Today I’m making a pilgrimage, of sorts. No, not to Mecca, but to Maine.
I’m visiting Saint Joseph’s College home of the trayless dining movement. There, I’ll speak with Stuart Leckie, the general manager of dining, who had the simple idea of removing trays to curb food waste. What began at this tiny Standish, Maine, school in the fall of 2007 has spread to hundreds of colleges and universities nationwide.
I plan to observe trayless dining in action and speak to some students to get their views. More importantly, I will get a chance to put my money where my mouth is by actually eating in the dining hall without the use of a tray. How will I ever manage?!
Fear not, though; I’ve been in intense training the last few weeks. I’ve been doing everything with one hand…because I’ve had my baby in the other.
4 Comments
Jon,
I suspect that, if you had a baby in one hand, they’d let you use a tray.
Peace and Love,
Dan
Random question…I graduated from Virginia Tech before they went trayless so I never had a chance to find out…are the racks that people used to slide their trays along still there? Most of them the bars are close enough together that you could set a plate on them as well. I wonder if that helps, if people still use them?
LOL about the baby comment. After having four babies, I’m really good at doing stuff with one hand too(I even can do a fair amount with my feet).
Have a good trip!
Jonathan,
It was good chatting with you yesterday and I hope you had a good trayless experience at my account. I look forward to reading your comments in the future.
Stuart Leckie
General Manager – Bon Appetit