At College Dining Halls, Yale Students Enjoy The Best Food Of Their Young Lives

I’ve never met anyone over the age of thirty who has fond memories of school cafeteria food, except my wife, who grew up in Paris, where a school lunch was three courses, including cheese. Indeed, school food usually compares with airline and hospital food, and in primary and secondary schools mandated healthy food options are usually trashed by students consuming chicken fingers and burgers on a daily basis.

On the college level, however, I have noticed significant changes. Under student persuasion, food service has generally improved—every college now seems to serve sushi at least once a week and vegetarian options are now a given. But I was not prepared for the breadth, depth and high quality of the food service at Yale University, where a $7,000 food plan is included in the $80,000 tuition.

On my visit to New Haven my tour took me into the two new colleges (which are dormitories) of Franklin and Berkeley, where three meals a day are offered. By 12:25 these beautiful new dining halls, done in the Oxford-inspired neo-Gothic architecture of the rest of the school, are thronged with ravenous students whose options range from house-made bread, sandwiches, soups, salads and pasta to desserts.

There are even two pizza options derived from the New Haven styles featured at Frank Pepe’s and Sally’s Apizza. There is even a kosher kitchen at the Slifka Center for Jewish Life.

As much as possible the food served is based on as much local product as possible, and in 2020 a survey of students showed that they wanted a better understanding of carbon emissions associated with food intake, with 86 percent of respondents in favor of posted environmental impact ratings. (A minority said they were offended by the poster because the ratings wrongfully made them feel guilty about their dining choices.)

At all the colleges students dine with teachers, and, if you are invited in by either, the public can, too; at the largest, oldest dining hall, called the Schwarzman Center, anyone can walk into the Commons and pay for a meal, which includes Persian-spiced rotisserie chicken, saffron butter fingerling potatoes, roasted tomato with feta, pork with black bean sauce, spicy noodle salad, wok-fired dishes, Chinese dumplings and warm chocolate chunk cookies.

So large and grand is the Center’s dining hall that Stephen Spielberg took it over for weeks in 2007 to film a scene in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, wherein a character escapes through it on a motorcycle.

Within the Center, there is a pay-as-you-go room not on the meal plan where fresh gelato, pastries and espresso can be enjoyed before a fireplace and farther on The Ivy is a late-night venue where students with the munchies can order tacos, sliders, Ghanian beef chili and sushi rolls. Then there is The Well, a pub (you need to be 21 to drink in Connecticut) for beer and wine and tidbits of Wok-Fired Peanuts with Thai Chili, Lemon & Basil Salt, Truffle Grilled Cheese on Rye, even a Cheese & Charcuterie Platter.

Serving 15,000 meals a day is a daunting process, overseen by a staff of 800 within the Yale Hospitality group, which supports over 14 residential dining halls, 13 restaurants and cafes and extensive catering facilities. (No students are employed by Yale Hospitality.) Without being doctrinaire about it, their intent, according to Associate Vice President Rafi Taherian, is to make “food for people and good for the planet.” Hamburgers are only occasionally on menus, though the excellent fried chicken is one of the best sellers each day.

Working closely with the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, and Johnson & Wales in Providence, RI, the company brings in celebrated chefs to share their expertise with the culinary team, and has collaborated on “Ingredients for a Sustainable World: The Chef’s Good Food Handbook” and the 2019 Food Forward Forum with the Good Food Fund in China and partnering with the Mediterranean diet round table to create plant-forward menus.

During the pandemic, with Yale closed, the group had to shut down its catering department but retained all employees, who were kept busy with developing new approaches, economies and menus.

That all this costs a fortune for a non-profit-making organization has not been a problem, since Yale, with a $41.4 billion endowment, can well afford to subsidize food service and do so with a commitment to variety, quality, sustainability and service.

One would think that’s a reasonable expectation for an $80,000 tuition, but payment is based on need, so that 45% of Yale’s students do not pay a dime, and a majority receive financial aid. (The New York Times reported the median family income of a student is nearly $200,000, with 19% coming from families in the top one percent of American wealth distribution.) And it’s why Yale’s eating facilities are called “dining halls.” No one would ever dare call them a “college mess.”