There’s a new place to eat at River Campus.
The Brew — which has coffee, tea, soups, sandwiches, and salads — opened on Tuesday in Schlegel Hall of the Simon Business School.
The menus at the Danforth and Douglass dining halls were updated over winter break. These menus will incorporate more plant-based foods into their dishes. The Pit will incorporate more variety in their menus, like more made-to-order grill items according to Cam Schauf, the Director of Campus Dining Services.
“Student feedback drives change for us,” Schauf said. Students can give feedback in various ways, like writing on the napkin note boards in the dining halls, taking surveys, and using a text messaging app called Voice of the Consumer.
Schauf hopes that Dining Services’ recent partnership with The Spare Food Company, a company that helps cooks create new dishes to minimize food waste, will have an effect at UR “This program will help our chefs maximize the yield from our ingredients in every dish,” he said.
For students who run out of declining or meal swipes, however, senior and SA President Jamal Holtz recommends the University food pantry, a free source of food for University students. Created in 2017 and made operational year-round in fall 2019, the food pantry was created to tackle food insecurity.
SA’s Student Life Committee researched food insecurity in the U.S. and around the world. This data gave the idea of a committee which according to Holtz consisted of representatives from student government and the Office of the Dean of Students to develop the food pantry system. Although the food pantry is mainly managed by Wilson Commons Student Activities, other organizations on campus are helping maintain it. SA government, for instance, is working on increasing student engagement with the food pantry and raising money. The Dean of Students’ Office and the Office of Alumni Relations are also helping to fund the pantry, and SA is working with the Office of Alumni Relations to start a donation account for the pantry in order to increase publicity.
Located in Wilson Commons 105, the food pantry is open on Mondays from 2 to 6 p.m., Thursdays from 4 to 8 p.m., and Fridays from 2 to 6 p.m.. Any Arts, Sciences, & Engineering students can get access to the food pantry if they email the Pantry Coordinator at pantrycoord@ur.rochester.edu or talk to an advisor.
Through the pantry, Holtz said he hopes students will donate to the pantry and help others gain access to food and basic hygienic products like deodorant and toothpaste.
