University of Virginia Library

Culinary Crimes

It is no pleasant duty to dedicate these
columns to as humdrum an issue as food, but,
once again, the time has come for something
to be said about the culinary crimes of Food
Services.

It has come to our attention that one of
the most prevalent complaints of first-year
dormitory dwellers is the deteriorating quality
of Contract Cafeteria, both in the food
they serve and the expedience with which
they serve it. Unfortunately for many
first-year people the word on Contract arrived
after the word from Contract, and they had
already signed before knowing fully what
they had done.

The first weeks of service were allegedly
tolerable, but things began to go downhill
thereafter. The initially impressive quantity
and passable quality of the food were
ephemeral luxuries which Contract soon gave
up for the more traditional fare which has
been its mainstay and the source of its many
years of "bad press."

The Grill is another of Food Services'
inefficient and irritating operations. The
University is to be commended for hiring
several mentally handicapped workers, a
policy that should be encouraged elsewhere.
However, in occupations where speed is
essential, and customers desire nothing fancy
but do demand quick service, people who can
not cope with the pressures should be
removed and transferred to other work where
carefulness, rather than speed, is most
important.

A simple remedy to at least half of the
Grill's problems would be the installation of a
Coke machine on the self-service side of the
checkout counter. Granted, pink lemonade
and pseudo-grape drink may be cheaper to
produce, but Coke is what the people want.
The conspiracy to make people drink
lemonade by making them wait hours for a
coke is causing much of the ridiculous
waiting.

The intolerable slowness of service at the
Grill encourages potential customers to go
elsewhere–even as far as the corner–to
purchase even the simplest of foodstuffs. For
Food Services to adequately serve the
University, it must do more than fill the
stomachs of students. Any vending machine
can do that, and probably more reliably.
People are tired of passing hours in lines just
to pay 12 cents for a stale dough nut that is
90% air.