Stevie Disappoints, and I’m Not Sure Why
by Leo Savage, Contributor
5 meal swipes a day. 28 a week.
4 meal swipes a day. 21 a week.
For the price of $5,063 per semester—$337 per week (give or take a few days)—the average non-OSCA Oberlin student receives these meal swipes, and 200 “flex” dollars for use at campus locations like DeCafé and Azzie’s. That is a reasonable amount of money to spend on food, one might think, for a family of four. Though college students are often hungrier than the general populace, there seems to be a bit of a disparity between what a single person would pay on their own, and what a single person pays on the meal plan.
What about the labor, utility, and facility costs? Well…I admittedly don’t know. I, like many other students, put faith (by choice or through grinding teeth) in the school’s ability and willingness to charge us evenly and accordingly for a product that is meant to nutritionally sustain us through four years of collegiate challenge. However, Niche’s grading of Oberlin’s campus food is a C. There must be a better way. This article is not investigative. It does not uncover any misuse of money, or other actions taken by AVI or Oberlin College. This article is, however, what I feel to be a reasonable complaint.
For simplicity’s sake, I will focus on Stevenson Dining Hall (or Stevie to his close friends). I believe it to be the intended primary dining location for those on the traditional meal plan. Every other dining option, while possibly higher-quality, doesn’t offer nor necessitate the same variety and nutritional consistency that Stevie should, as the base of campus dining. If the roots of a tree are not strong, the rest fails to matter, after all.
Let’s start like most days start: with breakfast. Stevie’s breakfast has a grand total of four consistent, reasonable options. You could eat off-brand cereal, which is fine every once in a while, but doesn’t really offer substantial protein or vitamins. You could go to the fruit and yogurt bar, which offers those much needed nutrients, but you may find that yogurt and some cantaloupe every morning doesn’t exactly do the trick. What of bananas? you may ask. What of apples? There are two colors of fruit at Stevenson Dining Hall: black and green. There is no “ripe.” So you sigh, and string along to the traditional breakfast. You already had an omelet everyday for the last week, so this and some fruit is your best hope for nutritional harmony. What you are served is pancakes or french toast, scrambled eggs that both look and taste like SpongeBob after a run-in with the cartel, a meat product that manages to both be cold and overcooked as possible, and/or oatmeal (there is rarely oatmeal).
Now, you have lunch and dinner. You’re tired from all your browsing on FB Marketplace and emailing. Thankfully, the options open up a little.
Despite these options, you still go to Stevie because there are only so many Umami hot bowls and Rat sandwiches that you can capably digest in a week. The good days are mediocre, and the bad days have you leaving with the transfer portal up on your laptop and another portal opening between your ass cheeks. Sometimes, I just want a seasoned chicken breast and various hot vegetable options. For the last month, I have seen nothing but cauliflower and zucchini outside the salad bar. For the last two years, I have seen more dubious excuses for prepared protein than simple boneless thighs, breasts, strips, or loins. The more complex the dish, the more goes to waste at the end of the day. Why is it that we have smash burgers, and no regular burgers? Why turkey meatballs, and not just turkey or meatballs? Why put cauliflower in a stir fry when it just does not work with the sauce? It seems like there is difficulty in sourcing food, or perhaps in budget.
I believe that cultural representations of food are important. I’m happy to be somewhere that tries unique food items from different parts of the world. I’m also happy that Oberlin tries to accommodate allergenic and dietary needs. But if you half-bake every food choice, then all of them are misrepresented and don’t serve their main purpose: to feed. I worry that at the cost of accommodating everyone, Oberlin accommodates no one in this regard. If Stevie serves a large pool of customers, shouldn’t it have a consistent, nutritious, and quality food option that’s basic enough to appeal to most people who don’t always want the riskier culinary attempts? This could be fixed with a simple station dedicated to a basic protein and vegetable. No more, no less. No bones, no cheese, no sauce, no toppings, no culinary complexity. The students should customize themselves. Customization shouldn’t be done for them at every station when they only have one breakfast, lunch and dinner a day, and deserve to be appetized with what’s put on their plate.
It seems that Stevie struggles with sourcing and division of resources more than anything. The workers there are incredibly kind, considerate, and productive. I have never once had a problem with any AVI employee. All I hope for is a future where we can one day walk into Stevie, tap in one of our four to five swipes, and not think “I hate all the options today.” Rather, I hope for the privilege to consistently, on days when the options are unappealing, think “I hate all options but one.”
