Lunch with Dan Fleckner by Kaitlyn Grissom

Dan "Dining Hall Dan" Fleckner talked to me about a week ago and said that he'd like to meet and discuss some of the things he'd read in the Bullsheet and on this blog. Now, for your reading pleasure: the highlights of my lunch with Dan.

1. Dan Fleckner quote of the day: "I love it when students complain about food. It means everything else is right with the world."

2. Sodexo is working right now on developing a menu for next semester. A sign has been posted on the comment board in Curtis for a few weeks, and responses have been scarce. So, if there's something specific you'd like to see, fill out those comment cards! Quick! You only have four days!

3. Whenever Curtis puts out organic fruit with no sign labeling it as such, the comment box is flooded with complaints about the quality of the fruit. It's important to note that apples can either be crispy and shiny, or they can be organic, but they can't be both.

4. Warning: Due to nationwide lettuce crop crisis, we're about to see a decline in the quailty of the greens at the salad bar. It's not Sodexo's fault.

5. Sodexo has no rules about what dining halls can serve, except for when they do those "Flash in the Pan" ethnic food exhibitions. So all the food being served right now is the result of managerial efforts to give students what they want. But they can't do that if you don't fill out comment cards, so WRITE WRITE WRITE!

6. FUN FACT: Dan is Jewish, and used to work for a minor league baseball team. Who knew.

7. Many of the issues brought up in the comment cards can be solved with a little culinary creativity. For example: if you're upset by the lack of chocolate soy milk, make your own with regular soy milk and chocolate sauce from the ice cream bar. Or if there's no cheese at the salad bar, ask for a slice from the deli and put that on your salad.

8. PERSONAL NOTE: One of my favorite creative dining hall concoctions is the Pita Pizza. Take a piece of pita bread from the toaster area, spread hummus on it, at top it off with whatever looks good on the stir-fry and salad bars.

9. The University, not Sodexo, is responsible for the decision to require students to be on meal plans. Some people to talk to about this: Becky Macheda and Seth Patton.

10. Many students request healthier food via the comment box. Apparently, when Dan asks for specific menu items, he frequently met with responses like "buffalo wings" and "fried chicken fingers." Hmm.

11. Dan readily concedes that the typical student meal (he indicates my plate of ravioli and salad) is not worth $7.50. But Sodexo only gets about half of that money. The rest goes to the University to cover dining hall overhead expenses like gas, utilities, equipment, and backup generators.

12. Serving Cheeseburger Pizza and Pizza Burgers on the same day has been recognized as an inexcusable crime against the culinary world, and will be henceforth forbidden.

13. At the Sodexo focus group meeting, I harped a lot on the theme of groceries. Dan said that he was concerned about these items not being popular enough to justify keeping them in stock, especially since vegetables and baking needs are so perishable. BUT - and here's where I get excited - If you contact Dan, he will work out a deal where you can swipe your meal card in exchange for bulk food and baking ingredients from the dining hall stockroom!

14. About the whole religious food thing: A lot of the food served at the Hannukah dinner was from Dan's family recipes. Both the Hannukah Dinner and the Holiday Meal were meant as horizon-broadening cultural shindigs. The food served at the Holiday Meal was a combination of traditional Christmas, Hannukah, Ramadan, and Kwanza recipes. The idea behind using the word "holiday" instead of "Christmas" was not to be politically correct, but to be accurate. After all, the meal was not actually a Christmas meal, but a hodgepodge of different holiday dishes.

15. If you have ideas about dining hall reform, Dan encourages you to talk to him. Email flecknerd@denison.edu.