If you build it, they will come

Admittedly, the idea for this article began as an attack against the food services at UHCL.

Ignorance clearly took over because when compared to other schools, UHCL proved to have one of the better food options among college campus’ with the same enrollment size or smaller.

DeVry University: Houston has only a small deli to cater to their 1,931 students. ITT Technical Institute: Houston has no food services beyond vending machines for its 622 students.

In a perfect world, UHCL would appeal to restaurants like McDonald’s and Taco Bell and have them cater to our campus, however, this is not possible because of the vicious circle of UHCL’s low customer traffic.

UHCL food service director, Joseph Jackson, literally said that there will be no expansion on any food services at UHCL.

However, even with UHCL’s current budget and venders, there is still opportunity for improvement.

A survey has been released by the University of Houston Dining Services asking students, faculty and staffs’ opinions on their dining experience.

If you’re creative, the survey allows space for personal comments in addition to polled questions.

The staff of The Signal would like to go ahead and offer the following suggestions just to get the conversation started.

Many of UHCL international students are vegetarian. It would be great to offer more vegetarian choices than the obligatory baked potato. For example, the vegetarian lasagna that was served last Thursday was fantastic. Perhaps some choices that could be added to the menu could be something like veggie burgers, eggrolls and perhaps a salad bar.

Usually chicken is served with a side or two. Instead of having plain chicken, why not serve the meat in a casserole? Casseroles are not expensive to make and are usually prepared to serve large numbers of people. A mexican chicken casserole would be another delicious addition to the UHCL cafeteria menu. With simple ingredients; its quick, easy and great tasting.

What about offering ethnic food from countries other than Mexico and Italy just to liven things up? We have a large Indian and Vietnamese international student population for example. More and more students are going gluten-free-another option worthy of consideration.

Praises should be awarded to the Patio Cafe for the food options even if they are limited. It’s true, we are luckier than other smaller commuter campuses. However, there is still hope for improvement.

The survey that has been started can be found at surveymonkey.com/s/uhcl. Use the “other” option as a way to provide comments regardless of whether or not the comments apply to the question asked – it’s the only opportunity to provide unsolicited comments.

The Signal staff further encourages the students, faculty and staff to go online and complete the survey. Maybe then food services can perceive a clearer picture of what appeals to the UHCL community.