ALYSSA BUMP
Editor in Chief
Dining on campus has looked a little different for SUNY Fredonia students lately.
Since the closure of Blue Devil Grill, Tim Hortons and FREDExpress, the Faculty Student Association (FSA) has worked to bring a variety of food options to the remaining dining facilities on campus.
Cranston Marche, the only all-you-care-to-eat style dining hall on campus, has added several new menu options to its menu. The dining hall has also focused on creating more allergen-friendly and healthy dishes for students.
“We wanted to bring over some of the items that were really popular with the Blue Devil Grill; that was the first priority,” said Darin Schulz, the executive director of FSA.
Cranston has expanded its taco bar to include fresh salsas and toppings that were once available at Blue Devil Grill. The grilled peppers and onions are baked fresh rather than frozen, and vegetarian options are available at the station.
Schulz eats on campus nearly every day, and he admitted that he now has a difficult time choosing what to eat at Cranston because there are so many new options. When asked what his favorite new dish was, Schulz said it would have to be the expanded taco bar.
“We brought over the flavors from Blue Devil Grill,” Schulz said. “… We are definitely encapsulating what was popular at Blue Devil Grill [at Cranston’s taco bar].”
Rather than being available every other week like Blue Devil Grills rotating menu, students have the option to get a burrito every day.
Mediterranean menu items from Blue Devil Grill have also been introduced to Cranton’s rotating daily special menu. Just last week, chicken souvlaki with grilled pita, vegan falafels, garlic hummus, kalamata olives and tzatziki sauce were on the menu.
“The second priority was also just to improve the overall quality,” Schulz said. “Rather than buying pre-cooked products, [Cranston] cooks most everything from scratch, trying to reduce the amount of fried foods that we had and also try to be a little more friendly towards allergens. So we work towards reducing the peanut and tree nut exposure in Cranston.”
Jason Domenico, the unit manager of Cranston Marche, gave a tour of the new options available during a busy Burger Wednesday, which has been known to be a menu-favorite among students. Regular hamburgers and cheeseburgers are grilled for students, but students can also order turkey burgers, spicy black bean burgers or vegan garden burgers.
Domenico explained many menu items are cooked fresh rather than frozen now, and batches of food are not cooked ahead of time — only as needed.
Even the desserts offered in the fruit station are baked fresh every morning, and all desserts are now nut-free. Previously, the vegan cheese at the pasta station used almond milk, but Cranston changed the recipe to use coconut milk instead. The dining hall hopes to be completely tree nut and peanut-free in the future, and they have opted to offer peanut butter only in sealed containers to prevent allergen issues.
FSA is particularly focused on making Cranston nearly tree nut and peanut-free because it is one of the most common and deadly food allergies.
Since the closure of Tim Hortons, Cranston has added more breakfast options to their menu. Breakfast sandwiches are served until 11 a.m. every morning at the grill station, but students can feel free to make their own until 4 p.m. at the pantry station.
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, homemade blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes are offered, and french toast made from scratch with fresh cinnamon swirl bread is available every Tuesday and Thursday.
With their breakfast, students can now pour themselves a cup of iced coffee. The station features different flavor shots, sugar, creamer and even to-go cups. Domenico wanted to prevent students from having to wait in another line to get an iced coffee before class.
“At the pizza and pasta station, we now alternate stir fry and pasta,” Domenico said. “So we do made-to-order pasta on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. And then we do the made-to-order stir frys on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.”
Stir frys were once available to order at Willy C’s, but the option was removed due to complications related to the ordering system. After reviewing several student surveys from the past year, Domenico found that stir frys were one of the most requested menu items.
“[Students] can choose whatever they want, and we have a variety of different vegetables,” Domenico said. “There’s always tofu, vegan chicken and regular chicken available, so it’s a really good vegetarian, vegan option.”
Students can also choose to add lo mein noodles, rice or gluten-free rice to their stir frys.
The made-to-order pasta station offers gluten-free pasta and vegetarian/vegan options for students. Gluten-free pizzas are also available every day.
At every station in Cranston, students can find a binder with every food option available and its allergen information. Domenico is also looking to print off the “Nutrition Facts” of each food item and add it to the binder. The information is also available online at https://fsa.fredonia.edu/Files/MarcheAllergenInformationFall20.pdf.
QR codes are now available on the dining tables in Cranston to help FSA continue to improve the dining experience for students. When students scan the code, they can provide constructive feedback directly to FSA.
“It’s always hard to improve when you have to take things away because we did have to close a couple of units,” Schulz said. “But what we wanted to do was make sure that we’re doing a much better job in the units that do exist.”
According to Schulz, the volume of students eating at Cranston is up significantly, and the dining hall aims to continue to “change and improve as every week goes by.”
If you would like to view Cranston Marche’s daily menu, visit https://fsa.fredonia.edu/DiningServices/CranstonMarche.aspx.