Last semester, Benedum Dining Hall and Aladdin Dining Services hosted different themed meals to start and end the semester. These themes, which included Luau, National Pierogi Day and National Donut Day, will not be returning for the spring semester. However, new meals to celebrate national holidays as well as some new food concepts, are in the works.
So far this semester, students and staff have been able to witness some of the new holiday themes as well as new food concepts. Themes started with a Super Bowl Sunday tailgate themed dinner on Feb. 13, which included wings, hoagies, cheese sticks and some other Super Bowl Sunday party favorites, as well as a Valentine’s Day dinner on Feb. 14.
New Director of Dining Services, Hannah Myers, and Executive Chef, Aaron Jeffries, said these two special themes were the first of many that the Benedum will be offering this semester.
“Essentially with our company, [Aladdin Dining Services], they like us to do different themed meals throughout the whole semester just to kind of have some fun for the students,” Myers said. “You can only eat so much chicken patties and french fries all the time before you kind of want something fun.”
Although the themed meals will fall mainly on the holidays, such as Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day, Ash Wednesday, Easter and more, there will be other meals centered around different themes like National Steak Day. Alongside the themed meals, the cafeteria will be offering new concepts such as Soul Food and Veggie Bond.
“We do have a couple new concepts coming out as well, such as the Soul Town, which is the menu dedicated just for that type of food base,” Jeffries said. “Then the Veggie Bond one would be a pop up for plant-based food. You know, just something different that they haven’t really had here.”
Since Myers and Jeffries are both chefs, they said they know what it’s like when someone is afraid to try a new recipe. However, Myers asked for students to be open to new recipes, no matter how they look. One way to do this is with a simple taste test.
“Feel free to always ask for one of the managers, or the chef, or even the employees cooking, [for] a fork sample of something,” Myers said. “Some of the recipes are pretty yummy.”
By trying and providing feedback, the chef is better able to determine which recipes are popular and which are not. Myers also said that feedback, whether good or bad, helps the staff to get better.
“We would always like to hear the good, the bad, the ugly, because we can only get better from any kind of feedback,” Myers said. “I think sometimes we are just too nervous to give it a try, but you just have to be willing to give it a bite. It will change your perspective.”