<p>Reallllly dumb question.</p>
<p>Way back when I was an undergraduate, shortly before the Flood, we had one on-campus dining option, period: You went through a cafeteria line. Behind the counter, rather grim old ladies dished out the slop–oops, I mean the food. There were no real choices. First, they gave you the Meat Thing du Jour. Then the Potato Thing du Jour. Then the Vegetable Thing du Jour. Maybe a roll. And some sort of dessert. Then they handed you your plate, and you put it on your tray, and you were set.</p>
<p>Toward the end of my college years, several entrepreneurial students opened a little on-campus deli, which sold bagels and burgers and egg creams (my first exposure to egg creams – delicious!). But, if you were on the meal plan and didn’t want to spend the extra money, you stuck with the cafeteria line and the daily slop.</p>
<p>Now, here’s the dumb question: Is there anything like that at Bama? At Bama Bound, we experienced the Ferg (food court featuring national-chain fast-food joints, a salad bar, Starbucks, etc.) and Lakeside (we didn’t dine there–DS did–but, from the little we saw, it looked like pizza, pizza, and more pizza).</p>
<p>Are there any other meal-plan options? Is there a more traditional cafeteria-style option, either at Lakeside or at Burke? (We didn’t visit Burke.)</p>
<p>One thing I have to say for the classic cafeteria option: You got your three basic food groups. Meat, starch, veggie. I’m afraid that a constant diet of fast food will be much less varied and healthy. </p>
<p>Also–doesn’t the food-court stuff at the Ferg come out of Bama Dining Dollars rather than the regular meal plan? Pardon my ignorance, but we were kind of confused and overwhelmed during Bama Bound, so we never did get all that stuff straight.</p>
<p>(I understand every college nowadays has gone the food-court route…but I was just wondering whether a more traditional option might still exist, at least as an alternative, somewhere at Bama…?)</p>