• About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News and Features
    • The Wellesley (COVID) 100
      The Wellesley (COVID) 100
    • In memory of Professor Rebecca Summerhays
      In memory of Professor Rebecca Summerhays
    • Trans flag controversy: College power washes staircase after trans flag is painted over Harry Potter spray paint
      Trans flag controversy: College power washes staircase after trans flag is painted over Harry Potter spray paint
    • News
      • News in Brief
      • Nation & World
      • President’s Corner
      • Senate Report
    • Features
      • Alumnae Spotlight
      • Eye on Science
      • Faculty Focus
      • LGBTQIA+ Column
  • Opinions
    • The News in Conversation: Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration
      The News in Conversation: Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration
    • Editorial Board calls for keeping up trans flag murals
      Editorial Board calls for keeping up trans flag murals
    • No, Elon Musk’s Twitter will not restore free speech
      No, Elon Musk’s Twitter will not restore free speech
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
    • The Elephant in the Room
  • Arts
    • Be/longing Centers Connection and Care
      Be/longing Centers Connection and Care
    • No image
      Birds Falling Upwards: Wellesley College Theater’s The Moors is a Must-See
    • No image
      Sometimes you just need to read a YA “Groundhog Day” to feel something
    • Arts In The News
    • Reviews
    • Music Peek
    • Books Before Boys
  • Health and Wellness
    • February Student Athlete of the Month
      February Student Athlete of the Month
    • Athletics Update
      Athletics Update
    • Victoria Garrick Speaks on Mental Health
      Victoria Garrick Speaks on Mental Health
    • Athlete of the Week
    • Boston Sports Update
    • The Vegan Digest
    • The SHE Corner
  • The Wellesley Snooze
    • Wellesley News Leadership Changes Completely Peacefully Without Any Suspicious Disappearances At All
      Wellesley News Leadership Changes Completely Peacefully Without Any Suspicious Disappearances At All
    • Solve Your Connection Problems With Wellesley Insecure
      Solve Your Connection Problems With Wellesley Insecure
    • Mayhem strikes Wellesley as paper towels removed from campus
      Mayhem strikes Wellesley as paper towels removed from campus
  • Miscellanea
    • President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
      President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
    • Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
      Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
    • 50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
      50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
    • The Dose
    • The Olive Branch
    • Multimedia
      • Galleries
      • Infographics
      • Videos
By Shreya Kochar Opinions, UncategorizedDecember 8, 2020

Wellesley, why can’t you meet our dietary needs?

A piece of pizza missing topings.
Wellesley's provided meals this semester are often inadequate—and leave students with no other option. Photo from @meals_of_wellesley_college on Instagram.

When I applied via Early Decision to Wellesley, one of the selling points were the five dining halls. The website flaunts the diverse food in each hall; there are pictures of sushi, fresh fruit and so much more. Yet, I have seen each of these food items in the halls maybe once in my two years at Wellesley. 

Now, after every long day of classes, I find myself deliberating between either a flavorful, greasy meal, or a healthy but comparatively tasteless option. It seems that even the dining hall workers are struggling with what to cook given the lack of resources provided to them. With the term system sucking the life out of us, all I want after another brutal day of essay writing and problem sets is a hot dinner. But here at Wellesley, a good food day looks like soggy pasta that contains a couple of droplets of sauce, small containers filled with salad that have two pieces of tofu, grilled cheese sandwiches and pizza dripping with oil. Or, instead, you could choose the “gourmet” half-cooked tofu-brown rice-brussel sprout combination and the beef slices dripping with fat.

Bad food days, on the other hand, look like mayo-banana salads as the vegetarian option. And I blame AVI Wellesley Fresh for not listening to students and making life impossible for dining hall workers. 

If this was the menu once or twice a week, it would be fine. How on earth, however, are these “meals” what we’re supposed to survive on every single day? There are so few choices, and the quality of raw materials that AVI provides the dining hall workers and chefs with is poor at best. So many students go hungry because they simply cannot handle another day of choosing between the poorly budgeted greasy, oily “meals” and the sad excuse of a vegetarian meal that Wellesley Fresh feeds its students. 

And I am angry about it.

As a school with a $2 billion endowment, Wellesley certainly has the funds to spare some more sauce for their pasta or add flavors to their salads. The tuition to attend Wellesley is no joke; however, it seems like the administration is not able to budget enough for basic condiments and nutritious food. Furthermore, Wellesley has made life a living hell for those who dare to ask to get off the meal plan. Often, I find myself eating salads with Hot Cheetos from a vending machine on the side just so that I can add some flavor to my meal. Students routinely skip meals when they cannot find anything in the dining halls, something that should not happen in general, and poses a particular issue for those who already have complicated relationships with food. 

On the worst days, those of us who have the funds end up ordering some food from outside. Wellesley’s meal plan costs about $10-12 per meal, so why are we paying for that meal in addition to being forced to order out? I am certainly lucky to be able to afford the occasional meal through DoorDash or UberEats. What about those who cannot pay to eat anything but what the meal plan has to offer?

But all of this is to be expected from a school that is unable to treat their dining hall workers with any respect and dignity. The recent Wellesley News article “‘Racismo, Discrimen Y Corrupción’: Wellesley is Failing its Dining Hall Workers,” highlighted this mistreatment. With the pay cuts that our wealthy school issues regularly for employees and the often low-quality materials they choose to give their dining hall workers to make food with, it is no wonder that the students are suffering as well. 

It is a vicious cycle; the administration and Wellesley Fresh’s lack of empathy has caused so many issues for both students and dining hall workers alike.

I am very upset about Wellesley’s inability to budget better for decent food. As a picky eater and someone who worries about my body excessively, I am simply appalled by how little the administration cares about my feelings. I know that many students have raised concerns, and yet nothing has been done about the food situation. Several of my own friends who suffer from eating disorders and related body issues have been getting sicker, and some may even be forced to take a leave of absence from school because the food is unable to support their recovery. And it is a well known fact that a lack of a decent diet increases depression rates. So why is the student body subject to this?

Simply put, I feel like Wellesley isn’t doing enough to make sure we have enough to eat. As if the rigors of the term system were not bad enough, we now have to worry about whether there will be food that our stomachs can handle on a daily basis. This puts us at a crossroads, where we end up eating unhealthily or starving. So to Wellesley’s administration: make the changes necessary to either feed us properly, or stop forcing us to eat the limited, often-unhealthy options on the current meal plan. It’s true that things have improved since the beginning of the semester, but for many students with specialized diets and without other dining options, those changes simply don’t go far enough to make sure we can meet our basic nutritional needs. Let us choose to be on the meal plan or choose a better option that involves budgeting for food properly. Because, Wellesley, we are miserable.

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous articleThe block system is a joke
Next articleCollege announces update to vaccination plan

You may also like

Be/longing Centers Connection and Care

The News in Conversation: Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration

Editorial Board calls for keeping up trans flag murals

2 Comments

  • Spain Williams Rowley says:
    December 9, 2020 at 4:34 PM

    For Heaven sake feed these students!
    Indeed the tuition is steep and the endowment fat. M trustee grandmother is rumbling with displeasure in her grave.

    Reply
  • Swain Williams Rowley says:
    December 9, 2020 at 4:37 PM

    For Heaven sake feed these students. My former Wellesley trustee grandmother rumbles in her grave. Tuition is steep, endowment fat. Feed them!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

Top Articles

Sorry. No data so far.

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @Wellesley_News

The independent student newspaper of Wellesley College since 1901.

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

  • About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
COPYRIGHT © 2022 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top