CT Blue

The New York Times published two articles recently about the quality of the cuisine at my Alma Mater, Bowdoin College in Bruswick, ME. We alums have always known that Bowdoin was the best school in the country, but it has not always had the best food. Now it is at the top of both heaps.

You can read about the culinary delights to be had at the school here and here.

Justin Foster, a freshman from Memphis, was surprised at the variety and the quality he found at Bowdoin. “White spinach lasagna, eggplant parm, ratatouille, Honolulu tofu with rice and peppers, sweet potato fries,” he reeled off his favorite dishes, “and they make a really good rum cake, too. Vegans, vegetarians — the cooks make it easy for those students with that lifestyle, and I appreciate the food more, knowing they’re making a real effort to be green, to use organic food, to be environmentally friendly.”

[Dining Director Mary Lou] Kennedy said: “First, our cooks know how to cook. All of our soups are from scratch. We have Fair Trade coffee locally roasted. We have our own butcher who grinds the meat for our hamburgers, and 20 percent of our food budget is locally sourced.”

Bowdoin has two organic gardens, begun five years ago as a student project and now in the hands of a farm manager. Last year they supplied more than $20,000 of herbs and vegetables, with the surplus sold at an on-campus farmers’ market.

Both articles point out that the yearly bill to parents for this food is a number approximately equal to the entire cost of a Bowdoin education (tuition, room and board) in the prehistoric period when I attended the school. In any event, I am not jealous, nor do I begrudge my academic descendants their gourmet meals. In my day, the food built character, particularly at my financially strapped fraternity (it folded while I was there), where the cook developed a tuna fish sandwich featuring pourable tuna, made possible by the proportion of mayo to tuna in the recipe. The menu also featured such delicacies as Shepherd’s Pie (a great way to recycle) and an oft served meat identified as lamb, something no one was ever able to verify. Yes, the food built character. These kids have it far too easy:

The Web site www.collegeprowler.com, which has more than 180,000 visitors a month and publishes college guides, just named Bowdoin “School of the Year.”

“After the warm atmosphere and amazing faculty, students cited the food as their favorite thing about the college,” the site’s co-founder, Luke Skurman, said in an interview. “After I visited, I understood why.

“The dining halls post the students’ comment cards. One read, ‘Would it be possible for you to make pumpkin chocolate muffins?’ Underneath, the reply was, ‘Please expect to see them every Monday morning.’ ”

Is that any way to prepare these kids for the cold, hard world they are about to enter? They’ll expect a life full of pumpkin chocolate muffins, when they’re more likely to get pourable tuna.