By Ilana Williams

University of Maryland sophomores that were on campus last year are experiencing the dining hall in a new way as the university reverts back to normal.

During the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters, indoor dining capacity was greatly reduced, and students were encouraged to take their meals to-go. This semester, however, the dining halls have expanded dining capacity and menu options and have stopped offering take-out meals.

With a total of 900 employees, a decrease from previous years due to changes in the labor market, dining halls are receiving positive feedback, Assistant Director for Communication and Marketing with Dining Services Bart Hipple said.

“We are, as a group, hospitality people,” Hipple said. “We like to have people in our area being happy. When we work hard to make food we want people to sit down and enjoy it. This feels good.”

Hipple said the dining halls are running Terrapin Favorites, a specials menu that changes weekly, until the end of the semester.

“We look at what’s popular,” Hipple said. “We look at what we can handle as a special but maybe not as a menu offering. The number one comment we get is that we should serve more healthy food and the number two comment is ‘we want more chicken tenders.’”

Alec Travers, a sophomore neurobiology and physiology student, primarily went to The Diner last year and still goes there this year.

“It’s a lot more social,” Travers said. “There are a lot more people and it’s a better environment and mood.”

Travers said the bagel cabinet and the ice cream machines are nice to have, but the best thing about this year is not being in solitude anymore.

“I liked how you could grab the food and go back to your room or eat outside,” Brett Caplan, a sophomore geoscience major, said. “But I definitely didn’t like that you couldn’t sit down with your friends easily or you couldn’t go back and go through again [to get more food].”

Caplan bounces between going to The Diner and 251 North. He grabs breakfast at 251 North and lunch and dinner at The Diner.

“I also like that you can just [go in] as many times as you want,” Caplan said. “They definitely have a lot more options than they did last year.”

This year the dining halls have expanded the Purple Zone, a dining hall section free of the top nine allergies including dairy, nuts and gluten, at 251 North and South Campus Dining Hall.

“We’ve extended their menus and made them more permanent and established stations with much better protocols to make students with allergies feel safe,” Hipple said.

Marne Malone, a sophomore civil engineering major, ate at The Diner last year and now eats at South Campus Dining Hall, but she still goes to The Diner for lunch.

Malone is vegan and said the vegan section is pretty much the same, but said it was a little better last year.

“It had more things,” Malone said. “Especially when it comes to their mornings. They used to always have vegan muffins and they would have vegan cream cheese for your bagels. I haven’t gone at 8 a.m., but my other vegan friends have told me they’re kind of lacking in the morning.”

Malone also said the set up between South Campus Dining Hall and The Diner is very different. Whenever she wants something from the vegan section in South Campus Dining Hall, she has to get a new plate.

“It just takes a while to get all my stuff,” Malone said. “I basically have to do rounds from the normal section to the other section.”

Although Malone misses some of the vegan options from last year, she said they have been consistent with the menu.

Two of the biggest changes from last year that the dining hall did not bring back this year are the take-out boxes and pre-packaged foods.

“I used to just love the to-go containers,” Malone said. “Even for the sauces. I remember last year I used to stock up on them because they were my favorite.”

However, Hipple said there’s not a way to combine anytime dining with a carry-out program because they don’t work together.

“You can get anything you want while you’re inside the building,” Hipple said.

Caplan said the dining hall feels more like a college campus now that there’s a lot more people.

Travers said, “Instead of it being 10 people in the entire dining hall there are now 110 people, probably even more. And that’s the best thing about it.”

Featured image: Students rotate around the salad bar, grabbing food for their meals in South Campus Dining Hall. This year, the dining halls have increased indoor dining capacity and menu options. Photo by Ilana Williams.