Julie Severance, General Manager of Bon Appetit, said that she has recently been receiving a lot of comment cards.
“We take comments very seriously,” continued Severance. “Students are not happy.”
Severance is referring to, what senior Claire Francis deems, “The Cookie Fiasco of 2015.” All the cookies served in Andrew Commons are now vegan.
This school year, Bon Appetit partnered with Hampton Creek, a food technology company dedicated to ecological approaches. Taking diary and eggs out of the recipe makes the cookies more sustainable.
“Hampton Creek’s mission statement aligns with Bon Appetit’s—making products that are sustainable but are also delicious,” Severance said.
The latter is subjective.
“[These cookies] gave me dark flashbacks to my early baking days,” Francis joked.
Even students who have not tried the cookies note the obvious changes.
“I noticed the physical difference in the cookies, and that automatically turned me off,” sophomore Taylor Gardner said.
Generally, critics recognize the need for vegan options, but do not understand why this has to limit choice overall.
“I think there should be options for people who are vegan and who are gluten free, but I don’t think those need to be imposed on all students,” said sophomore Alana Reiser.
Despite this, some students were shocked to learn of the recipe change, claiming they could not pinpoint the difference.
“I never noticed that they were vegan,” said senior Ruth Bowers-Sword, “I think it is a positive change.”
Sophomore Elkin Garcia admits, “I miss the double chocolate chips” but said “They’re still cookies, they’re still good.”
While the opinions are not unanimous, students are generally confused why this change was not advertised.
“We were not trying to hide it, we just didn’t feel the need to emphasize the change,” said Severance.
Besides cookies, Bon Appetit is welcoming changes to Andrew’s Global Market Latin Flavors, incorporating nachos and fajitas. Similarly, Kate’s Corner Store has more salad options this year. Finally, the Bon Appetit Dub Box is still operating daily serving lunch by the Conservatory.
“All jokes aside, I think our access to high-quality, organic, and locally grown food is taken for granted by far too many students at this school and it floors me,” concluded Francis, “Let’s all just chill out on being hypercritical of our food options and be thankful for what extremely few people have.”