Food Committee meetings allow for student input

Ice cream has returned to Market Central after its disappearance more than one month ago.

Jon… Ice cream has returned to Market Central after its disappearance more than one month ago.

Jon Soulia, the director of Market Central Operations, said the return was possible because of a new lid for the ice cream cooler that replaced the older one with cracks in it. The new lid was installed on Friday.

Soulia announced this to a crowd of about 20 people at the Student Government Board-run Food Committee meeting on Friday outside of Market To-Go in Litchfield Towers. The committee has public meetings with Sodexo employees at varying times and locations every other Friday to make comments and suggestions on how to improve the dining facilities on campus.

Last week’s meeting focused on the reinstatement of ice cream in Market Central and various student allergy concerns in the dining halls.

Laura Paiewonsky, a 2010 SGB member, started the Food Committee at the beginning of last semester. Student participation at the meetings has grown from four students at the beginning of last semester to nearly 20 students on average, according to current SGB member Emily Hoover. SGB members James Landreneau and Hoover currently head the committee.

At the meeting, representatives from on-campus dining facilities, including Market Central and The Perch, addressed the students’ concerns from the previous meeting and how the team has worked to fix them.

Soulia mentioned the lack of ice cream at Market Central, which Sodexo remedied by replacing a part of the broken machine.

Market Central’s head chef, Mike Mantini, spoke about student concerns over allergens in the food, including nuts and gluten.

Mantini said one of his priorities is to continue to make recipes for foods without nuts.

“We’re really adamant about trying to keep [Market Central] a nut-free facility,” he said. Mantini, who started at Sodexo this fall, spoke with Pathfinders over the summer, who told him that the facility’s lack of nuts excited many prospective students on tour because of their allergies.

Mantini then went on to announce the beginning of a new student food-related club, the Gluten Free Club. He was unsure if the club would be able to have its first meeting before the end of the fall term, but he said a meeting would definitely happen in January.

At the new club’s first meeting, the student group will review Market Central’s menus to show the Sodexo staff more gluten-free foods that might not be at the gluten-free Tutto Fresco location.

Mantini and Soulia also announced the Christmas dinner special, which will be on Wednesday night from 6 to 8 p.m. Market will serve carved beef, ham, tofu and fruit salad. Desserts will include apple and pumpkin pies along with German chocolate cake. Mantini assured the attendees that the first 300 students or so will be able to eat lamb.

The two have also planned a chicken wing night that will take place during finals week, but they have not decided upon a date yet.

“I’m pumped. You’ll see me [at Market Central] from open to close,” a student in attendance said about chicken wing night.

Hoover and Landreneau said they think the continuation of the Food Committee meetings are important because they give students a chance to have an influence on the decisions being made at Sodexo.

“[Sodexo] really cares about our opinions,” Hoover said. She said she was especially proud of Sodexo’s quick implementation of halal foods in November after a suggestion at a Food Committee meeting earlier this year.

“I’m really proud of how excited students are,” she said.

Students can sign up at sgb.sodexo@gmail.com to receive a notification about when and where the next meeting will be.