Most students know the Sharpe Refectory like the backs of their hands.
Without a second thought, they know where to go for vegetarian-friendly fare or for three different types of peanut butter — but few know about the little decisions that go into creating each meal at the Ratty and the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall.
Since Administrative Dietitian Gina Guiducci started working for Dining Services a year ago, she has planned the menus for the Ratty, the V-Dub and lunch at the Ivy Room.
Guiducci takes several factors into consideration — including dishes' nutritional value, their popularity, the kitchens' production capabilities, holidays and the Dining Services budget.
Behind the scenes in Brown's dining halls, most of the meals are prepared on site and from scratch. "The more processing a food goes through, the more nutrients it is stripped of and the more additives and preservatives they contain," she said. "We know exactly what is going into the food."
Executive Chef John O'Shea, who has been working at Dining Services for 33 years, said Brown's ability to produce so much food from scratch — including the pizza made for the Ratty's "Tastes of the World" line — is unusual for college dining services. For example, Dining Services has machines used for producing its own meat products, such as the patties used for burgers. Brown's kitchen also has its own in-house bakeshop, O'Shea said.
Guiducci said she strives to create menus for both dining halls that have a balance of protein, carbohydrates and fat.
But while her priority is creating healthy menus, Guiducci said she also seeks to provide students with plenty of dining options.
"While we do menu French fries, ice cream and soda every day, we also menu lean-protein like chicken, skim milk, dark leafy greens and brown rice."
Dining Services plans meals according to a five-week cycle, Guiducci said, which means that meals are planned for each of the five weeks and then repeated. "A five-week cycle allows for a lot of variation in the items that are offered before they reappear in the next cycle," she said.
Individual items on the Ratty menu with quirky names, such as "Wisconsin Baked Ziti" and "Polynesian Ratatouille," were named long before Guiducci came to Brown, she said, adding that Dining Services chefs are the "true creative minds behind the recipes and their names."
O'Shea said names are often taken from the original recipes in which chefs found their ideas. Dining Services tries to develop new recipes so that its menu does not stagnate — using winter and summer breaks, for example, to come up with new ideas to add to its recipe file.
Dining Services also arranges a few themed dinner events throughout the year, O'Shea said, such as Thursday night's Texas BBQ Dinner Special at the Ratty and the V-Dub.
Dining Services also plans to coordinate an Earth Day Special in April.
Occasionally, meals from these events become part of the regular menu. For example, Guiducci said, the standard menu item "Pirate Ship Pork Loin" was taken from a pirate-themed dinner a few years ago.
