The College’s Cuisine: A Culinary Controversy
Complaints about the College of William and Mary’s food are as much a part of campus life as academics, but what does eating here actually look like for students? Dig into some of the perspectives of on-campus diners about what it’s like to grab a bite at the College.
Those who frequented the Commons Dining Hall last year will likely recall an unusual visitor who added a certain je ne sais quoi to their dining experience: the Caf Bird. The College of William and Mary prides itself on its principles of curiosity and creativity, perhaps why its students began to investigate the matter.
ZACHARY LUTZKY // FLAT HAT MAGAZINE
“Why is there a bird in the dining hall?”
Despite thorough and thoughtful postulations, all that could be deduced was that the affectionately named “Caf Bird” simply flew in one day, and subsequently failed to fly out.
It wasn’t long before Caf Bird was absorbed into the shared anthology of campus culture, making its rounds on YikYak and Instagram, including a cameo on @wm_dining_, a student-run Instagram account dedicated to “The Cuisine of William and Mary.” The account features in-the-wild photos of the worst of the worst of dining hall food — bugs in produce, undercooked meat, and of course, our beloved Caf Bird.
Apart from these platforms, students have shared opinions about the College’s food on websites like Reddit. Responses to questions from potential students about food at the College usually range from a recommendation of managed expectations to uncomplicated condemnation.
[Helloooo_ooooo_]: “not amazing but just fine”
[BCWarrior203]: “Food is definitely worse than other colleges, but I honestly like it some days”
[Jlin42]: “Food is not horrible, just don’t expect too much”
[FunCryptographer4761]: “Food is hell”
On-campus publications like the satire newspaper, The Botetourt Squat, have also featured William and Mary Dining as the subject of articles with titles like: “You Were Right: Sadler Dining Hall Has Been ‘Trying to Kill You This Whole Time,’” and “William and Mary Dining Proud to Announce New Meat Alternative: Soylent Green.”
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Outside of campus, parents flocked to Facebook to petition for a change in the “dismal quality of William & Mary’s dining services.” The petition included ideas for improvement and listed transparency as well as improvements to quality and variety among its concerns. It stated that because of the mandatory nature of an on-campus dining plan, “nutritious, palatable, safely prepared foods for students is a non-negotiable obligation.” At the time this article was written, the petition stood at 1,640 signatures, which is around a quarter of the undergraduate population.
Has the food on campus improved?
“It’s a big ebb and flow,” Jonah Randall ’26 said. “When I first got here I was like, ‘Oh, this food isn’t that bad. People are being dramatic.’ And then towards the middle of my first semester, I was like, ‘Oh, wait, now I get it.’”
Other students shared more of an optimistic outlook.
“I definitely wouldn’t say it’s gotten worse. I think it’s gotten better ... to a degree,” Kiley Smith ’25 said. “I do think they’ve tried. I just think there’s a lot more trying that needs to be done.”
There are also student advocacy groups on campus working with dining staff to enact meaningful change. The Veggie Society is a group on campus “for all students interested in plant-based eating and lifestyles.”
“Last semester we had a conversation with the food specialist ... it kind of worked for a bit, and I feel like they are getting better at it,” Veggie Society member Chloe Santos ’26 said.
Prior to the Fall 2022 semester, the College made some big changes to the food options present on campus, including closing the Daily Grind, removing the Qdoba counter from Student Exchange, and replacing the Cosi in Lodge 1 with another Aromas Coffee Shop, now referred to by students as “Sadromas.”
“I guess they did surveys and things, so I guess that’s what people wanted,” Smith said. “But from everyone I’ve talked to, that’s not what we wanted.”
Indeed, the loss of such vital bastions of the College’s dining experience was felt deeply in the campus community and was reverently eulogized in a Fall 2022 Flat Hat Magazine article.
For some students, eating at on-campus dining halls is made more difficult due to dietary restrictions — students with allergies are limited by more than just preference.
“Mediterranean has a lot of sesame, and so that’s an issue,” Blake Austin ’26 said about the Mediterranean station in the Commons Dining Hall. For Austin, who has a variety of nut and seed allergies, these seemingly small culinary additions make certain dining options inaccessible on campus.
“Last semester, I got something out of the pastry case thing, and it sent me into full anaphylaxis,” Mari Anzola ’25 said. “I had to go to the ER.”
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Meanwhile, improvement behind the scenes has been much more substantial. Because dining hall staff are subcontracted through Sodexo, they are excluded from the College’s Worker’s Union. However, on Oct. 24, 2022, the College’s Sodexo workers succeeded in creating a separate union. The movement was largely supported by students, with a rally held on Sept. 21 on the Sadler Terrace.
“I have a lot of respect for the dining hall workers — I’m a big supporter of their union,” Randall said.
Others acknowledged the lack of institutional support that dining hall staff receive.
“I don’t blame anything on them because they’ve been asked to do impossible tasks with not good systems in place to support them,” Smith said.
Interestingly enough, William and Mary Dining runs the gambit as far as rankings go. It was recognized as one of the best dining halls in the nation in 2016, and it placed #49 on the top 50 college cafeterias while having a C- rating on the college ranking site Niche.
So, the food is food. It’s maybe bad. It’s maybe getting better. But the fact remains that all undergraduate residential students are required to have an on-campus dining plan. We may change the world tomorrow, but today, we must eat.
Austin shared her strategy for eating at the College.
“I ‘ignorance is bliss’ it,” she said. “If I start looking for things that are icky, I’m going to see them.”
Perhaps William and Mary Dining can teach students a valuable lesson that they might not learn in the classroom: sometimes you’ve just gotta close your eyes and hope for the best. After all, there may be college campuses with more options, fresher fruit, and better-cooked meat, but there’s only one Caf Bird.