"Some people didn't have good dining-hall experiences in their own college days," Shen sighs. "They remember gray mystery meat. They don't realize how much things have changed."

A typical lunchtime scene at Crossroads. Photo: Kristan Lawson

But change abounds. In 2006, the Crossroads' kitchen became the first in any college dining hall nationwide to be certified organic. That same year, the University of New Hampshire — which operates its own organic dairy farm and, like many schools, welcomes non-students into its dining halls — became the nation's first college to sign the International Slow Food Association's Agreement of Intention and Collaboration. Ever more universities are increasing their dining-hall sustainability; Yale, Bowdoin and Michigan State, for example, source produce from their own organic gardens.

This trend is transforming these institutions into attractive, under-the-radar options not just for students but for anyone seeking to dine out, dine well and dine affordably.

Other Bay Area student-dining facilities open to the public include the University of San Francisco's largely organic Market Café, outfitted with a fifteen-foot salad bar. Non-students can eat buffet-style at CD-operated Clark Kerr Campus, Foothill, Café 3, and Crossroads, as well as at Berkeley's mouthwatering International House dining hall, San Francisco State's City Eats Dining Center and several Stanford University dining halls for the price of a single sandwich at La Note, say, or Luka's Taproom.

You don't need a college degree to do that math.

Cal Dining director Shawn LaPean. Photo: Kristan Lawson — Cal Dining’s director Shawn LaPean. Photo: Kristan Lawson

"Everyone's working on making college dining more sustainable. We're on a path toward getting better at that every day," says Cal Dining's director Shawn LaPean, who hails Cal Dining's partnerships with the Marine Stewardship Council, the "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" campaign, the Real Food Challenge, the LeanPath Food Waste Prevention Project, Feeding Forward, Filta Environmental Kitchen Solutions, the Green Initiative Fund, and the Berkeley Environmentally Aware Consulting Network.

The Crossroads' open kitchen. Photo: Kristan Lawson

The bottom line, of course, is serving Cal Dining's target audience: students.

"What do students want? Flavor. Safety. Sustainability. Salmon. They want gourmet food at Walmart prices," LaPean laughs.

College dining programs can afford to offer affordable abundance because they buy ingredients in such quantities.

"It's all about economies of scale," LaPean explains.

Crossroads has tripled its meals-served volume over the last decade: the same span of time between the Wall Street Journal calling Cal Dining the nation's worst college-meals program in 2002 and TheDailyMeal.com deeming it, last year, one of the best.

"This tripling of volume has allowed us to have an organic salad bar stocked with all those nuts and seeds," LaPean adds.

And you don't have to be under 23 to love that.

Crossroads
2415 Bowditch St. (at Channing Way) Berkeley, CA [map]
Phone: (510) 643-8323
Summer hours: Open daily: Breakfast: 7am-9am.; Lunch, 11am-2pm; Dinner, 5pm-9pm
Facebook: Cal Dining
Twitter: @CalDining

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