HUDS Debuts New Winter Menu Items

Old dining hall standbys like pizza and macaroni and cheese have some new companions this season, ranging from Southern grits and collard greens to Thai curry to Korean bibimbap.

Harvard University Dining Services unveiled its new winter menu items starting last week in all 13 undergraduate dining halls.

The new menu includes more seafood and vegetarian entrees, new bean and grain salads, the beef consommé and Welsh rarebit served at the 375th anniversary celebration dinner in October, and frozen yogurt options which will give HUDS’ chilled desserts “a flavor profile more like Berryline,” according to an email from Crista Martin, the director for marketing and communications for HUDS.

Martin wrote that HUDS drew on data from the student survey that it conducted in December to choose the new menu items.

Special daily options also change seasonally. This winter, HUDS plans to offer a make-your-own Peking chicken and tofu bar on Monday evenings, a fruit bar on Tuesdays, and the popular Korean beef barbecue served last year every Wednesday.

“We’re also continuing our efforts to make the deli bar healthier by roasting some of our own meats,” Martin wrote.

“I think this semester’s menu so far has been more appetizing than last semester’s,” Andrew D. Talbot ’15 said.

Elaine Cheng ’15 noticed increased diversity in the new dishes.

“The students have come from a wide background, and I think it’s kind and nice that they’re trying to cater to us,” Cheng said.

Parker B. Davis ’15 said after a week of eating the new foods that the dining halls are “really stepping it up this semester.”

But some were more skeptical of HUDS’ effort to vary its selection.

“I rarely eat at Annenberg because the food is neither very tasty nor healthy,” Justin S. Katiraei ’15 said. “The new food items may be a welcome change, but only time will tell.”

The new foods will stay on the menu until spring break, when they will be replaced with new spring menu items.

—Staff writer Laya Anasu can be reached at layaanasu@college.harvard.edu.