Chez Adams and the Great Dining Hall Mystery

The parslied carrot spears glistened appetizingly before my eyes. I was hard-put deciding between the baked bluefish almondine or roast leg of lamb as entree. Finally, to top it all off was a succulent slice of blueberry pie a la carte. The only thing lacking was a tart ten-year-old bottle of Chateauneuf-des-Papes.

An evening at the Ritz, you ask? Or a post-exam interlude at Lockeober's?

Wrong. Dinner at Adams House.

Now, ostensibly Harvard Food Services provides standardized fare across the University. On a given evening, you should be able to eat the same meal at Currier House as at Adams or Kirkland or Mather.

Ostensibly. The Food Services officials will tell you this is not so; students, however, have a different story. They notice differences in both the quality and type of food offered in the various dining halls.

"Eating in Adams House is like going out to dinner," said one disgruntled Winthrop House resident.

David Covall '79, of Kirkland House, remarked that "At least here in K-House the food has the tendency of being warm sometimes."

Yet another student, a resident of Lowell House who asked to remain anonymous, said, "Our courtyard is beautiful, but the food-- well, that's another story."

Why these disparities? Frank J. Weissbecker, director of Food Services said he "didn't have an awareness that there was so much difference."

In theory, Weissbecker said, the food in the different dining halls should be the same. Each House spends the same amount of money for each student--about $1.00 per person per meal, on average. Each House has the same purchasing techniques in buying food, and all adhere to the standardized menu prepared by Rachel Raven, Food Services manager and the University dietician. Raven, a home economist who has been in the food business for 27 years, said the University recipe file was started some five years ago and there have been "few additions" to it in recent times.

There are some new items on the menu, however. Meatless alternates to the main course--such as "mock" cheeseburgers and rice and cheese casserole--have been added in the past two years to cater to the tastes of vegetarians. In principle, at every meal there should be one meatless alternate, Raven said.

In addition, the salad bar has been embellished. Where once one saw only several wilting chunks of lettuce and maybe a sliced tomato or two, one now finds a repertoire that has been broadened, at some Houses, to include diced cauliflower, green pepper, anchovies and mushrooms.

Latest on the hit parade of new food items is "tofu." You have undoubtedly seen it and wondered what it was on the salad bar. Tofu bears a striking resemblance to white bouillon cubes; in actuality, said Raven, it is ancient Oriental dish, high in protein, made from soybean curd.

Despite these University-wide additions to the menu, the fact remains that there are differences in both the quality and type of food offered in Harvard Houses. Weissbecker admits that whether a House has its own kitchen or not could influence the quality of food preparation.

"The five River Houses are all affiliated with one large, central kitchen," he said. "Obviously if you're cooking a great volume of food like that, it's harder to control the seasoning and the warmth of the dishes than if you're cooking in a small kitchen like that at Adams House."

Weissbecker added, however, that the five river Houses each have smaller supporting kitchens in which grilled and steamed items are prepared.

He also said student input played an important role in deciding what went on the menu. A rotating student committee gives him feedback once a month on how they like the food. Says Weissbecker, "They have not noticed that one House is more favorable than another."

But Michael Burda '81, a Quincy House representative to this committee, said, "Adams House food is better--that's my own personal feeling." He said Adams emphasizes its salad bar, but that he had not mentioned this to Weissbecker.

Another group, the Visiting Overseers Committee, also provides Weissbecker with a monthly rating on the dining halls. This group has the advantage of an objective membership, none of whom attend Harvard. They are local parents of Harvard students, who eat at undergraduate dining halls several times each month and submit a report of their findings to Weissbecker. He said they, too, have not remarked on any disparities in the quality of the food among Houses, but he refused to disclose the names of the committee's members.

The food at Adams is noticeably better. The salad bar, for example, is markedly more varied than those at other Houses. At Adams, you can sprinkle celery salt in your tomato juice, garnish your salad with real bacon bits, anchovies or mushrooms, spread honey-butter on your slice of bread, and wash it all down with tomato juice or percoaled coffee with real cream.

Robert J. Kiely, Professor of English and Master of Adams House, admitted Adams's food was better than that at other Houses where he'd eaten. He attributed this difference to a "friendly relationship" between students and dining hall workers.

"We don't operate through a bureaucracy here," said Kieley. "Rather, students feel free to approach the chef and make suggestions."

Kieley added because of Adams' "good food" and proximity to the Yard, it was necessary to limit the number of interhouse diners. Only 45 students from other houses may eat at Adams during each meal.

Adams House's popularity with students eating interhouse is undisputed. Kieley noted that during September through October last year, 1000 more students ate interhouse at Adams than at all the other Houses put together.

Chad Balch '80, an Adams House resident, said he was "very pleased with the quality of food. Things that are stale in other houses are fresh and warm here."

Robert T. Martin, director of Adams House dining hall, said student opinion polls in the House influence what is offered. Polls showed chocolate was the preferred flavor of ice cream, so it is served most frequently, for example.

At the Quad, students seem to consider Currier House the mecca of fine dining. There--and at all the Quad Houses--you can ask for a hamburger if you don't like the main course.

This tradition began as an incentive to keep Radcliffe students eating at the Quad, rather than at the river, explained Robert C. Wood, director of the Currier House dining hall.

Wood, a graduate of the Cornell Hotel School, said Radcliffe has its own committee of student "food service reps" who meet with him once each month. The students have requested, for example, more chocolate chip ice cream, favored even above the popular "Heavenly Hash." Student response has generally been favorable to Currier House cuisine, Wood adds proudly.

Student input, then, seems to be a crucial factor in determining the type of food served in the dining halls. The quality of food is a different matter. Size of kitchen and the human element involved are two factors beyond the control of students who lobby to improve House food.

Guess we'll just have to get used to those tepid Italian green beans back in Kirkland House, then. Sigh.