Ella Grimes ’29 is a a prospective philosophy major. Contact her at evgrimes@wm.edu
The views expressed in this piece are entirely her own and do not express the views of organizations she is apart of.
Salmon bowls. Mediterranean bowls. Yogurt bowls. Pasta bowls.
The list goes on. Bowls aren’t a food group — yet. But with their quick-serve nature and nutritional benefits, they’re rapidly reshaping the food industry.
If you haven’t experienced this firsthand, with that acai bowl for breakfast or ramen bowl for dinner, consider the astounding surge of bowl outlets after 2019. They’re versatile, customizable and flavorful. Think of Remy in “Ratatouille” experiencing the gustatory pleasure of eating strawberries and cheese at the same time. Now imagine that experience tenfold. It’s this appeal that continues to draw customers to chains like Cava, Sweetgreen and Chipotle.
The coming opening of the College of William and Mary’s new dining hall represents the perfect opportunity to bring this trend to campus.
But first, it’s worth examining what’s missing from campus dining now. If you ask The Princeton Review, it’s a lot — enough to secure their current No. 5 spot on their “Campus Food Not So Tasty” list of dining halls across the United States. Students at the College have voiced their frustrations with food variety, quality and dining experience as a whole. Meanwhile, peer institutions have achieved student satisfaction with their globally-inspired cuisines, short wait times and build-your-own stations. Over Thanksgiving break, I had the opportunity to experience a day of eating at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which is consistently ranked highly (No. 1 by The Princeton Review) for its dining program. What I noticed wasn’t its friendly employees, flexible hours or cleanliness, qualities that William and Mary dining has, but how it made an average trip for lunch feel like a culinary experience due to the sheer variety of options — from beef dumplings to bread pudding to tandoori salmon — available at different food stations.
As a premier institution of higher education, the College should achieve just as great of a reputation for its dining. With undergraduates paying a whopping total of $3,365 a semester for two years for the unlimited meal plan, it’s expected that the food isn’t just ‘better than it was before.’
Today’s college students don’t just want food served cafeteria-style: they want control over what they eat. Self-serve bowl stations would facilitate this and provide a solution to repetitive dishes.
Now, how would this work? Well, it’s simpler than you might think. Replace long wait times and stations with absent attendants with an easier experience, with ingredients periodically restocked by employees and a daily-rotating theme to enhance the station. These themes would be inspired by cultural cuisines from around the world (think Thai, Peruvian, French), fast food chains (like Olive Garden’s never-ending pasta, Chili’s Triple Dipper or Raising Cane’s box combo), and holidays like Chinese New Year and Earth Day (which could feature sustainable ingredients). The great thing about bowls is that they can support all of this variety and customization and still look aesthetically pleasing. To-go bowls, which would be available at the station, would be a convenient and nutritionally dense option for athletes or students with packed classes who can’t sit down for a meal.
Not only will the implementation of a self-serve bowl station be more convenient, but it will also reduce student anxiety around asking workers for modifications. For someone like my roommate, who often refrains from eating a made-to-order dish because she doesn’t want to ask for it to be made red-meat-free, this would be immensely useful. Having the option to adjust the portions of and choice of ingredients will prevent food waste and improve student satisfaction with their final meal.
The question remains of whether this is feasible, and to that I would say yes. As long as sanitization and cost considerations are prioritized, along with proper nutrition and ingredient labels, the self-serve bowl station should be entirely manageable-and worth the investment.
Of course, it will take some creativity and resourcefulness to execute this vision, but imagine the result: a dining experience students look forward to, not just tolerate. That’s something to strive for.
