As an employee of Residence Hall Dining, I was extremely offended by the comments of Andrew Ensor regarding the food service employees on both the television and in the Daily Egyptian. I was hired at the beginning of the year as the chef for Residence Hall Dining. During this short time I have met some very talented people cooking in all of the cafeterias. The staff in each of the buildings are hard working, caring individuals. The kitchens are all very clean because the employees care about doing a good job. Every employee at the three cafeterias are upset because they know they care and do a good job.

We at Residence Hall Dining are always making an effort to meet the needs of the students. Some recent changes have been very well received by the students, i.e. continuous serving hours, a carry-out program, a five week rotating menu and both vegetarian and lite entrees served at each meal. These are just a few of the new concepts being tried this year.

The continuous serve hours are from 7 a.m to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, where something is always available to eat, hot or cold food. The Carryout program is another idea students wanted for more freedom to eat when and where they want to. A carryout container is available to take your meal back to your room or wherever you want to eat it.

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The menu is constantly evolving and we are in the process of standardizing the recipes in all dining halls. On any given day there are three completely different menus with a minimum of four entrees in each cafeteria. This offers almost endless choices for students to eat every meal. There are ten different kinds of cereal, a salad bar, bagels, muffins, five varieties of breads, a cold sandwich bar, chips and pretzels and more. This allows the customer a wide variety of foods from which they can choose. For the people interested in more healthy options, lite items (less than 30 percent calories from fat) are available. There is always fresh fruit and pasta available along with a vegetarian entree.

Comment cards are available in each cafeteria, as well as the grill and deli. The complaints have been few and far between concerning the food quality. Managers are always willing to speak with any customer about any complaints, concerns or compliments they may have. The Residence Hall Dining office is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through friday. so please, feel free to come in anytime.

Foodservice chef, Residence Hall Dining