Eatin' Good

Bertold Brecht had no doubt about the importance of eating well. “Food,” the German playwright wrote, “comes first, then morals.” The recent changes introduced by Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) have shown, however, that improvements in gastronomy and morality can sometimes go hand-in-hand. The revamped menu that came into effect in September should prove beneficial to both students’ taste buds and their cholesterol levels.

The extent of the changes should not be underestimated, and HUDS should be praised for making sweeping alterations to improve its formerly substandard offerings, rather than merely tinkering at the margins. Pasta now comes with a broad range of different sauces, grilled chicken can be ordered from the grill at (almost) every lunch and dinner and George Foreman Grills are available for students to make their own low-fat creations. HUDS staff have pointed out that many of the changes were instituted in response to feedback received from extensive student surveys carried out over the past couple of years.

It is important to recognize that the new offerings were not solely introduced because they tasted better. Underlying the move was a conviction, held by students and administrators alike, that the dining halls were previously serving too much unhealthy food. The new options and adapted recipes for old favorites, have, according to HUDS, entirely eliminated oils with trans-fatty acids—the most unhealthy kind of grease—from all of Harvard’s fried foods. Whether or not all of the new offerings hit the mark, HUDS’ increased health-consciousness can only bode well for the student body—or, rather, student bodies.

Several additional alterations were made that did not directly improve the healthiness of the offering but should nevertheless be lauded. All eggs are now cooked to order at breakfast, cutting down on waste and increasing freshness, while also being more responsive to individual preferences. All coffee in the dining halls is now Fair Trade, which shows that HUDS can be made to listen to student concerns, even if it is not always prompt in doing so.

Now, however, is no time for HUDS to rest on it laurels. Many changes were made over the summer, but many aspects of the Harvard meal plan still need to be improved. Listening to students needs to be a continuous process, not an occasional public relations exercise. To be fair, Executive Chef of Residential Dining Martin Breslin seems to agree, and has described improving food as “an evolving process.” In that vein, Breslin should respond as soon as possible to students’ concerns that the range of offerings at breakfast is substandard, and that the changes have meant that students in a rush are forced to grab unhealthy pastries instead of a decent range of fresh fruit.

The most important improvement to undergraduate residential dining, however, will come from bureaucrats and not from chefs. It is becoming increasingly clear that the dinner hours of 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. are simply not acceptable for meeting undergraduate needs. Harvard students, as everyone connected to the College knows, go to sleep very late at night. Students are forced to eat so early in the evening that a vast majority get hungry again before bedtime. Brain break is not a solution to this problem—the options often aren’t substantial enough to sate serious hunger cravings. In any case, the food at brain break is generally unhealthy—as, of course, are the offerings at the pizza restaurants and chain stores that students are forced to visit in the late hours of the night.

The recent steps taken by HUDS were beneficial. But if there is a serious desire to improve the health of undergraduates, then students, HUDS and administrators will have to develop a plan to significantly extend dinner hours. While an enhanced schedule would require later hours of dining hall workers, higher overtime pay should compensate for having to work later and the hiring of a second shift could accommodate those who want or need to be home earlier. Later dining hall hours are a necessity—and the sooner that is recognized, the better. That much-needed move will stop students from getting the undesirable pairing of shrinking wallets and bulging waistlines, and, in the process, HUDS will have another chance to prove Brecht wrong.