Grace Fung | Student Life

Dining Services seeks to provide more nutritional information on its website, in response to criticism and the making of the WUSTL Dining application. Mozzarella sticks, for example, is not listed in the menu.

Student Life reported earlier this year that Dining Services was behind in posting nutritional information, and that information available was, in certain instances, incorrect. Bear’s Den, for example, rarely serves tater tots in the prescribed 12-tot portion, and Paws & Go provides information for a four ounce frozen yogurt portion that is typically out of stock.

Dining Services Executive Chef David Murphy said the effort to update the information is complex and ongoing and is highly dependent on student and chef feedback.

Chefs develop recipes based on the ingredients in their inventory. Murphy then looks at submissions to make sure they are acceptable before submitting them to the school dietician. The overall process, from idea to fully vetted recipe, can take between two days and two weeks.

Murphy said there are numerous difficulties that keep Dining Services from posting nutritional information for all of its offerings.

“The finish line is ever elusive,” Murphy said. “It never stops because we are always changing our recipes, changing our options, changing what the stations make; we are looking to be ahead of the game. If you ask me tomorrow what we will be working on, it will be different than it was today because it is always changing.”

Dining Services recently contacted Wasabi, the provider of packaged sushi on campus, and has made the nutritional information of each sushi package available to students.

It is also working to post the nutritional information for “Quick Bites,” the small snacks next to the registers in the library and all campus cafés.

Director of Marketing Jill Duncan said that while Dining Services may never achieve its goal of listing all items served at all locations and times, it is making significant improvements.

“There will never be a place where we go ‘we are done,’ because we change things constantly and seasonally, and we want to keep things new and fresh. I think we have, however, come a really long way,” she said.

Murphy noted that other Bon Appétit clients, including Duke University, have called the University’s Dining Services to ask how it creates its recipes and finds relevant nutritional information to reproduce the process at their facilities.

Murphy and Duncan said that Dining Services continues to seek student feedback, which is the driving force behind the changes it pursues.

“At the end of it, our goal is to have variety, options, creative cuisine and correct information so that when you make the choices you feel good about the choices,” Murphy said.

While some students have been dissatisfied with the lack of nutritional information available online in the past, others have found the online information helpful.

“I am a vegetarian, and I [find] being a vegetarian here extremely easy,” junior Julianne Gagnon said. “There’s a lot of information online, but most people know about [the website].”

Sophomore Rebecca Fogel said she understands the University’s challenges in keeping nutritional information up to date.

“I think [Bon Appétit] did a good job. I wouldn’t expect the dining hall to have all this info online,” Fogel said.

Becky Zhao | Student Life

While the last option seems the most favorable, my freshman standing makes it impossible, as an incoming freshman cannot sign up for the smallest meal plan. On the surface, it just looks like Wash. U. is trying to give freshmen a cushion in case they go a little overboard with the salads, with the sushi or at Ibby’s. If one digs a little deeper, however, it becomes apparent that Wash. U. freshmen, because of the limitations on their meal plans, are paying nearly all of the overhead that is associated with WUSTL Dining Services.

Wash. U. boasts great food, dining halls and workers. While I have yet to be disappointed in any of these and doubt I ever will be, the quality comes at a price. Freshman are required to purchase the Silver Plan for $1.39 to one meal point ($4,300 for 3,100 meal points). The description of the plan that follows says that it is a plan that will “best meet the needs of those students who eat three meals a day and enjoy an occasional snack.” It also claims to be the most popular meal plan for the returning students. Now, while the first claim may be true, the second falls short. Many of Wash. U.’s students have done the math and realized that the Bronze Plan is the ideal one.

Students who have the Bronze Plan initially pay $1.50 for one meal point. Generally, they eat through that plan by the end and are either mooching off friends, starving, or using campus card (therefore paying one dollar for one meal point). By the time you have used 3,100 points, you pay exactly the same price as those with the Silver plan, with one giant caveat: The students with smaller plans more than likely use all their meal points. Though the points roll over at the end of the term, they don’t at the end of the year, so others in my position are forced to waste money. Sophomores buy the Bronze Plan, and juniors and seniors can have plans that are smaller still, leaving the freshman hung out to dry.

As a student, I understand the need for the inflated prices; they pay for the staff, dishes and supplies. But as a freshman, I do not feel that we should be shouldering most of the extra costs. The food and service we get at Wash. U. is phenomenal. It should not be taken for granted that we do not have to drudge through a buffet line looking at something that might or might not be a piece of meat. Obviously this food and service has to come at a price, but one group of students should not be shafted in order to pay the overhead costs that everyone contributes to.

Courtesy of WUSTL Dining Services

Double Star Farms sell fresh produce outside Steinberg Hall. The University helps support the local farm by paying the owner upfront for their crops so that farmers can prepare their crops for harsh seasons.

Resident District Manager of Bon Appétit Nadeem Siddiqui is currently working with 25 farms within a 150-mile radius of St. Louis.

In the program, the University provides farms with money upfront, to make farmers confident they won’t back out of the deal and to enable them to take out loans.

“The weather in St. Louis is very severe in some parts of the winter, therefore it is even more important that we give farms money upfront so they can purchase hoops [for vegetables] and green houses. This will help them to keep providing to us in the winter months,” Siddiqui said. “It is important that we give the farmers the confidence they need so that we will continue being able to provide these options to students.”

Courtesy of WUSTL Dining Services

Clair Rudolf, founder of Double Star Farms, sells fresh produce outside Steinberg Hall. The University pays Rudolf upfront for his crops, allowing him to prepare his produce for harsh seasons.

“Students will be able to recognize the quality of Double Star’s produce when they visit,” he said.

Siddiqui also said that though the produce is high quality, Dining Services has managed to keep the cost of food at a low price by signing contracts directly with the companies.

“Through this program, Wash. U. will be one of the models for the nation,” he said. “We are always looking to do more and to do better for students, the environment and the community.”

Siddiqui has implemented similar programs at other universities he’s worked at in the past including University of Chicago, Stanford University, University of Wisconsin–Madison and Cornell University.

Hanna Xu | Student Life

In 2008, during my freshman year, an item called “Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich on Banana Bread” sat amid the pre-packed items on the stands of Holmes Lounge, Whispers and the old Bear Mart and was enjoyed by many students. I ate it a few times as well, though one thing about it bothered me: There were no nutrition facts online. I soon abstained from this item which, after the item’s nutrition info was posted later in the year, proved to be one of the smartest decisions I have made here. I found myself in awe of these remarkable numbers—so much so that I recall them even two years later.

1366 Calories
98% daily saturated fat
150% daily overall fat
103 grams of sugar (almost twice the daily value)

You probably share my awe, or are at least thinking, “Huh?” Either you are not a health watcher, or you are a ridiculous metabolizer. This is not even several slices of large pizza; rather, in two palm-sized slices of banana bread with some peanut butter and jam spread on them, you have approximately two-thirds of your daily energy need along with a bunch of crap. The fact that 400 calories were present from simple sugar and almost 900 from fat drove many who ate this bomb regularly into a state of panic, and rightly so. Those who indulged in two of these on some select days understandably went berserk.

Admitting such a problem in the first place is one issue, but the failure to publicize the nutrition information before the item went on the menu is an even bigger one. Once Dining Services took action in the 2008-2009 school year, however belatedly, people were able to determine whether or not to spend 4 ½ of their precious meal points so that they could mourn their overweight selves in the future. Returning to Wash. U. after 2 years of leave, I am happy not to spot this item on campus any longer. I am not happy, though, along with many others, to see that so many food items are still missing their nutrition fact counterparts online. To me, this is an issue.

Lest history repeat itself, Dining Services needs to learn from Seranko’s article. The wrong or misleading data needs to be fixed, unless we are to believe the claim of “Favorites” under “Holmes Lounge” on menus.wustl.edu that brownies, muffins, Eddie’s donuts and scones seriously have 0 calories and no fat or sugar. Under “Campus Menu Favorites”—the alternative page the web directs us to surf for the facts about the above snacks—one simply cannot find the data. This isn’t good enough. Missing information needs to be updated. Dining Services really has no excuse not to list the data for muffins or scones. These have been around forever. A lot (too many to even consider listing) of pre-packed items lack nutrition data as well. For newly added menu items, the data should be posted before they get on the stands and should stay on the web until such items are no longer served.

Though the broad range of menu availability is appreciated, and the difficulty this poses on prompt nutrition information is understandable, we must know what we’re eating. I trust that hardly any of us would fancy finding out belatedly that we’ve been putting into our body another version of the PB&J on Banana Bread—if it hasn’t happened already. The information on the Hummus Wrap with Mint Cucumber Relish (sounds healthy?)—1095 Calories, 92% daily sodium, 103% daily fat, etc.—was updated only two weeks ago. Health watchers who have eaten this without knowledge of the health information, you have my sympathy.

Danni Liu | Student Life

Detailed nutrition facts are unavailable for many foods around campus such as prepackaged items like salads.

Although Dining Services posts nutritional information, including calorie and fat counts online, it is not comprehensive and is sometimes misleading. The information is missing for many items.

Sophomore Christa Stathopoulos expressed concern for the lack of calorie information available for certain pastry items such as scones, a popular late night snack.

“We have a right to know what we are eating and what is going into our food,” she said.

Nutritional information can be accessed through the Washington University Dining Services webpage under “Menus” by location. Clicking on the product will provide the nutritional information for the given serving size. For instance, a Buffalo chicken wrap at Bear’s Den has 668 calories with 142 from fat.

The posted nutritional information for some items is misleading. The information for frozen yogurt is listed for a four-ounce serving even though the smallest cup available at dining locations is an eight-ounce size.

Connie Diekman, director of University nutrition, acknowledges that many menu items do not have nutritional information available yet because many new items were added to the menu this summer.

On her desk sits a stack of papers with nutritional information that have yet to be entered. She says the person in charge of entering all of the information has not yet had a chance.

According to Diekman, her main objective is to provide students with healthy dining alternatives on campus. She encourages students to speak up about what they want to see changed within campus dining.

“We really do rely upon the students to bring up the questions when something is not there. Input is always very important and definitely does impact how we do what we do,” Diekman said. “The goal is to have healthy options, not to force people to only eat healthy. It is about balance but we need to have both options to achieve balance.”

Dining Services has introduced several new initiatives to encourage student health.

New “quick bites” are being designed to sustain students for a long period of time, rather than just spike their blood sugar levels. Truffles and dark chocolate bark can now be found at dining locations, replacing items such as yogurt covered pretzels and Swedish fish.

Dining Services is also working to reinforce its policy on serving three-ounce protein servings.

There is a national trend of posting nutritional informational on site in eateries. Both Starbucks and Jamba Juice provide the calorie content for their drinks and pastry items on their menus.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which Obama signed in 2010, requires that chain restaurants list nutritional information on their menus. This stipulation has yet to go into effect.

Nutrition facts are not available at Washington University dining locations.

Diekman suggests that students who notice items absent or misrepresented on the Dining Services website bring them to her attention.

Students could use Bear Bucks, which were previously called Campus Card points, on campus at dining facilities, the bookstore, Bear Necessities and more. Now students are also able to use their ID cards to buy their meals at Bobo Noodlehouse and Kayak’s Coffee, both northeast of campus.

Student Union recently surveyed students to determine where students would most like to be able to use Bear Bucks. The survey was broken down into several categories include “Apartment/Room Accessory Merchants,” “Clothing/Supplies Merchants,” “Entertainment Merchants” and “Restaurant Merchants.”

Popular requests include Schnuck’s, Target, the Galleria 6 Cinemas, Trader Joe’s, FroYo on the Delmar Loop, Pi and the Pageant.

Members of the University community are enthusiastic about the program.

“I think it’s a good idea, especially since they are in our neighborhood in University City. It is quite convenient to us if we can use Campus Card to do shopping in that area,” said Adrien Chou, a first year graduate student.

Kayak’s general manager Kevin Reddy says that the Bear Bucks program has been a success thus far.

“We’re very happy with the program. There is no loss in it for us. It is a way to guarantee additional business,” Reddy said. “It has been everything we hoped it would be. We look forward to seeing how much it will increase as time goes by.”

According to Reddy, more students are using Bear Bucks as the semester continues. He also says that Bear Bucks are making the restaurant more attractive to underclassmen who were not previously inclined make the trek to Kayaks.

“It continues to climb, it has certainly made a difference in our sales. We are also getting more underclass students,” Reddy said.

According to Dining Services Manager Paul Schimmele, parents approve of the Bear Bucks program because it gives them control of where their students shop off campus. The University needs to pre-approve a business before they can accept Bear Bucks.

“Parents like that this account can only be used at university-approved places,” Schimmele said.

Schimmele says that the idea to use Bear Bucks off campus first came up because many students like to eat off campus.

“A lot of our students go off campus so there has been an initiative to centralize some of the things related to the use of the account,” he said.

Members of the University administration do not think that Bear Bucks will detract from the success of campus dining services.

“I think that it gives students an option they didn’t have before, but it doesn’t change student actions,” Schimmele said.

Still, if on campus sales decline drastically, the University will look into altering the Bear Bucks program.

“I don’t think that will be the case, but if that changes, there will be a discussion on campus,” Bon Appetit Resident District Manager Nadeem Siddiqui said.

Students can add money to their Bear Bucks accounts through WebSTAC.

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Students arrived on campus in August to find construction on the South 40 complete. The new Bear’s Den dining facility was built, it and offered expanded dining options, including an Indian station, a stir-fry station, a pizza station and a pasta station. Two dorms started last year, the South Forty House and Eliot B, were completed.

The University went fully tobacco free in July, and students arriving in August were forced to leave campus to indulge their tobacco habits. Almost immediately, smokers on campus began to congregate on Forsyth and at other places around the border of the Danforth campus to smoke. University officials said that they hoped not to have to implement punishments for students who smoked on campus, and Student Health Services stressed the services it offered to students interested in quitting smoking.

In January, dining services introduced its new “Connie’s Choice” initiative, named after University nutritionist Connie Diekman. There were stickers posted at dining facilities around campus promoting healthy eating options. In conjunction with the program, Dining Services began to enforce tater tot portion size. To the disappointment of many students, dining facilities began to give students 12 tater tots in each serving. This did not last long, however, and by the end of the year, servings were back up to their old, large size.

The Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) decided to expand Sexual Awareness week to include discussion on alternative sexual options, and, in a controversial move, invited Bristol Palin to lead a panel discussion on abstinence. In January, Student Union Treasury approved the panel, which was set to cost $20,000. The Treasury’s approval caused an immediate uproar on campus; many students believed that Palin, who was infamously pregnant during the 2008 election cycle, was not an appropriate person to speak about abstinence on campus. The controversy lasted for two days and garnered national media attention until SHAC and Palin both agreed that she shouldn’t come.

The winter was notable for its severe weather, and in February the University had its first snow day since 1982. The administration shut down the University preemptively because of a bleak weather forecast. The weather did not live up to its forecast, however, and little snow actually accumulated on the ground. The University opened the next day, although certain services, including dining, remained limited over the next few days.

In March, the women’s basketball team fell one game short of winning a consecutive National Championship.

This spring, the University admitted members of the class of 2015 and posted its lowest ever admissions rate, dropping to 15.4 percent.

In April, the University announced its decision to bring Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel to campus as the 2011 Commencement speaker. Seniors were excited that the University was bringing in such a well-known speaker for graduation.

The year ended with Student Union elections. Students voted the UP slate into office, and the new Senate and Treasury voted on the new budget without contest.

The Millbrook market will be expanded to include a salad bar similar to the one on the South 40, and will also sell soups, sandwiches and coffee, and an outdoor grill will be installed outside of the Village House. More cooking space will also be added.

“I think it could be a nicer dining facility in that students won’t have nearly the lengthy lines that [they currently] have. The facility currently struggles to keep up with even small crowds,” said Paul Schimmele, the assistant to the director of operations. “Hopefully students will spend less time in lines and more time doing what they need to do.”

The proposed changes also include a bigger grill station, and more burners for the stir-fry station.

Schimmele says that the increased population of the Northside has tested the capacity of the current ten-year-old dining area, and has created overwhelming lines and crowds.

“The physical space no longer meets the needs of the students today….If you’ve eaten there very much you know that getting to the grill or the stir-fry can be difficult,” Schimmele said.

Students agree that the space is often too crowded.

“I think that the line situation is awful there. I think it is really packed in too small a space, but the food is really good,” junior Jessie Frank said.

Junior Birce Onal tries to avoid eating in the Village at hours she knows are particularly busy.

“You have to know when to go to the village to avoid the crowds. I don’t think we need more space to eat, but more stations would probably help them out because they get really overwhelmed with crowd control,” Onal said.

Still, she is not certain that construction is necessary.

“The food is good and if you know when to go you avoid the crowds, so if they didn’t change it I would not complain that much,” Onal said.

Frank also questioned the necessity of the construction.

“This could be a waste of time because they only need it in the dinner hours. Besides the dinner rush, during lunch and late night it is never really that crowded,” Frank said.

Schimmele noted that Dining Services may also introduce expanded dining options including a comfort food station.

The University first considered the renovation when it decided to install a dishwashing machine in the Village.

Although Schimmele expects the construction to be undertaken in phases, he hopes that at least part of the project will be completed by the end of the summer.

The cost of replacing dishes is reflected in students’ meal plans.

Each year, Dining Services allocates $1.50 to 2.50 per student in its budget to cover the costs of replacing missing dining equipment.

According to Nadeem Siddiqui, resident district manager of Bon Appétit Management Co., Dining Services has had to replace 2,400 pieces of silverware in the Danforth University Center this year and between 500 and 700 bowls from the stir-fry station on the South 40. Bon Appétit manages the eateries on campus.

Figures on other replacements were not available.

According to Siddiqui, there are several factors that led to this need for replacement.

Health Code regulations stipulate that any chipped dishes must be replaced. Dining Services consistently replaces china that is chipped or shattered.

Students often mistakenly throw away metal silverware with their disposable containers in the DUC.

According to Siddiqui, although some of the replacements are due to unavoidable wear, many members of the University community fail to return their dishes after using them.

He says that many students bring dishes and silverware home from the dining halls and that professors and staff members often bring tableware back to their offices and do not return them.

“Sometimes it is purely innocent, but a lot of [tableware] does enter into rooms and offices on campus,” said Paul Schimmele, assistant to the director of operations. “It is not just students.”

Junior William Swanson thinks that the student body should pay for stolen or borrowed tableware.

“It is not good that there is so much stealing going on, but at least there is some accountability,” Swanson said.

China and silverware are not the only items that members of the University community borrow from the dining hall.

According to Siddiqui, during the snowstorms this winter, some students took trays from the dining halls and used them as sleds. Many of these trays were never returned.

“It’s not surprising that they are stealing trays, but they should return them. They are not very durable, so the chances are that those trays are broken,” Swanson said. “The chances are that you are going to have that wherever there is snow and university students.”

Swanson suggests that students use cardboard instead of trays for sledding.

Junior Kim Frisch thinks that Dining Services has handled the shortage well.

“They seem really prepared for it, so it does not seem like an issue,” Frisch said.

Although much of the missing silverware and china has already been replaced, Siddiqui and Schimmele encourage students to return china and silverware to any dining location on campus.

“It would be nice not to have to budget for a huge shrinkage,” Schimmele said. “We would be happy to see that stuff come back.”

Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010

Maintain a calorie balance over time to achieve and sustain a healthy weight

• Improve eating and physical activity behaviors.
• Control calorie intake to manage body weight.
• Reduce sedentary behaviors and increase physical activity.
• Consume appropriate number of calories for each life stage.

Focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods and beverages

• Reduce sodium intake.
• Replace saturated fatty acids with unsaturated fatty acids.
• Consume less than 300 milligrams of dietary cholesterol each day.
• Limit trans fat consumption.
• Consume fewer calories from solid fats and added sugars.
• Increase whole grain consumption and decrease intake of refined grains.
• Consume alcohol in moderation if consuming at all.
• Increase fruit and vegetable consumption.
• Consume fat-free or low-fat milk products.
• Choose a variety of proteins, including fish, beans, nuts and seeds.
• Replace fatty proteins with lower-fat proteins (like seafood).

As federal officials emphasize the importance of healthy eating, the newly released 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans challenge Washington University dining menus to meet higher standards.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services have administered new guidelines out of concern for Americans’ overall health, as obesity, heart disease and other illnesses linked to food have become increasingly prevalent in the last decade.

Washington University Dining Services will work with these new guidelines to continue providing healthy options for students.

The government agencies advise Americans to curb overeating habits to maintain the proper caloric intake specific to their age and physical condition.

The report recommends that half of each plate contain fruits and vegetables. It also encourages eating whole grains with daily meals and choosing foods with higher amounts of potassium, dietary fiber, calcium and vitamin D.

Americans are also encouraged to vary protein in their diets and to consume more fat-free and low-fat milk products.

Although sodium intake recommendations have not changed since 2005, the report continues to warn against high intake, setting 2,300 milligrams as the maximum daily amount. It also advises a reduced intake of 1,500 milligrams for African Americans, people with hypertension, diabetes or chronic kidney disease, or those older than 51.

This is the first time the government has advised people to eat less. The report directly advises the American people that they should drink water, not soda, and manage their caloric intake.

The report cited concerns that 72 percent of men and 64 percent of women are overweight, while approximately one-third of all citizens are obese.

“Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 is being released at a time of rising concern about the health of the American population,” the report said. “Its recommendations accommodate the reality that a large percentage of Americans are overweight or obese and/or at risk of various chronic disease.”

This year’s guidelines are considered to be the strongest ever released.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has promoted the new guidelines and shared his hopes for Americans of all ages.

“The bottom line is that most Americans need to trim our waistlines to reduce the risk of developing diet-related chronic disease,” Vilsack told The New York Times. “Improving our eating habits is not only good for every individual and family, but also for our country.”

According to Connie Diekman, director of University nutrition, Washington University sees healthy eating as a priority and works to provide students with nutritious choices.

“We have used the dietary guidelines to plan menus since I have been with the University,” Diekman said. “We will use the 2010 guidelines as we make menu and recipe changes.”

The University is shifting toward offering a wider variety of healthier options, and adding more fruits and vegetables is an area in which it continues to improve. Although pasta, pizza and salads are the primary dishes with vegetables, University chefs are working to develop more entrées that include vegetables. Meanwhile, steamed vegetables are available in all dining locations on campus and can be added as a side to complement vegetable-deficient dishes.

In addition to selling fresh fruit, Dining Services incorporates fruit in salsas, prepackaged salads and pastries. Dining Services also hopes that “Connie’s Choice,” a brand-new healthy option initiative, will make it easier for students to eat well.

While the University frames its menus around the 2,300-milligram recommended maximum daily intake of sodium, some items have more sodium than the recommended amount. Because students request these dishes, they are still on the menu.

“Our goal is to offer options that allow our students to eat in a manner that helps them follow the guidelines,” Diekman said. “It’s a combined responsibility. The options have to be there, but the individuals make the choices. This is no different from the decisions, in my perspective, of, ‘Should I go out this weekend, or should I do those five papers?’”

While some students grumble over reduced portion sizes, others complain about the inaccessibility of healthy choices. Diekman concluded that the University wants to do what is best for its students and seeks to attain a happy medium among student demands.

“We will never be able to please everyone all the time,” Diekman said. “Therefore, our goal is to provide the options that students indicate they’d like to have, to provide the information to help those who want to make better choices make those choices, and then to listen to their feedback. We’re doing what we think is a good way to help students eat healthier, but if you have better suggestions, we want to know them.”