Stevens Dining Hall is cutting back on the ingredients in its menu due to a national produce shortage.
Unusual weather patterns in southern United States and Mexico have the nation tightening its belt on fresh produce. The freezing temperatures and flooding have made this a bad year for a number of different vegetables and the dining hall is feeling the impact.
“We are definitely being affected by the shortage,” said Food Service Director Adam Vigue. “It all comes down to supply and demand. When the supply goes down and the demand remains the same, prices are going to skyrocket. For example, you can usually buy 25 pounds of cucumber for around $25 but now the price has jumped to around $60 and this isn’t just happening here, you see it everywhere, even at the grocery store.”
Winter is always a hard time of year for the dining hall to get fresh produce, even the price of meat goes up, but to cope with the new, even higher costs the dining hall has made a few modifications to the menu. One of the largest cutbacks is squash which has had its price nearly quadrupled this season. The goal of the dining hall is not to eliminate the scarce vegetables, but to try and use them sparingly.
Student Joseph Peters states, “As a country we’ve taken for granted the amount of produce that’s typically available to us. It’s unfortunate that the dining hall has to modify their menu, but this shortage gives them an opportunity to use more locally-grown produce, which is always a good thing.”
Vigue expects that the cut backs will last until about spring. Regardless, students should still expect to find healthy meals being prepared for them in the dining hall.