As the add/drop period comes to a close, students across all four years have read and spoken in on discussions about identity, migration, and socialism. There’s a surprising amount of variety in opinions, even on topics we thought we unanimously agreed on. But how do we feel about food on campus? Students were asked to vocalize their thoughts on D2 food in a focus group facilitated by ADNH Compass alongside external consultants, hoping to incorporate community feedback to inform the renewal of the service contract expiring next year.

The first big theme that came up was regarding student dependence on the dining hall. Motoi Oyane, Class of 2020, claimed that he eats twice on a weekday, and three times on the weekend. Raunak Shrestha, Student Government Sustainability Committee Chair and Class of 2020, summarized it from a weekly perspective, as normally having 9-10 meals in the dining hall. If each meal takes over half an hour, that’s over five hours spent in D2. The result is that students are finally the in-house experts on the dining hall experience and can actually provide relevant feedback.

Campus dining is about much more than just grilled-chicken and falafel wraps.

“I think what is special about the dining hall and what’s special about the fact that we’re on an island is that D2 is where everyone eats at a given time and this is where we interact,” adds Oyane. After football practice, the Falcons head over in the mornings and spend quality time post-training. Watching the team laugh and talk over a shared meal is practically an NYU Abu Dhabi tradition.

Although the dining hall has continued to foster many of these social traditions, Oyane is concerned about how it has changed over the years. “What I like about the dining hall is that it is very open ... [helping] everyone interact with everyone in some sense. But the wall in front of Hot Wok and the Italian place feels like some kind of divide in that space. Before we had that Starbucks over in front of the Hot Wok so people did go and sit and it was a very interactive space but I don’t see that space [like that] right now” added Oyane.

Research shows that these concerns are correctly placed; those who eat socially more often feel happier and are more satisfied with life, are more trusting of others, are more engaged with their local communities and have more friends they can depend on for support.

Noticing and vocalizing these small things can go a long way. Shrestha talked about how “ADNH is very receptive to feedback and changes [have been] brought.” From phasing out the Al-Ain water bottles to promoting eco-friendly reusable containers, student feedback has been at the cornerstone of the relevant change in sustainability. However, Shrestha adds that “it is very difficult for students … because there is no document that we can refer to bring about these changes. It is very much dependent on person-to-person relations and their interests.”

Keziah Johnson, Student Government Athletics Committee Chair and Class of 2020, raised similar concerns about changing nutritional quality at D2. “When we [especially female teams] go off campus for matches, we come back between 9-10 p.m.. [By then], the only counters that are open or available are the Grill and Grab and Go.” These concerns add to a continuing discourse about dining hall hours and food availability.

“Grill has a lot of options but for people that are vegetarian/vegan, there’s the Beyond Burger and that’s it. And most of the time, the items in the Grab and Go are finished. So that gives us very little options.”, added Johnson.

The concerns with regards to maintaining a vegetarian/vegan diet were repeated throughout the session. “I did transition into a veg/vegan diet for a while and it was difficult to find vegan protein options specifically just at the vegan counter alone,” added Shrestha.

Research shows that 70 percent of the world’s population reportedly is either reducing or entirely eliminating meat consumption. In light of rapidly growing sustainable eating habits, the dining hall does not seem to keep up with the times.

“[Back when I used to eat meat] it was very easy to meet my nutritional needs. But starting this year, I became vegetarian and what I noticed is that there are not many options with regard to protein. The vegan counter is very carb-heavy. Same for the salad counter,” added Oyane.

In addition to protein-based concerns, the paradox of healthy sugars was also discussed.

“More fruits, [specifically greater] variety of fruits, at the salad bar would be great. Bananas!” added Johnson as she also recommended drinks with less added sugar. However, it should be noted that it was recently announced that bananas will now be served at breakfast.

But that is not to say that the dining hall has been blind to conscious nutrition. The recent decision by ADNH to not include Starbucks products in the meal plan combo was justified due to nutritional reasons. Student Government Dining Committee Chair, Ekin Başaran, Class of 2020, clarified that this move has a two-fold justification. The first is about staying true to the original idea behind having a meal swipe, which was developed with dietitians in order to incentivize students to have at least two meals per day.

“Considering that most of the Starbucks drinks are super sugary and unhealthy, Starbucks was taken away from the equation both to promote health and also to make sure that students are actually purchasing food items with their swipes. [The fact that students are not using meal swipes for food] is observed mainly through data from surveys and data they [locally] collect […] and [dining hall staff] observed so many students only purchasing Starbucks with their swipes.” While they are moving in the direction towards disincentivizing students from caffeine as a part of a balanced diet, they are further limiting the already limited student diets.

University is a turbulent phase for food. When comfort foods aren’t always found on our island, finding a suitable diet is difficult for students coming back from study aways sponsored by döner kebabs and chicken-over-rice combos. Oyane's closing remarks that “it is difficult but I’m getting used to it” is a popular sentiment about finding a diet that works for our confusing human bodies. On this desert island, almost all the desserts seem to come from campus dining. Considering this degree of dependence, many share Başaran’s sentiment to make dining hall processes and decision making more transparent and better communicated to the student community regardless of their value-laden intention to take care of us.