Northwestern students have been quite outspoken about their complaints on the dining service in the past. However, a big change came to campus this semester.
Last spring, a panel of students had the chance to vote against Sodexo, the longstanding dining service at NW, for Creative Dining.
Sam Callahan, a student on the panel, said that during previous years, “eating was more of an obligation than something to look forward to, and I felt a new service provider just might be able to revive our campus dining experience.”
And when the votes came in, Creative Dining was the winner.
Each student has different expectations for what a good campus dining service should provide. Some wanted better ice cream, a continuously open sandwich line or Warm Cookie Wednesday every day. However, other students just wanted to have more options that fit their dietary needs.
Emelie Swonger noted that on her college visit, she was told there would be an abundance of gluten free and dairy free options, but upon arriving to campus, she discovered she would have to do much of her own cooking.
After the switch to Creative Dining, Swonger raves that “this year has been phenomenal with all of the options they have for food sensitivities and allergies.”
Changes have included a variety of gluten free dessert options, almond milk rather than soy milk and the addition of quinoa, fresh fruit and Mexican tortillas to the regular lines.
Similar to Swonger, Sydney Kolb had her issues with Sodexo’s provisions for her dietary needs. The vegetarian options used to be the same few items on a short rotation, usually including some unmarked mushy rice dishes.
Now having experienced Creative Dining’s vegetarian line, Kolb says, “I can tell whoever is making the vegetarian line is looking into innovative foods included in a vegetarian diet and not just making food that doesn’t include meat. They’re woke about veggie cuisine.”
