Arguably, Dartmouth has the best food available to undergraduates in the country. In fact, the College has won awards for its dining services. But despite these successes, I find myself lamenting certain aspects of the dining system once again.
First, freshmen are plagued with costly punches. But I leave some frisky '97 the task of solving a different type of mathematical riddle: how much punches are worth versus how much is actually paid for them. Invariably you will be upset, unless you work for DDS. But in reality, I guess we really need the 'shmen to be ripped off, because according to Dining Services, they support the whole system.
I also have a problem with Oriental noodles with vegetables -- that's right, the contents of the Courtyard Cafe's coolers. I dropped a little comment card in the comment box asking why a tiny container full of cold, bland noodles sells for $2.35, and does not contain meat, brie or caviar.
I am assuming the noodles were not imported from the Orient, which I could see as being costly. I am also assuming that those really small pieces of corn that Courtyard Cafe workers throw in (the "vegetable" part of the deal) do not cost that much, either. What we are left with is a heap of flat noodles made in some factory which cost students more than making a big pot of spaghetti.
The situation with Eastern-style rice is almost identical ($2.85) This rice is not imported from the East. If it was, it would be called just Eastern rice, not Eastern-"style."
I always thought that rice was renowned as a relatively cheap, staple food. The reason why we lost in Vietnam is because all our enemy ate was cold rice, hence having lots of money left over with which to buy those extra bombs, etc.
Here are a few other DDS tidbits which I find annoying:
Workers are only allowed to put one slice of cheese on a sandwich. Another one costs $0.30. That's expensive cheese!
Bacon will cost you a buck.
But here's something that particularly irks me. Upperclassmen will remember that 16oz Snapple bottles used to cost a dollar in Topside, and $1.10 in Food Court. This was reasonable, but one day the price went up to $1.25. That's an awful lot of money for a bottle of tea that costs DDS only $0.57.
Here's the sneaky part: as part of a clandestine night operation undertaken by the DDS Special Forces, 12oz. Snapple cans were snuck in at $1 -- these pricey cans cost DDS only $0.45 each.
Not so long ago we received 16 ounces of enjoyable iced tea for the same price we must now pay for 12 ounces of tinny tasting tea, but until the beginning of this term, at least we had a choice. The coup de main occured when the bottles were removed to "make recycling easier," even after students overwhelmingly stated in a poll that they would rather have the bottles anyway. Interestingly, in the basement of Steele, you can buy Snapple cans for $0.60. Students hence bear the price of recycling.
I myself will never by another Snapple at the College out of principle. Instead I will buy either buying those nifty $0.60. Nestea cans or sneak in bottles which I can buy at Foodstop for $0.99 under the cover of darkness.
Unfortunately students are forced to buy overpriced foods from the College and freshmen bare the added curse of having to use punches that cost more than their face value. While no one would begrudge Dining Service from realizing reasonable prices, the profit margins on many goods in Topside, like Snapple, borders on price gouging.
The food is good, but at what price? In many respects, to use a phrase, we are getting hosed.
