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Trayless dining

Sat, 2008-12-13 23:36 — Konstantin

I had the inconvenience of having dinner at Quincy House today, where they've taken the iniative of removing trays from the dining hall. I haven't yet found out whether this is a long-term change, or just something that was happening this weekend, but here's a breakdown of the advantages and disadvantages of a trayless system:

HUDS - Advantages

  • Slight decrease in labor time and resources (water) that would have been spent on washing trays
  • Likely a significant decrease in costs from food consumption:
    • Students who need to eat in a hurry will only have time to grab one plate and maybe one glass with a drink.
    • Students who don't want to deal with the hassle will pick a different dining hall to eat.
  • The reduction in food consumption would obviously also reduce the number of dishes that need to be washed.

HUDS - Disadvantages

  • More labor time and resources spent on cleaning tables, which are wooden and require more effort to clean than just spraying hot water at them.
  • More labor and money spent replacing broken dishes as some students try to juggle multiple plates.

Students - Advantages

  • None, unless someone is dieting

Students - Disadvantages

  • Significant increase in the amount of time necessary to eat a full meal
  • For those who don't have the extra time to spend at a given meal, leaving the dining hall still hungry

HUDS makes no secret of the fact that the goal is primarily to save money. HUDS' director, Ted Mayer, told the Crimson last month that when there are no trays,

"People take less food. They take less food and they waste less. They’re a bit more conscious of their choice. And it also saves money, and if you save money, you can use it for buying more local or sustainable food."

To be honest, it is quite doubtful that the money saved will go towards buying sustainable food. More likely, it will go towards HUDS' bottom line.

 

You don't often see Harvard students gaining weight on the HUDS regimen. So trying to scrimp on the meals that students paid for by encouraging them to take less food than they need for proper nutrition — is just a bit unscrupulous.