I have no complaints about having a meal plan, I frequently walk into the cafeteria and leave with an empty stomach. Other students, like me, are paying for a meal plan we are unable to utilize.
I will admit, Chambers has made improvements. A big one that I noticed is the waffle makers. When there is nothing that I like to eat, I often default to making a waffle. Unfortunately, they got rid of them due to misuse. Then, they replaced them with a pancake maker. After student complaints, they listened and returned two new waffle makers.
Food selection was another problem. At the beginning of the semester, Chambers had very similar daily meals and constantly ran out of food entirely. They have been offering a wider variety of meals for students. The portions have also been larger so more students are able to eat without waiting for more to be made.
While there has been progress made, we are still very far from being where we should be. The waffle makers are often out of batter and/or syrup. The food selection has been wider, but it seems they have almost completely stopped serving the “safe options.” Students may complain about the cafeteria always having chicken or burgers, but they do not realize that those are some
of the only food options that I can have.
My other go-to safe option is pizza. The pizza was severely undercooked at the beginning of the semester. Due to lack of food available, the pizza also ran out quickly. I do not mind a crispy pizza, but recently, it has been very burnt. So burnt, I cannot even take a bite out of it. While this has also been steadily getting better, we should be able to offer cooked, not burnt, food to our
students.
I did not choose to be picky and I cannot change the way I am. I know that there are many other students that identify with me and share my struggles. For this reason, I believe that the cafeteria should keep this feedback in mind when preparing meals
