Fine (Carleton) Dining

Okay, so two weeks ago I promised a master post about food at Carleton, and I have been whipping my phone out at every meal to snap a pic of anything and everything that is about to go in my belly. I’ll break it up into sections based on (1) the meal and (2) where I got it. And you know, I did just spend an entire summer and winter break writing about food, so forgive me if I get caught up in the details.

Sayles Cafe Breakfast

Here’s a typical quick morning eat for me. I’m on the 15 dining plan, which means I get 15 meals/week in the dining halls and some extra money to spend at the two cafes we have on campus. I often do a breakfast at Sayles Cafe so I can finish a reading or a paper while I eat. Often I’ll go for a scone, but this day I chose a (big) chocolate chip banana muffin plus the typical black coffee. Something extra fun about getting a Sayles coffee is that you can choose to get it in a reusable mug (where are we, Portland?) to reduce to-go cup waste. And honestly, it tastes better that way.

Burton Lunch

I’m actually devouring this particular meal as I write this blog post! I’ll admit, it’s a pretty simple one: lemon roasted broccoli, spaghetti squash sprinkled with parmesan cheese, and a baked sweet potato. The sweet potato could be more decked out–it was part of a baked potato bar, after all–but I chose to keep it au naturale. I wouldn’t typically go for a starch on starch, potato PLUS squash meal for the sake of my tum, but I got too excited about two of my fave dining hall gets. Note: do you eat the skin of your sweet potato? If not, I give it my highest recommendation!

Weitz Cafe Lunch

A staple of winter term at Carleton is SOUP. Something great about being a CAMS major and a soup lover is that most of my classes are in the Weitz, which is a huge campus building with classrooms/music practice rooms/study spots/the Weitz Cafe (home to the aforementioned soup). This term I have a morning class and and afternoon class in the Weitz, which means that I have a scheduled-in soup time between classes. This particular soup was a vegetable + rice soup that I obviously sprinkled with oyster crackers (why are they called that?). It honestly really hit the spot with its huge chunks of carrots that I let burn my tongue and celery that had absorbed the broth to perfection. I love soup!

Burton Dinner

Here’s a meal for you that packs in some food discourse! To your left is a chickpea/green pea/spinach combo with some tasty sauce, and to your right, a sort of bready something to scoop it up. Here’s the catch–the dining halls (and restaurants in general) will often deem meals like this “curry and naan,” which begs the question of what defines a combination of ingredients as having a certain name? Because I wonder, was this dish cooked in the traditional style of a curry, using the specific styles and spices that give curry its name? Does that matter? Would it be worse to be inspired by this type of dish and yet give it a new name, erasing the inspiration’s history? Not to mention the fact that sometimes the “naan” runs out and gets replaced with pita bread. Just some casual thoughts for the next time you eat Indian-inspired cuisine!

Hope this gave you an idea of what The Eats are like at Carleton–the only thing missing is a meal at the LDC, which is the East Dining Hall. I’m sorry, but I just simply can’t trek over to that side of the campus unless it’s at least twenty degrees out. Until then!