What if Jesus wanted a chicken burger?  Well, St. A’s would no longer be a first choice for satisfying that craving.  Among the many changes to the campus, those implemented at Davison have caused quite a stir among the students, especially the upperclassmen.  Not only do we no longer have salt and pepper shakers, but we have been deprived of chicken burgers and cocoa puffs.  The revolt against the three pancake order earlier in the semester is a testament to the student dislike of all of these changes.

Coming back for my third year of school I was looking forward to having a chicken and cheese; however, what I was presented with was a bland wrap sprinkled here and there with some weird grill seasoning.  I was rather disappointed, and not at all satisfied.  I give Dave credit for trying to spice things up, but in reality it fell very flat.  After hearing a number of my classmates grumble about everything I went and asked a Davison worker what exactly had gone on over the summer.  Apparently not everything being made at the grill had a corresponding key on the register system and as a result management made changes to the menu (such as being charged for multiple pancakes when you really only want one) to try and keep a more organized inventory.  The changes to the chicken and cereal were an attempt to bring “more flavor” and be healthier; however, both are now more-or less all cheaper versions of what we had, which means we lost most of the flavor in our cereal and the chicken is just dry and bland.  So far though the biggest complaint is over the frialator.  According to Dave workers, there wasn’t enough food being made with it to warrant having it, and the small grease fire that broke out last year wasn’t a huge plus for keeping it around.  Allegedly chicken burgers are going to be placed into the normal weekly rotation of food, but as we’re already three weeks in and have yet to see them on the menu, many are very skeptical about that happening.  I think the irony here is that we’re trying to be healthy, yet we just installed a brand new milkshake machine with more flavors than we had before…good job Dave.  Sure the frialator wasn’t used for that many food items, but now there’s a giant empty space in the grill that’s not being used for anything, how productive can that be?  More importantly Davison is a kitchen, if they get that upset over one grease fire I have to ask, how well trained are they?  Grease fires happen when you cook, not that they aren’t dangerous, but I think getting rid of the equipment because of one incident is a little extreme (although a convenient excuse for doing it because lets be honest, everyone loved chicken burgers and the frialator was used all the time).  In reality I don’t know how necessary some of these changes were; I’ve heard it said that Dave changed to cheaper brands so as to make a larger profit margin; whether or not this is true I don’t know.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it is true though as usually when food quality goes down it means that somewhere, someone is keeping that difference in price for their own pocket.

When Davison was recognized as one of the top dining halls in the country of course people speculated as to why.  The best reason I’ve heard so far is that we base our food quality off of asking the question, “What would we serve Jesus if he came to Dave?”.  Granted, this is most likely a rumor; however, as we are at a Catholic school it’s not a half bad thought to keep in mind.  Supposedly God gifted everyone with the power of free will, well taking away unhealthy options and forcing us to choose a healthier option by default contradicts this notion.  I appreciate having the option for a less greasy meal, but if I’m in the grill line I’ve already made the decision that I want something with cheese and bacon.  It’s like going to MacDonald’s for a kid’s meal and being given apple slices; I went there for fries and chicken nuggets, not apples and milk.  Forcing me to choose a healthy option doesn’t do anything but shelter me more from the real world.  Once we graduate we really do have to start choosing and making our own meals, not being prepared to handle those decisions responsibly comes as a result of never having had the opportunity to learn how to make those decisions in the first place.  It feels like an extension of middle school and high school, where we had an adult tell us what we could and couldn’t have.  If I eat a chicken burger every day and gain 15 pounds that would make me realize I need to start making better choices.  It’s not a choice if there’s only one option.  God didn’t tell Adam and Eve “don’t eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge” and then not plant the tree in the garden.  He gave them tree, told them the consequences, and then let them make their own mistakes and learn from them.

I don’t know that there really is a solid way to justify many of the Dave changes.  Yes people steal the salt and pepper shakers, but people also steal the trays, are we going to have those taken away from us as well?  It really isn’t for my convenience to have the salt and pepper fifty feet from where I’m sitting, but thank you for placing a grammatically incorrect sign on the table to tell me that it is.  If you’re going to put the grill seasoning on my chicken because people have complained it’s too bland, ask me first, because in my opinion the seasoning really only contributes to the blandness and I’d prefer not to have it.  I would tend to think that if Jesus did come to Dave he would like to know he has options and that he can choose to be healthy or unhealthy.  Sometimes it’s good to indulge in a cookie dough brownie and chicken burger, not everyday, but sometimes that’s just what you need.  I was told that Davison management does take the Napkin Notes seriously, so if everyone is as unhappy as I’ve seen and heard perhaps we should take advantage of that, because right now I think a lot of people are feeling like the French when Marie Antoinette said, “let them eat cake”; we’d gladly eat it Dave, but where is it?