It’s been another busy and exciting week at MSU.
Coming
straight from a weekend on Mackinac Island, we began Monday with a tour of
Paramount Coffee Roasters in Lansing. We had heard much about this company (their
coffee is served in all campus dining halls and many local shops), so it was great
to see the facilities and learn about the coffee-roasting process. Having
studied abroad in Costa Rica, I always thought more about growing coffee, not the roasting process. This tour showed me that precise roasting is just as
important for creating the tastes we like; the roasting machine, the
temperature, and the time all greatly influence the taste. I also
learned that flavored coffee beans are processed with flavored chemicals;
hazelnut coffee, for example, has no trace of nuts in it. I’m not sure what I
expected, but I think I’ll be more likely to stay away from flavored coffees
now. The tour was very well-done and informative, and we enjoyed learning while
taking in the delicious aroma of coffee. We spent the rest of the day serving
dinner at Veg Out. (images: left-storage room of raw green coffee beans; center- the roasting machine; right-the packaging machine)
On Tuesday,
we went to a presentation on sustainability and a tour of MSU’s recycling
center. Their main goal is to divert as much waste as possible from the
landfill. The recycling center takes paper, cardboard, plastic, and metal. Functional items such as old dorm furniture, clothing, bikes, computers, and
kitchenware go to the Surplus Store, which can then resell items to a
new home. We were among many university food service
employees at the presentation, and I thought it was great that MSU takes the time to education its
staff on environmental/sustainability policies.
In the
afternoon on Tuesday, we got to meet with Gina, the dietitian. Macy and
I had been looking forward to this meeting because, as dietetics students, we
wanted to find out about her experience in the field, and what a job here as a
registered dietitian entails. We learned that Gina has spent a lot of time on
allergen safety, and she has created an extensive online meal management program;
anyone can go on the dining website and find the ingredients and nutrition
facts for a meal they might eat that day at a dining hall. Gina also gave us some ideas for our
internship project—we will be helping create educational tools for monthly nutrition
events.
On
Wednesday, we worked at Holmes, a dining hall that is only serving to camps
over the summer. This week was Grandparents University—a chance for alumni to
stay on campus with their grandchildren and do fun activities. Macy and I
alternated “directing traffic” (sending people to specific food lines to keep any one from becoming too crowded) and serving in the line. It was
fun to chat with the families and hear about their experience on campus.
In the
afternoon, we left Holmes for a bit to go to a pizza crust tasting. A new
vendor wants MSU to use their dough, so a crowd of chefs and dining executives
gathered in Case (another dining hall) to evaluate the pizza. We did a
side-by-side comparison of our currently-served pizza, the new dough that came
frozen and ready to be topped and baked, and a new dough that came pre-topped
and ready to be baked. We ate and then filled out an evaluation sheet to
comment on the acceptability of the taste, appearance, and texture of the new
crust. I personally enjoyed the new pizza but thought it tasted too uniform and
pre-frozen. I prefer the more homemade taste that comes from proofing and
docking the dough in-house.
Thursday
was a fun day, because we got to meet the NACUFS interns from Ferris State
University. We toured the football stadium and basketball arena, both a source
of great pride for MSU. Then, we showed them around Brody and ate lunch there, talking
about what we’ve been doing and comparing our various tasks and projects. It
was nice to learn about the differences in each school’s program. With theirs
focused slightly more on management, I’m glad I’m at MSU learning more about
culinary. It will be fun to go tour Ferris with them next Tuesday!
On Friday,
we worked at yet another dining location on campus—Shaw. Like Holmes, it is only open for
conferences and camps during the summer. On Friday, it hosted a Green Carpet
day lunch—a meal for rising high school seniors in the area. Parents and
students included, it was a crowd of 580, and we served them all in under 20
minutes. With pasta, rice, chicken, veggies, and sandwiches prepared ahead in
the kitchen, it was very different than the cook-to-order style I love in
Brody. Each server put one food on the plate and passed it to the next
server to complete the plate—an assembly line meal. It was very efficient, and I think I would have really enjoyed the rush if I had felt more established in my position. As it was, I just tried to help as much as possible without
getting in the way of the seasoned Shaw servers.
After
lunch, we went to an intake meeting, where we listened to staff from culinary,
building facilities, and operations go over specifications for a group coming
to campus. I never realized how much went into planning camps and conferences;
little things like snacks on a table at night--and the placement of that table--have to be planned well in advance. It was interesting, but we were glad to get
outside afterward and enjoy the beautiful summer day at MSU’s outdoor pool.
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