Penn Dining won two silver awards in this year’s National Association of College & University Food Services competition.
Penn Dining won one of the two awards for an event hosted in conjunction with Philadelphia's Sisterly Love Collective, and the other for a wellness and nutrition-focused series. The NACUFS competition celebrates exemplary menus, presentations, special event planning, and new dining concepts within collegiate dining.
NACUFS member institutions are spread across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and beyond. These members range from private colleges to large public universities — including two-year and four-year institutions.
This year, Quaker Kitchen worked with Philadelphia’s Sisterly Love Collective, an organization that encourages the development of women entrepreneurs and supports the growth of women-owned businesses in the food and beverage space. Together, they compiled a tasting menu from Klancy Miller’s cookbook, For The Culture: Phenomenal Black Women and Femmes in Food: Interviews, Inspiration, and Recipes. Menu items included hibiscus honey-mustard salmon; island greens with avocado, mint, and mango; and calypso persimmon baked chicken wings.
The event won a silver medal in the NACUFS’s Presidential Special Event of the Year category, which is “awarded to an outstanding event taking place in residential dining for its strong focus on the student experience.” Other silver medal award recipients in the same category included Gettysburg College, Hendrix College, Monmouth University, Tufts University, and the University of Houston.
“The work that Chef Park [and Chef Tonii Hicks] and her students put in to create a special setting at Quaker Kitchen to welcome all these guest collaborators is exactly the type of partnership we seek and need from the community to help elevate the voices of all involved,” Ellen Yin, co-founder of the Sisterly Love Collective, said to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “We are greatly appreciative of this opportunity.”
Penn Dining also won silver in the Wellness and Nutrition Program of the Year category for its dietitian-led nutrition and wellness education series — part of the Dine Well, Eat Smart program — in the form of online newsletters and in-café culinary events. The content was built around themes such as “Good Food, Good Mood,” “Snacks to Support Sustained Energy,” and “Sustainable Eats.”
The Nutrition Awards recognize the “outstanding nutrition and wellness programs implemented within collegiate dining programs of our institutional members” with the Wellness and Nutrition Program of the Year award focusing on “fun and creative events to get students and guests involved in the experience of nutrition in their dining program.” Other silver award recipients included Rider University and the University of Richmond.
“Dynamic and engaging programs like these are what make Penn Dining truly unique,” Director of Business Services and Hospitality Services Pam Lampitt said. “In collaboration with our partners in Bon Appétit, we bring chefs and food experts to campus, all in pursuit of our shared goal of promoting food literacy and nutrition. This recognition from NACUFS is a testament to the creativity and dedication of our entire team.”
Sarah Goff — Registered Dietitian and Nutritionist and Wellness Manager for Bon Appétit — added that the Dine Well, Eat Smart program is a “great opportunity to show students that food can be exciting, flavorful, and have a positive wellness impact.”
“It’s been amazing to see the Dine Well, Eat Smart program come to life,” Goff said “We’re excited to continue to grow the program and find innovative ways to educate students on wellness.”
Penn Dining has received two NACUFS awards in the past. In 2018, they received a silver award for the Hill House Renovation of the Residential Dining Concept of the Year category. The following year, they were awarded gold for the renovation of Houston Market in the Retail Sales — Single Concept/Multiple Concepts/Marketplace category. This renovation also secured the 2019 Grand Prize in the same category.
College sophomore Kevin Wu told the DP that he was surprised by the awards given his personal experiences with Penn Dining food.
“[H]onestly, I’m pretty surprised by this since I think that Penn food is rather unhealthy with excess oil and sodium, as well as the several incidents of food poisoning that I’ve experienced since coming to Penn,” Wu said.
Wharton junior Su Ah Kim agreed with Wu on the lack of quality in the food Penn Dining offers.
“I think the salad bars could offer a greater variety of toppings and be restocked more frequently to ensure it’s as fresh as can be, or in the mornings, fresh eggs can be used instead of boxed eggs as do many other colleges,” Kim told the DP.
On the other hand, College sophomore Shin Thant Wai Phoo congratulated Penn Dining for getting these silver awards.
“Honestly, that’s great to hear,” Phoo said. “I hope they take this occasion as motivation to continue the good work.”
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