A Diner’s Delight

Walking into the polished and now-palatial campus treasure that is the Dunster House dining hall is like being transported to Martha Stewart’s personal test kitchen. The pristine and spacious serving area, complete with mood lighting that makes dining hall cuisine seem gourmet, is sure to make Dunster’s red tower the new romantic destination for every hungry Harvardian. And the food—stir-fried, grilled, baked, fried, and boiled by chefs cooking with pots and pans that seem to be straight from Emeril’s set (if only they could cook the food by yelling “Bam!”) seems fresher, healthier, and tastier. Suffice it to say, we are quite impressed—and that’s to say nothing of Dunster’s no-less-astonishing next-door neighbor.

Just as impressive is the timing—at a place with 369 years of inertia, the final two dining hall renovations went on according to schedule and without a hitch. In just 10 short summer weeks, Mather and Dunster received their facelifts, and almost nobody besides a few tutors and masters seemed to notice—at least until their waffles emerged emblazoned with the Harvard’s “VERITAS” crest.

And if that weren’t enough, the whole project has made Harvard even greener—something sure to please students who don’t frequent Mather or Dunster. Old equipment was donated and reused so that as little waste as possible ended up in landfills. The kitchen’s new machinery both conserves water and energy and facilitates recycling. Harvard University Dining Services’ (HUDS) partnership with the Harvard Green Campus Initiative appears to be a resounding success.

And so we’d like to tip our hats to the folks at HUDS who claimed that they would renovate all of Harvard’s dining halls in just a few short years. People might grumble about dining hall fare, but no one can complain about the outcome of these recent and laudable efforts to improve the student experience.

But don’t get too comfortable—when everyone else sees Dunster’s glory, they will want their dining halls to be re-renovated, or at least be like Mather pre-renovation and have ice cream every day as a consolation.