Is D-hall Slacking?

Recently, I came across an article written in 2008 in “Lion’s Eye” on the Academy’s website. The article depicted the kind of food I was to expect in satisfying detail. The students extolled the food served from the recently improved menu, describing that they had “a tour of world cuisine.” The descriptions included food from several different countries and regions such as France, North Africa, India and China, and promised a wide diversity of food on campus for the different cultures of Exeter.

Upon my arrival, I was welcomed by many aspects of Exeter that showed me the ways that respectfully represented the eclectic cultures within the community. However, despite my expectations, I was disappointed by the lack of culinary diversity on campus. Unlike what I was promised on the main Dining Services page, a cuisine that would “serve the Community as a whole, and each student individually” for “an accommodating variety of diners from diverse backgrounds throughout the year,” I, like many international students find myself homesick for certain foods. People also argue that even if certain cuisines are offered at all, they are poor approximations at best of the originals.

So how many days are devoted to the above mentioned culinary diversity on campus? Technically two: Lunar New Year and International Tea. With only two days devoted to representing the alimentary components of numerous cultures on campus out of the 248 days we go to school, I question how much Exeter is following its promise for us to experience a tour of world cuisine that accommodates each student individually throughout the year.

I was disappointed by the lack of culinary diversity on campus.

Exeter also has a proclivity to generalize certain culture’s epicurean backgrounds. A good example is Lunar New Year dinner. In a Lion’s Eye article in 2013, the article praised how Vietnamese rice paper rolls made their first appearance that year. It was the only mention of a food that was not of Chinese cuisine. However, they still proclaimed that the dinner was devoted to various countries outside of China’s borders. Based on my past three Lunar New Years at Exeter, the situation slightly differed. I have not seen any Vietnamese spring rolls, nor any food from the 14 or so other countries that celebrate the same holiday or pertaining to some 52 other Exeter students not of Chinese descent. Instead, I have spotted General Tsao’s chicken, Chinese dumplings, fried rice and soy sauce. China has 23 provinces each with starkly different cuisines and classic Americanized dishes like General Tsao’s chicken are not even authentically Chinese. This is only further Americanizing our experience rather than globalizing it.

Not just for the students from, or of Asian heritages, the problem of culinary diversity is pervasive in Exeter in general. It is especially a surprising problem because Exeter is reputed to be one of the most global and receptive high schools in America. As a student who has been present both before and after the renovation of D-hall last year, the only significant change I have felt was the proliferation of pizzas. The official description on the school’s website says “the hearth program will expand to offer roasted meats, casseroles and calzones in the near future.” This is more of a step backwards in the notion of globalising Exeter’s cuisine. Perhaps the time has come for a 2016 menu renovation.

Even though the students of 2008 happily acclaimed the renovated menu then as amazing and worldly, today on campus I hear more complaints than plaudits among the student population. Students joke that they repurpose dining hall meals to produce edible food, and for some international students, three ordered meals everyday is the norm instead of bothering with the D-hall at all. Recently, a fellow international student confessed that he spent over $2,000 dollars the past school year from ordering food to fulfill his desire for dishes with edible, non-D-hall rice. If even a third of the international population ordered similarly, that would total $244,080 dollars which could go to a revamped menu.

We know Exeter strives for diversity. One of the most basic ways to reflect this is through food. Now with even more international students than before, and a stronger will to globalize the Exonian culture, it is an apt time for another change. We should look to include more cultures in the dining hall menus, strive to represent the different cuisines with more accuracy and instead of restricting culinary diversity to two days, make it a part of an everyday experience.