In the years around 1800, Harvard students “endured weevily bread the texture of wet wool, rancid meat, and sour college cider fortified with raw whiskey,” according to Anne Matthews in her book Bright College Years.

However, Matthews says, by the 1940s and 50s, food choices had improved to include, “breaded veal, shepherd’s pie, or tuna noodle casserole slopped onto thick china plates, the only garnish cold canned peas and white bread lumpy with margarine, the only beverages milk and water.”

Dining as a Social Event
At Albright, however, “Visitors regularly expressed the opinion that the food provided to students at Albright was superior to that served at other comparable institutions.” According to Eugene Barth’s Discovery and Promise: A History of Albright College, the Van Driel family, master chefs who had come to serve Albright from Holland, established a reputation for culinary excellence. In the 1930s, the eldest brother, Jan, first brought his skills to the campus. Later it was Peter and eventually, Len. Even at the height of the depression, Jan prepared special outdoor Greek banquets during the Greek festivals which were introduced to the campus in 1934.

But dining at Albright was not just a daily function, it was an event, and rules were strict. According to Barth, one of the philosophical principles at the College was that preparation for life included the development of social proprieties and that included an introduction to the niceties of behavior at meals.

It was an attempt to bring refinement and elegance to the campus.

So, as students entered the Dining Hall in the Selwyn Hall Annex, they were given seating arrangements for evening meals, with a senior host and hostess at each table. These were changed at two-week intervals to insure a wide range of community interchanges. In addition, a dress code was enforced for evening meals. Women wore dresses and men wore coats and ties.

Dave Martin ’67, professor of economics and business administration at Albright remembers with fondness, “The evening and Sunday noon meals always featured white tablecloths with flowers and family style, waitered and waitressed, dining.” It was an attempt, he says, to bring refinement and elegance to the campus.

However, according to The Albrightian, in the fall of 1957, “a groundswell of controversy” arose concerning the changeover from waiter service to cafeteria-style for the evening meal. With an increased enrollment that pushed the total number of residential students to 380, there weren’t enough seats to accommodate all of the students at the same time. The Selwyn Dining Hall held 350 students.

Short of enlarging the Dining Hall or constructing a new one, there was only one alternative to cafeteria-style dining…to serve the evening meal waiter-style in two shifts. The students expressed their thoughts in the October 4, 1957 edition of The Albrightian:

William Garrett ’59 said, “I prefer dinner in the ‘homestyle’ way with waiters and waitresses. Cafeteria-style dinners give much less chance to the students for quiet socializing and take away much of the beauty that can go into the evening meal. Because of the size of the student body and the fact that Albright is a small college, I would suggest the split-dinner hour.”

Claire Vogel ’60 (now Claire O’Brien) agreed, “I don’t care for evening meals cafeteria-style because it doesn’t give the new students a chance to get to know everyone else. It seems to me that the same people sit together night after night leaving room for no one new. Also, I feel sorry for some of the fellows ‘cause they can’t get seconds. The split dinner would provide for the latter, but I still don’t care for the idea.”

Students Rally for Change
Formal dining continued at Albright through the mid-60s. However, beginning in 1965, assigned seating or “family style” dining was to be enforced only for Sunday dinners. Students were permitted to wear informal attire for breakfast and lunch. Although evening meals still required women to wear skirts or dresses and men dress shirts and long pants, including blue jeans. Beards and long hair were also formally condoned at this time.

But finally, a headline in the May 1, 1970 edition of The Albrightian read, “No More Dress Code!” Bob Emerick ’71, organizer of the policy change, said in the article, “As of Tuesday, April 23, the only regulation of dress for the dining hall is that you wear shoes, cover your body, and don’t smell like a locker room.”

“As of Tuesday, April 23, the only regulation of dress for the dining hall is that you wear shoes, cover your body, and don’t smell like a locker room.”

Emerick’s reasoning was simple. “Dinner to most students,” he said in The Albrightian, “is not a special occasion. It is merely another meal to be eaten and hopefully forgotten.”

But, Martin says, “With the demise of the dress code, informality became more pervasive in the Dining Hall as it did in much of the College and the broader society.”

Unfortunately, the 70s also brought with them the death of Leonard Van Driel who had served the College as director of food service for 29 years. Van Driel was “a magnificent man who demanded the highest quality food and personal service for his student customers, but who was also warm, caring and concerned for those who worked with him to provide that service,” says Martin. Fortunately, Van Driel had trained an associate in the culinary skills that made the Van Driel family famous. Robert Jackson became the new director of food service.

A scene from 1971

Although the food quality remained high, Jackson found it difficult to please everyone. Complaints from students about the lack in variety of foods led the Albright administration to form a student committee to work with the food service staff to provide suggestions for menus and to serve as a channel for student opinion. Through this effort several positive changes were made such as adding a salad bar and providing acceptable menus for Jewish students during the High Holy Days.

But despite steps to improve the Dining Hall, students were still unhappy. In an Albrightian “People Poll” in the December 12, 1980 edition, Jeff Solar ’82 said, “Compared to other schools it’s (the food) supposed to be good, so I’d hate to see what they’re eating at the other schools.” Carolyn Crane ’83 (now Carolyn Cutilli) said, “Our greatest problem with the food service is the lack of selection. The Student Service Committee in the S.G.A. should investigate having a wider selection of foods served in the dining hall.” And, Jack Delany ’82 added, “It isn’t that bad but it gets monotonous with the same food. Eating becomes boring. Pucks and ham every week.”

However, Beverly (Flagg) Skodi ’88 says she remembers the food choice being okay. “If you didn’t like it,” she says, “you could always have cold cereal.”

From “Surf & Turf” to “Mocktail Margaritas”
Today’s Dining Hall, or as it is affectionately known as “The Caf,” is a little different…

As tuxedo-clad staff strolled through the Dining Hall amidst a sea of carefully carved ice sculptures, students dined on surf and turf in celebration of the Millennium.

Mayor of Reading Joseph Eppihimer and Albright President Henry Zimon, dressed as Pilgrims, carved the turkey and served it up with all the trimmings during the Thanksgiving feast.

And while beach balls flew over head and music blared, students dined on shrimp, steamed clams, hot dogs, cotton candy and snow cones. Some even walked away with prizes such as a television set and a mountain bike at the all-time favorite beach party.

So what’s going on in the Albright Dining Hall these days?

Theme dinners are all the rage, says Dave Tanger, director of food services. This year, a “Western” theme dinner was held for the first time. Offering barbecue ribs, beef and chicken, Southwestern chili, mocktail margaritas and Smores for dessert, “the kids just love it,” Tanger says. “We even have regular staff and faculty members who come for the theme dinners.” Mardi Gras and 50s Night are also among the favorites, he says.

But since everyday can’t be a party, other major changes have also made the “dining experience” at Albright more pleasant.

Food stations have been added which include a “home cookin’” bar, vegetarian bar, pasta bar, omelet station, and a theme station which rotates each night and features everything from hot dogs and wings to seafood and hoagies.

But when Tanger came to Albright in 1987, there were only two serving lines, he says. “They served the same food in both lines. There was a deli station, a salad bar and one hot meal option,” he says. “The choices weren’t nearly as elaborate as today. Today you have at least 16 dressings to choose from on the salad bar.” But one thing he says that hasn’t changed are students’ tastes. Although today’s students are more health conscious than ever before and they say they want healthy choices in the Dining Hall, “They don’t choose it,” Tanger says. “We go through a ton of French fries.” And the chicken strips of fire…”they love ‘em!” he says. “Everyone comes in here for those.”

Emily Babin ’04 says she appreciates the efforts the Dining Hall staff takes to appease vegetarians with the vegetarian bar. But, she says, “I would like to see more vegetables served in the main line.” She adds, “I like how they’ve added waffles to dinner. They are a nice break from the rest of the food.”

Jim DeLuccia ’03 says he is satisfied with the offerings in The Caf. “I can pretty much get what I need here,” he says. “There is ample starch and vegetables just about every night, so the ‘needs’ are met.” Although, he adds, I think more Italian cuisines would be more enticing to the masses at Albright. From a personal standpoint, nothing beats Italian!”

Enjoying the challenge of trying to come up with new ways of doing things with limited funds, Tanger says he and his staff try hard to recreate “what some of the large schools do” in the Dining Hall.

“I’d like to create more ‘to order’ stations,” he says. Last year, a steam table was installed to allow for made-to-order stir fry. “That’s the trend…that’s what the students are looking for.” But, he says, to do that will require a lot of renovations. We’d have to look at the electrical needs, equipment needs…it would take some major funding.”

Although “it will never be Mom’s home cookin’,” says Mindy Lancaster ’02, the food in The Caf “is really good. I love the variety, all the different things you can eat every day. Trust me, the variety is missed when I go home!”