We Are What We Eat

“We are what we eat.” This expression, acumen for million different food traditions all over the universe, plays notable role when you are abroad. As it is not only home you are leaving, but also the digestion you are accustomed to. Along these lines, you alone are standing before  foreign cuisine and different  eating traditions. It is very normal to be highly concerned with quality and quantity of food at your future institution. Personally, I was terrified, as I did not know what to anticipate from the Agnes Scott College nutrition system. Moreover, when I first arrived (middle of August) the quantity of students on campus was so small, that our fare was quite modest. It all changed when more students took their first steps into the fall semester. From the beginning of September, Evans Dining Hall was transformed to one of the busiest buildings on campus. For that moment, the assortment of food I have eaten at Agnes is quite satisfying, and I am sure you can find a sufficient number of items to maintain a healthy diet.

There are four divisions in Evans dining hall for “hot food”. The first one serves main entrees, such as vegetable ragout, all kinds of fresh cooked meat and other delicious dishes. The second stand devoted to pasta is loved by many.. The third one is assigned to burgers and French fries. The fourth one is for pizza. Every Friday the fifth stand is open and lovely Mexican food is served there. There is a small stand where you can get some soup. Eventually, in the middle of the room you will see the stand full of fresh vegetables, sauces, yogurt and some fruits. That stand is what I love the most about Evans. Moreover, little ladies from Global Village School come to Evans Hall every lunch, and they are lovers of Evans ice cream. Thus the variety of food here is rich enough to keep you full for 9 months or 4 years at Agnes Scott College!

As I wrote this blog, my coordinator in the Office of Admission, suggested I beyond my personal knowledge and opinion about Evans and interview the Director of Food Service, Mr. Pete Miller. Actually, I thought it was a great idea and asked Mr. Miller some questions about Evans, so that professional conception can help youladies create an adequate image of our college.

Interview with Mr. Pete Miller, Director of Food Service at Agnes Scott College.

Mr. Pete Miller, Director of Food Service

Mr. Miller:

“I’d like to welcome our future international students and tell them a bit about food traditions at Agnes Scott.

1.     Meal Plan

Initially, all international first-year students are obliged to have 21 meal plan, which means they will be able to get three meals per day. Plus, they have $50 of declining balance on their cards, which basically gives them an opportunity to buy some snacks from Black Cat Café or Mollies (both of them are located in the Alston Campus Center). Moreover, if they have a visitor coming over, they can pay for the guest’s meal using the fund on the declining balance. Transfer students or upper class students can purchase 16 meals per week, which will instead have a $200 declining balance.

Checking in for lunch

2. Variety

Being in the South of the United States we have a huge array of traditional American food. However, we realize how many students there are from all over the world, thus we try to have international flare as often as possible. We are all Americans cooking, so sometimes our international food is a bit Americanized. We have Mexican, Italian and Asian dishes of wide assortment. Agnes Scott College is cognizant of you being here every day, so we try to diversify your nutrition.

Moreover, there are more and more people in the world swtiching to vegeterianism, and we totally support it! Actually, we have stations in the Dining Hall  that are strictly vegeterian. Plus, for every meat entrée there is always a vegeterian option suggested. You will not be a starving vegeterian at Agnes Scott College!

3. Changes of Evans

Evans Hall was under renovation few years ago, when there was only one serving lot and a salad bar. Now there are seven serving lots and a salad bar. Students nowadays need lots of choice and we decided to give them the dining hall they wanted. Our students used to come to the dining hall, get everything from one stand and eat. Now it is much more different, you can have home cooked pizza, pasta, salad, vegan stir fried dish, fish, burger or just grab some cookies! Our saladebar has a great choice of vegetables and soups as well. There is also a bakery run by a woman named Betty, she bakes things that the students love. Eventually, back in the old days, everything was cooked back in the kitchen and then served in the dining hall, whereas now everything is cooked just in front of the students. 



Ms. Betty



4. Feedback

In case you have some coments on dining hall’s operation, there are several ways for your opinion to be heard. Number one is a coment board, we call it “The Beef Board”, where students write their opinion about the dishes they enjoyed or had some remarks on. It is a great way for us to get an immediate feedback on the dishes we cook. The other way to get students’ opinion is an online servey held in the end of the each semester. Finally, we work with the Student Senate organization, which is also a great way to hear about food concerns.

5. Quality

The quality of food is more than important for us, so much so we get fresh food deliveries daily. We order local, here I must admit we are very lucky to be located in the South of the United States, where growing season is considerably long. Thanks to our geoposition we can get fresh products almost year-round. Product delivery gets more complicated in winter, but even then we try to get fresh harvest from neighbor states, such as South Carolina. Tennessee, Albama and Florida. By getting products from Georgia  we help support local farms and supply our students with the best quality food.

6. Sustainability

Waste is something we have been working on for the long time. We have reduced our dregs by 70% by composting all pre and post-consumer waste. For instance, if you eat chicken and there are some bones left, they are sent to the compost bin, as well as vegetable peels. We also have reduced our water usage. Typical cafeterias have trays, but we have determined that if we decrease our tray usage, it will save 80, 000 galons of water a year! Thus, currently we are trayless dining facility. Moreover, our dining hall has lots of windows, and we try to use the daylight as long as possible to economize electricity. There is a Sustainability Department on campus and we work hand to hand with them in different programs on recycling. All the paper, cans and plastic goes to recycling, which is very important for us. We make sure everything you throw away is sorted, reused or composted instead of polluting the landfill.

Next, Evans Dining Hall is the place where you can eat as much as you like. However, just for the sustainability issue we ask students to take as much as they are able to eat, to makes sure we do not have excessive amount of food wasted.

7. Traditions

We have got two Agnes Scott traditions, one is Taco Friday and the other one is Fried Chicken Wednesday. We do a Mexican buffet every Friday lunch, which usually consists of nacho bar and many other Mexican treats. In terms of the second tradition, being in the South, every Wednesday we serve fried chicken and baked chicken. Moreover, everybody like sweets that Betty makes: her snicker doodles, chocolate chip cookies and brownies. Those are the things you always remember after being at Agnes Scott.

Despite the fact that future transfer and exchange students will be challenged by new food, it will not take them long to adapt. Plus, Decatur is full of different ethnic restaurants. In case you are lucky to be housed at Avery Glen apartments, you will also have a chance to cook. I am from Kyrgyzstan, a country so small that there is no ethnic cuisine around Atlanta. On the other hand, I live in Avery Glen and often cook for my roommates and myself! I hope this information was helpful to you guys, do not hesitate if you have got any questions!

Affectionately Yours,

Nagima Kulbaeva 

Evans Dining Hall