Hughes Parry, Canterbury, and Connaught Halls presently contract out their catering service to a company called
Host Contract Management. Host offer a variety of service styles, but I think all those three halls have opted for their
Food Nation healthy eating service (Connaught definitely has
Food Nation; I'm pretty sure the others do, too).
Here are some pages about the
Food Nation service (very general, and not everything applies across all sites, but it gives you an idea)...
http://www.hostmgt.com/html/foodnation_style.aspxhttp://www.hostmgt.com/html/foodnation.aspxhttp://www.hostmgt.com/pdf/Food_Nation_10_Commandments.pdfhttp://www.hostmgt.com/pdf/Food_Nation_Menus.pdfI have some actual monthly menus for Connaught Hall somewhere on my computer; if I can find them I'll post them for you.
A typical breakfast would be any combination (subject a maximum "points" value - slightly complicated system) of hash browns, bacon / sausage, scrambled / fried egg, plum tomato, fried mushrooms / baked beans, toast, cereal, fruit, and yoghurt with tea, coffee, and/or fruit juice.
A typical evening meal consists of a vegetarian soup, one "main" option (out of three choices - meat, vegetarian, or fish/poultry) with rice / pasta / potato / vegetable sides, and a pudding. Salad is available every night, and of course tea, coffee, fruit juice, etc.
The food in halls of residence is unavoidably a bit like school dinners. There are always a few students who really don't like it, but it's all perfectly edible and often - in my opinion - quite nice. As a member of staff, I do have the option of cooking my own food but I still eat in the dining hall most days if I get home from my daytime work in time; so it can't be that bad, eh?
Residents at Connaught Hall can influence the type of food that is served through the
Facilities Committee (details in attached pdf file); although budgetary constraints dictate many of the choices we can make, it is certainly possible to adjust the menus according to some of the preferences of each year's student intake. Fresh food / low fat / low salt / high fibre issues commonly come up and Host do their best to meet residents' expectations. I'm sure other halls must have similar feedback arrangments.
International Hall uses a different catering provider; I'm not sure about arrangments at Commonwealth or Nutford.