The Post reported last week on a run on Nutella at Columbia University dining halls. The school reportedly spent $5,000 on the Italian chocolatey hazelnut spread, in just the first week of the semester. Students were swiping cups and even jars of it to use for their study breaks later. At that rate, the school could have to dish out a quarter of a million dollars a year to cover this snacking habit.
The Columbia administration denied that the numbers were this outrageous; its statement suggested that novelty drove up consumption the first week: “The actual cost was only about $2,500, and quickly went down to $450 per week for dining halls that serve some 3,600 students, seven days a week at three locations.”
Oh yes, and “media attention to Nutella-gate has cut down on the amount people have been taking in recent days.”
Yes, well, shame is probably the only thing that will control costs at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Especially when they’re paying $2,363 a semester, or about $36 a day for Columbia’s complete meal plan (which freshmen must buy).
You could actually eat pretty decently on that much money in Morningside Heights, according to Helen Rosner, executive digital editor of the food magazine Saveur.
She says “$11 gets you a bowl of super-rich tonkatsu ramen at Jin Ramen — or a quarter rack of ribs, incredible honeyed cornbread and two sides at Dinosaur BBQ.” For dinner, she recommends, “sit at the bar at Mermaid Inn and order a dozen briny, savory East Coast oysters, just $1 each before 7 p.m.”
(It’s a safe bet that students are also spending plenty of their own money on late-night pizza, afternoon coffee and morning bagels at their favorite local establishments.)
Surrounded by such culinary riches, why does Columbia need to go all out?
Actually, it’s not just Columbia. According to a ranking of college dining halls by the Web site HerCampus, Virginia Tech serves “whole lobster and ribeye daily.” On the other end of the dietary spectrum, UCLA won the award for most vegan-friendly campus from PETA. Cornell’s meal plan offers dark-chocolate-tasting parties and off-campus food trucks for late-night pizza and meatball subs.
Middlebury, meanwhile, offers unlimited quantities of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Of course, it’s in the middle of nowhere and there aren’t a lot of other options outside of the dining hall, especially outside of regular hours.
But aren’t gourmet dining halls in New York City a little bit redundant?
Well, a school’s gotta compete. Students who tour Columbia one day may tour UCLA another and Cornell another. And what are they comparing? Surely not the quality of the professors (whose classes they rarely visit when touring campuses in July) or the cost of the place (which is outrageous across the board and made incomprehensible by our federal government’s financial-aid system).
No, they’re comparing the extras. As a University of Missouri administrator told Fox Business Channel’s John Stossel last year after touring the new campus “spa,” schools these days must be concerned not just with reading, writing and ’rithmatic, but with the “Fourth R” — Recreation.
Robert Coffee, who was hired away from “whole lobster and ribeye” Virginia Tech earlier this year to oversee Duke University’s dining services, said, “I’ve always tried to keep an entrepreneurial spirit, and within dining we’re constantly having to change and stay ahead of the curve.”
In this light, a few grand worth of Nutella seems like no big deal. Actually, Columbia may still not be up to snuff. Maybe Le Bernadin can send over some help?