Much of what the Deerfield Dining Hall makes is entirely from scratch, based on recipes carried on through generations in the kitchen and borrowed from other locations. From peeling to slicing to dicing, hours of labor-intensive work goes into the preparation of fresh meals for 800-900 people.
Director of Food Services Michael McCarthy explains that this dedication to food quality is a core aspect of Deerfield’s food production, saying, “The Deerfield Dining Hall is a scratch kitchen which means we make real food with fresh ingredients every day.” The kitchen does not use very much premade food, favoring homemade items; Mr. McCarthy said, “It takes more time and effort to prepare, but the end result is a higher quality product and increased satisfaction for the people who make the food.”
Part of creating fresh meals is knowing where to find organic ingredients. The Dining Hall strives for clean-label foods without excessive preservatives and artificial ingredients or creation methods. Deerfield works with around fifteen farms, depending on the season. Whether it is apples, milk, syrup, asparagus, or 300 pounds of peanuts, the kitchen looks for any chance to use ingredients from local farms.
One challenge, however, is the quantity the farms produce in proportion to the quantity of meals Deerfield makes. Mr. McCarthy explained that although many of the local farms wish to provide enough food, sometimes they can’t. Deerfield’s kitchen needs to prepare several hundred to a thousand dishes for every sit-down meal. Nevertheless, the kitchen staff remains motivated to keep food fresh.
The dining hall also works in conjunction with the student-led Food Committee, which meets every Tuesday to discuss the food in the Dining Hall. “It’s kind of an open forum,” Mr. McCarthy said. “They give us constructive criticism, compliment on things, suggestions, and different ideas from their own experiences.” Examples of changes made by the Food Committee are the popcorn seasoning shakers at the Greer store and the deli bar down the stairs of the Dining Hall.
In addition, the Dining Hall also tracks data on the favorite dishes of students. They record what the students and faculty eat, the amount of food produced, and how much food is left over. This data influences the decisions of rerunning the meals during the next cycle or how often the kitchen will make a meal.
Mr. McCarthy said that levels of clapping also factor into their decision making process, saying, “Sometimes we’re a little surprised at what you guys like based on the clapping.” He explained that they make note of this, deciding which meals to make more or less of. Finally, the Dining Hall department has learned that people prefer to put the components of a meal together rather than having all the ingredients already tossed in the meal, which is why there has been an increase in these types of meals.