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Eating in college?!

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Reply 40
Avatar for toto8462
toto8462
9
JHutcher
Oh dear... please please tell me your not equating veganism with religious dietry requirements... i'm sure i've heard this before.

Vegans might well be able to eat something sometimes... not only that but if its anything like my college then they prepare vegan meals if you request them (usually because its not expensive for them to do so).

Kosher would be rediculously expensive for college to maintain and most staff wouldn't have the skills required for it. It makes complete sense to exclude these people from KFC.


I was almost certain that i read on the Johns website that there is a Kosher option available. It may only be for formal hall though, not sure.
SaccerZD
to be honest, Cambridge is starting to sound more like a boarding school than a university. I keep hearing about daft rules - can't have this in your room, have to stay in your room a certain number of times a term, wear a gown for exams, and all the KFC stuff. The crap like that is starting to put me off a bit.

Every university hall of residence has rules about what you're allowed in your room, mainly for safety reasons. The rule about having to spend a certain number of nights in college per term does sound a little archaic, but firstly you're unlikely to break it unless you go away for a long time (which would be a bad idea anyway), and secondly it's unenforced (and largely unenforceable). We don't wear gowns for exams, that's Oxford, and incidentally they love it. KFC is annoying but it's one of the prices you pay for a college community -- without it the colleges would probably have to go entirely self-catering (no formal halls or anything) which would mean a big part of the community would be lost.
toto8462
I was almost certain that i read on the Johns website that there is a Kosher option available. It may only be for formal hall though, not sure.


Most likely - a significant number of colleges offer Kosher formal hall that must be pre-ordered, these being triple-wrapped microwave meals I believe. The sense of community is emphasised more than the taste for these ready meals...
SaccerZD
to be honest, Cambridge is starting to sound more like a boarding school than a university. I keep hearing about daft rules - can't have this in your room, have to stay in your room a certain number of times a term, wear a gown for exams, and all the KFC stuff. The crap like that is starting to put me off a bit.

also,

that's not fair. Religion is a choice, as is veganism, so they should only allow it for medical reasons, not pick and choose.

Hmm looks like we chose the best college!
Reply 44
Avatar for SaccerZD
SaccerZD
2
JHutcher
Oh dear... please please tell me your not equating veganism with religious dietry requirements... i'm sure i've heard this before.

Vegans might well be able to eat something sometimes... not only that but if its anything like my college then they prepare vegan meals if you request them (usually because its not expensive for them to do so).

Kosher would be rediculously expensive for college to maintain and most staff wouldn't have the skills required for it. It makes complete sense to exclude these people from KFC.


this has nothing to do with the KFC - it's just that it makes me laugh that religious beliefs are held above all other beliefs in terms of importance, even though they are choices. Vegans don't have to be vegans, theists don't have to be theists. Simple as that.
Reply 45
Avatar for SaccerZD
SaccerZD
2
Alexander
..


This may be wrong, but I thought that Oxford had to wear full sub fusc for exams whereas cambridge wore normal clothes with a gown over.

Can you wear whatever you like, then?
SaccerZD
this has nothing to do with the KFC - it's just that it makes me laugh that religious beliefs are held above all other beliefs in terms of importance, even though they are choices. Vegans don't have to be vegans, theists don't have to be theists. Simple as that.


That's a gross over-simplification. In most cases (if not all) religion is deeply engrained upon someone's mind usaully since their birth which, whilst technically a choice, can be very hard to give up. This is in stark comparison to Veganism, which is usaully a conscious choice during adolesence. Wheter you believe thesism is right or wrong, nothing changes this.
Reply 47
Avatar for PaddyMac
PaddyMac
4
Without wanting to start a wear.. How are the collleges ranked (according to common perception at least) by quality of food?
PaddyMac
Without wanting to start a wear.. How are the collleges ranked (according to common perception at least) by quality of food?


The general consensus is that John's tops the list. *runs a mile*
Reply 49
Avatar for toto8462
toto8462
9
Intelligentsia
The general consensus is that John's tops the list. *runs a mile*



...by a considerable margin i heard... :biggrin:

*waits for the banter to begin*
JHutcher
Oh dear... please please tell me your not equating veganism with religious dietry requirements... i'm sure i've heard this before.

Vegans might well be able to eat something sometimes... not only that but if its anything like my college then they prepare vegan meals if you request them (usually because its not expensive for them to do so).

Kosher would be rediculously expensive for college to maintain and most staff wouldn't have the skills required for it. It makes complete sense to exclude these people from KFC.

But then a Jew or Muslim can just eat vegetarian food. If there is not a guaranteed vegan meal every day for a vegan person, but there is a guaranteed halal or kosher meal (the vegetarian option), then vegans have a much stronger argument for being excluded from KFC than either of those religious groups.
Intelligentsia
The general consensus is that John's tops the list. *runs a mile*

I think I read in my fresher's guide that we have a Michellin-starred chef?
Ditting Suck
But then a Jew or Muslim can just eat vegetarian food. If there is not a guaranteed vegan meal every day for a vegan person, but there is a guaranteed halal or kosher meal (the vegetarian option), then vegans have a much stronger argument for being excluded from KFC than either of those religious groups.


Halal and Kosher is much more than restrictions on meat. Different sets of equipment have to be used for different food types (dairy, vegatable etc) and you can't use cutlery/plates etc that have used non-kosher food unless they've been sterilised (by flame in some circumstances). There's more stuff but its far more complicated than simple diet restriction.

(see vegetarianism section on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher)
Okay, my mistake. So if you're a strict enough Muslim/Jew, then you should be exempted to. What I was really objecting to was the implication that vegans should have to pay the KFC because the food was occasionally vegan.
Anyone can be exempted from the KFC (at the cost of having to pay VAT for meals instead) but the colleges only seem to be obliged to provide cooking facilities for religous reasons. However like I said in an earlier post, if you fight for it, the college would prob make provisions for a vegan too.
Reply 55
Avatar for Helenia
Helenia
20
SaccerZD
This may be wrong, but I thought that Oxford had to wear full sub fusc for exams whereas cambridge wore normal clothes with a gown over.

Can you wear whatever you like, then?


Yeah, no gowns or anything. In my finals this year people were taking pride in exactly how scruffy they could show up to an exam - obviously needing to wear nice clothes/shave/shower is like, such an extraneous activity when you are working so very hard :rolleyes:

toto8462

...by a considerable margin i heard...

*waits for the banter to begin*


Hoho. In terms of buttery food, I'm not sure there really is much of a comparison/league, because most people have not eaten in the buttery of many other colleges than their own.

As for formals, John's is good for what you pay, but when you consider you only pay ~£3.50... The best formal food I've had was at Robinson, I think. Jesus has been consistently decent, as has Tit Hall apart from one unfortunate red mullet incident. Oh, and Selwyn is really nice. Especially if you go to Selwyn cocktails afterwards :biggrin: (only one night a term)
Reply 56
Avatar for music<3
music<3
im baffled to be honest by all this.. does that mean when I get there *Newnham* I MUST eat dinner there for a certian number of nights per term? why did they not tell me this.. how sneaky??! please help clear up this confusion for me! thank you xx
Reply 57
Avatar for toto8462
toto8462
9
Helenia
Yeah, no gowns or anything. In my finals this year people were taking pride in exactly how scruffy they could show up to an exam - obviously needing to wear nice clothes/shave/shower is like, such an extraneous activity when you are working so very hard :rolleyes:



Hoho. In terms of buttery food, I'm not sure there really is much of a comparison/league, because most people have not eaten in the buttery of many other colleges than their own.

As for formals, John's is good for what you pay, but when you consider you only pay ~£3.50... The best formal food I've had was at Robinson, I think. Jesus has been consistently decent, as has Tit Hall apart from one unfortunate red mullet incident. Oh, and Selwyn is really nice. Especially if you go to Selwyn cocktails afterwards :biggrin: (only one night a term)



Yea, to be honest i cant imagine the buttery food differs much. I would think the quality of formals could though. I think Johns formal may have gone up from £3.50 to around £3.70, but it still seems really good value. I guess i will look forward to first halls to find out!
music<3
im baffled to be honest by all this.. does that mean when I get there *Newnham* I MUST eat dinner there for a certian number of nights per term? why did they not tell me this.. how sneaky??! please help clear up this confusion for me! thank you xx

AFAIK it's only Peterhouse and Caius that demand you eat a certain number of evening meals; I think almost all (if not all) colleges have a kitchen fixed charge though.
Yeah, I think it is just those two.

Basically, unless you opt out strongly you will have to pay KFC. Although it isn't all for subsidising your college meals- some goestowards the upkeep of the gyp rooms- the largest proportion of it enables the college to have buttery meals at a cheap price. Seeing as you're paying for it, you might as well go to Buttery anyway. I found it was not only beter food than I could cook, but you got more of it. And of course it was far more sociable, seeing as pretty much everyone on my staircase went to Buttery together.

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