<p>Is it just me, or is the food at BS getting worse? My D is not eating at any dinners anymore and resorting to food in the dorms every night. Such bad habits for a teen, but when I look at the meals being offered, I can't blame her. Then I looked around websites at other schools (the ones where the dining hall looked so wonderful on the tours) and the menus there look awful too. Yes, schools offer a soups, salad bars, and sandwiches too, but I understand thequality is not great. As a parent, any ideas how I can get involved to improve things? or ideas of what works at other schools?</p>
<p>Which school? Are you sure it’s the food and not the possibly picky teenage eater?
Reason I say that: our child at Deerfield never really said anything great about their food. However, I knew that Deerfield makes everything from scratch, and prides itself as having the best food among the boarding schools. One sunday we stayed for brunch, which our child told us wasn’t anything special.</p>
<p>Well…the brunch was outstanding. For example, the seafood crepes each had several whole lobster claws, scallops, etc. We used to be in the restaurant business, so I think we know good food when we see/eat it.
Unfortunately, these Deerfield kids take the food for granted. They don’t realize that food in college eateries will NOT be as good as Deerfield’s, unless they join an eating club.
Also Deerfield has many ‘feeds’; the dorm parent cooks something up for a late evening snack or something is delivered from the kitchen. If you watch the ‘Ten Things About Deerfield’ video, you’ll see that ‘feeds’ is in that list.</p>
<p>Have you sampled the food at your D’s school?</p>
<p>My S’ school is pretty bad as well. He lost 10 pounds in just two month. My wife is almost thinking to pull him out. I think we parent should make more noise about this.</p>
<p>We are happy with the food at our son’s school. He likes it and we eat there often as well (we attend athletic events). Much of the produce is locally grown and the baked goods are to die for…all made from scratch in the school’s bakery. There is always a large selection with several entrees from which to choose.</p>
<p>Keylyme is just being modest in not mentioning the homemade ice cream at that particular school!</p>
<p>Don’t know what to tell parents whose kids are already enrolled somewhere, but for those who are still looking, the question to ask is whether the school prepares its own food or uses a dining service. Obviously, the school has much more control over the menu if it does everything itself.</p>
<p>^^Haha - I thought about it right after I pressed “reply”. And you are, of course, referring to the home-made ice cream flavored with the school’s own raspberries and maple syrup!</p>
<p>SF-is this your son’s first term? When I saw my d for parents weekend (5 weeks after dropping off), she looked thinner to me. She has dietary issues, gluten intolerance, she looks as though she had lost weight. I decided to just tell her dance teacher to watch her. </p>
<p>I admit she is even more active at bs than at home, she walks everywhere, all the time. Though she has food in her room, she doesnt eat at much as when she is at home. </p>
<p>I will admit her school, DA, has a great meal option for kids with special needs. For the first time my d had bread, cookies, cupcakes that not only didnt upset her tummy but tasted great. Her meals are very close to the regular meal, just gluten free. Even her house mom does feeds with gluten free foods and the other girls love the food also. The feeling of being including is great.</p>
<p>See what he looks like and feels like when he is home for the holidays.</p>
<p>My d is vegetarian and had no complaints about food at PA last year. This year she’s already mentioned that the food choices are getting a little boring to her. We’ve suggested that she come back over to the dark side with us and eat meat again. I think she’s going to settle for boring.</p>
<p>We’ve eaten in the dining hall at three schools. One had a pasta entree, a gluten free pasta entree, a smallish salad bar, and fixings for PBJ. Not very inspiring. The other two had many more options, and were easily able to accommodate the various food quirks of my family. I think the trend is to offer more choices, but smaller schools or those with less capital may find it harder to compete in this area.</p>
<p>My son reported that the food at Thacher was largely excellent all four years. 90% of it is grown locally year round. The kitchen team is great. The kids know them all and interact with them (and vice versa) so there is a culture of responsibility to each other that makes for well prepared food and polite, clean dining room use by the kids.</p>
<p>Supposedly Sunday Brunch is the best meal of the week. Absolutely everything is made to order, from omelettes to smoothies to sticky buns.</p>
<p>If you guys could, could you post which school your talking about when you have personal information. I’m actually a kid in the process of the school search but specifics would be good. Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>whoa… Deerfield’s food sounds insane. Middlesex food is, for the most part, bland. They make the soups from scratch though, and those are consistently excellent. I can’t say as much about the rest of the dining hall though. Something I will say though is that, as someone who truly appreciates good food an comes from a city famous the world over for its food, I was disappointed in the food here. That said, I won’t lie- I was rolling my eyes when I read about kids losing weight over apparent lack of tasty food. whenever I’m really not happy with the options, I just mix and match- taking things from the servery [i.e. that decidedly dry flavorless baked chicken] and the salad bar with the panini maker to make a delicious panini. I should think most of your children would be able to figure out SOMETHING that suits their tastes if it’s just pickiness and not an actual dietary restriction.</p>
<p>The food at St. Mark’s is fine. It gets noticeably better on Parents’ Weekend, according to my source. If a student gets bored, there are restaurants which serve pizza and subs, etc., within walking distance, and there’s always takeout. The dorms have common rooms with microwaves and fridges. </p>
<p>For the OP, is your daughter skipping dinners altogether? Is it boredom with the food, or something else?</p>
<p>Izzy, it’s not just your school dining hall. More than likely, you’d be disappointed in the food at even the “good” restaurants in most of New England. Trust me. Try Montreal. It’s the closest I’ve found. ;)</p>
<p>At Deerfield, in addition to the magnificent dining hall that seats all 620+ students and faculty in round tables at one time during sitdown meals, there is also two cafes that make food to order. I think the cafes close down when the main dining hall is serving. During exam week (this week), the main dining hall serves a second dinner, a major ‘feed’, after 9 pm.</p>
<p>But as Periwinkle hinted, the OP’s daughter’s issue might not necessarily be boredom with food.</p>
<p>Thanks for the concern about another possible issue, but not my D–she is a foodie. We’re from from California and she has found (as neato implies) the East Coast food bland, ethnicity-less, and lacking in fruits and veggies. There are choices every day like soups, deli meats and a salad bar, but they are not appealing. I’ve been to convocation/parents weekend and other visits, and the food doesn’t improve much for the paying adults–it’s just awful. A food service is to blame, but I don’t know how to effectuate change. We send her fruit of the month, and she eats lots of pizza from a local place she can walk to. It’s frustrating to see bad habits develop in a previously healthy eater.</p>
<p>Should have sent her to Ojai…;)</p>
<p>I don’t think you’re going to find freshness and variety like you’d get in CA anywhere on the East Coast–NYC maybe, but even there you won’t be able to go to a Farmer’s Market and find six varieties of peaches. My advice: move to the Midwest and eat jello salad and pickled herring for a few years. BS fare will start looking WAY better. ;)</p>
<p>We’ve found the Andover commons meals excellent when we’ve been there. Wide variety and fresh, all very tasty. Omelette station at breakfast. Our D has no complaints. However, her SoCal roomie does moan about an insufficient variety of organic foods. (I do recall the coffee bar has several organic choices.)</p>
<p>Have to agree with neato. New England restaurant fare (and service) won’t match up well with other parts of the country. :)</p>
<p>For those of you complaining about the New England food: where have YOU been? oh yeah, in the fall NE where the food is less abundant 
You should see it in summer! The plentiful array of farms in most of NE provides a plethora of fresh fruits and vegetables for the consumption of the people. This also occurs in Spring and Fall. (S: green beans, that kind of thing F: pumpkins, apples, etc) </p>
<p>You just have to find where it is. If you’re in WMass, VT, or any other rural place that’s remarkably easy. Check Northampton and places like t. Avoid places that look like they’re chains. </p>
<p>Trust me- there’s PLENTY good food.</p>
<p>also- go to the country and go to the farms (all you want! 
)</p>