The U of M Hospital cafeteria has improved drastically since I first began working here as a lowly tech support temp employee. Gone are the days of the “Starch Bar,” where (depending on the day) you could have either a baked potato or nachos covered with pretty much the same set of toppings. Also gone is “Obvious Leftover Casserole” which would usually follow a “Starch Bar” day, and which blatantly consisted of whatever toppings or ingredients weren’t finished off the day before.
As a really scary aside, according to the New York Times, in his civilian life the warrant officer in charge of food service for the prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp “looks after the food needs of a dormitory at the University of Michigan.”
I think there may be a Geneva Convention violation or two going on… I lived in the dorms.
Anyway, the new cafeteria is managed by Armark, rather than by the University’s food service group. The food is a thousand times better, but a bit more expensive. Yesterday I was in line behind a woman who was absolutely aghast that the sandwich, chips and drink she’d picked out cost $7. “That’s just too much for a grilled cheese sandwich!”
She’s right. It is. But for a roast turkey sandwich with cheese and onion grilled on swirled rye bread with a side of home-style potato chips and a large drink, it’s not too bad.
Personally, I’ve found that the best food-for-money ratio is at the soup station. It’s self-serve, so there’s rarely a wait. You can choose from three soups, two which change daily and the staple “Vegetarian Chili.” You can have either oyster crackers, saltines or croutons, and they’ve recently added a basket of 50 cent bread wedges. The large size chili, no bread, no beverage is a really filling meal for under three bucks.
And that’s just the thing for those of you who are trying to be ill on a budget.