The dining halls at Geneseo consist of unhealthy food stations with a scarcity of healthy meal choices. Dining hall stations such as Smoke House, Asada’s and Goodfellas mainly offer food that is fried and abundant in carbs. Although there technically is a healthy food station in each dining hall, they are outnumbered by the unhealthy options.
Students who wish to eat healthy must resort to the same smoothie and salad combinations, which are often limited to less than what the menu entails. Geneseo dining halls have been known to run out of certain fruits or vegetables, requiring students to suffer until their next order shipment.
Vegan protein alternatives have dwindled, with dining stations often only offering one type at a time. For instance, Clio’s currently offers falafels exclusively, while Asada’s only offers crumbled tofu, according to Geneseo’s online menu. Additionally, at Butcher Block an order of garden nuggets only consists of five small pieces, while fried chicken tenders are served in larger quantities.
The only options for food on upper campus are at Book & Bytes, which serves sandwiches and packaged food, and Chowhound, which mainly serves fried food while offering a limited menu of healthy wrap and salad options.
Currently, there are fairly limited hot meal options that are healthy. Students might opt for protein such as grilled chicken without any sandwich bread, or they might choose wheat bread as a healthier option. Students can also purchase soup at Mary Jemison, although this dining hall closes at 3 p.m. on weekdays. Other than these, there are very limited other hot, healthy meal options.
Geneseo needs to increase their healthy food options to provide all students with the nutrition and energy it takes to be successful in their college careers.