Best campus food is at UMass Amherst – again
For the third straight year, UMass Amherst’s dining staff are celebrating a win — the nation’s best-rated campus food — with gourmet offerings and variety that defy the common belief that college cuisine is on a par with prison food.
“Quality is the No. 1 priority,” said Anthony Jung, one of three University of Massachusetts chefs who decide what goes on the menus at four dining commons. “If it doesn’t taste good, our students are going to have a bad experience.”
The Princeton Review awarded UMass top honors this week as part of its ranking of the top 20 colleges in 62 different categories.
“UMass Amherst has done the near impossible, earning the top spot ... for the third year in a row, deservedly so, as thousands of UMass students completed our student survey, telling our team about their experiences at UMass, academically and otherwise,” Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s editor-in-chief, said in a statement. “UMass students have spoken ... UMass Dining remains a leader and teacher in higher education.”
Since 1999, participation in the university’s meal plan has more than doubled, from 8,300 students to more than 19,200.
Today, UMass Dining is the largest college dining-services operation in the country, serving 45,000 meals a day and 5.5 million annually.
The campus’s four dining commons are open from 7 a.m. to midnight, and each features 12 to 15 cuisines from around the world daily, using local, sustainable ingredients, said Garett DiStefano, director of residential dining and sustainability.
Jung told the Herald that if students do have a poor dining experience, chances are he’ll hear about it via the university’s “Text and Tell” program, which encourages students to give their feedback about the food.
The biggest mistake of his career, Jung said, was when he substituted a Szechuan ramen bowl for the usual Japanese curry, prompting an outcry from his customers.
“I thought I was giving them a little variety,” Jung said. “But we immediately went back to their favorite.”
Hilary Besson, a UMass Amherst junior, said she often hears complaints from friends at other colleges who say they eat most of their meals off campus — which adds to their expenses.
“I’m definitely lucky not to have to worry about that,” said Besson, 20. “My favorite food is the stir fry. You pick your vegetables and your meat or tofu, and they cook it right in front of you.”