{"id":132738,"date":"2020-04-30T16:51:48","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T20:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=132738"},"modified":"2023-01-25T15:33:44","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T20:33:44","slug":"bates-students-on-campus-its-all-about-the-comfort-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2020\/04\/30\/bates-students-on-campus-its-all-about-the-comfort-food\/","title":{"rendered":"For students on campus, ‘it’s all about the comfort food’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every day Mathieu Moutou \u201922 of Vacoas, Mauritius, makes trips to the Bobcat Den to pick up lunch and dinner, as well as something from a copious spread on the snack table Dining Services has set up for the students who have been living on campus during the COVID-19 crisis.<\/p>\n

It’s all been timed so he doesn’t have to spend more than five minutes in the building. He orders online and then gets a notification that the food is ready for pickup. There’s no contact, but the staff are there.<\/p>\n

And most days those quick exchanges with the people who are cooking and packing to go containers at the Den represent his only in-person interactions, other than with the students in his dorm (all at a safe social distance).<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are so kind,\u201d says Moutou, a double major in math and music. \u201cI don\u2019t even have to tell them my name anymore since they\u2019ve come to know who I am. They know I eat a lot so sometimes they give me extras and leftovers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kevin<\/a>

In September 2017, Kevin Michaud of Dining Services prepares a staple of Commons comfort food, grilled cheese sandwiches. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s undeniably lonely for the approximately 80 students who petitioned to remain on campus for various reasons, including not being able to travel to their home countries and, for some seniors, thesis work that could not be done remotely.<\/p>\n

They’re on campus, but one that’s mostly empty (since March 17, most Bates faculty and staff have been working from home, except for essential personnel.)<\/p>\n

Still, some things haven’t changed for students on campus. “Bates people care. They reach out to me individually and are just like, ‘How are you doing?\u2019” says Alexis Fifield ’21 of Guatemala City, Guatemala, who has also been in residence.<\/p>\n

“How things are done and what is provided to us has changed, but that sense of ‘We’re here for you, and you’re here for us,’ that mutual feeling of ‘We want to do this together,’ hasn’t changed.”<\/p>\n

Even if there are fewer of them, \u201cwhat makes Bates, Bates, are the people,\u201d says Moutou, who can\u2019t return to his home in Mauritius. The Indian Ocean island nation near Madagascar, which has reported 332 COVID-19 cases total, shut down outside access in March. \u201cMy country closed its borders indefinitely,\u201d Moutou says. \u201cI don\u2019t have anywhere else to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

“The eggamuffin. They were so excited about that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No wonder familiar foods from Bates Dining Services are what he and others crave. \u201cWhat we have found is that it’s all about the comfort food,\u201d says Christine Schwartz, assistant vice president for dining, conferences, and campus events.<\/p>\n

When students place their orders online, they are very specific about their cravings. \u201cThey ask, can we include their favorite dishes, like General Tso\u2019s chicken and the taco bar. They like chimichanga and lemon chicken.\u201d An English muffin with egg was a big hit, Schwartz says. \u201cThe eggamuffin. They were so excited about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Schwartz and Cheryl Lacey, director of dining services, started planning for ways to feed the Bates students who would remain on campus, they understood that they\u2019d have to supply comfort on multiple levels.<\/p>\n

As Moutou points out, the students see their professors on Zoom and such, but the dining staff are their main in-person contact \u2014 albeit from a safe social distance \u2014 with the world outside their dorm. \u201cBesides Security, we are probably going to be the only people they are going to see on campus,\u201d Schwartz says.<\/p>\n

\""I<\/a>

“I like just taking time to sit out here and get some fresh air,” says Alexis Fifield ’21 of Guatemala City, Guatemala, as she finishes dinner, including some Dining Services comfort food: french fries. What hasn’t changed for students on campus is the sense that “Bates people care,” she says. (Jay Burns\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt was a quick turn for us,\u201d she adds. \u201cWe were retooling almost hourly to get there while we were maintaining the health and wellness of our own staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

They decided deliberately to provide food in two venues, to give students two distinct places to visit, breaking up their days. A continental breakfast is available at Commons and grab-and-go lunches and dinners are prepared and distributed at the Den.<\/p>\n

The Dining Services staff working these areas “really connect with the students,\u201d Schwartz said. That includes recognizing who eats what and who is going to be super sad if there are no Oreos on the snack table (actually, two 8-foot tables together). Which turned out to be most of the remaining students, as it turns out. \u201cI tried to get some Lorna Doones and Nutter Butters and some Milanos and they are like, \u2018Where are my Oreos?\u2019\u201d Schwartz says.<\/p>\n

The staff has also been helping students process as they face a strange situation on campus while also preparing for final exams (going on now through May 2) and trying to stay healthy. Maybe they’ve wanted to complain about coursework, or what they missed, or just how weird all this was.<\/p>\n

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More comfort food: See the deliciousness of a Bates Bobcat sandwich as it is assembled by Dining Services executive chef Owen Keene. Video by Theophil Syslo.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n