Each school year comes with changes and additions all around campus. From new sports teams and activities to new classes and even food choices, the changes can be found in almost every building.
One such change is the new “Action Station” located in the middle of Belk Dining Hall. This new station was revealed on the first day of classes and featured a celebrity chef, Lynn Wells. She is a recipe developer for Our State Magazine.
Chef Wells is a Greensboro native and was very excited to be invited on campus by Sodexo. As soon as the doors opened at noon students flooded into the cafeteria and began lining up to watch and wait for their serving of southern-style shrimp and grits.
“The action station will be great for students,” began Wells, “It was a great day outside and a great day inside. I really enjoyed the experience!”
The idea of the new action station is to increase variety for students as well as give them a chance to see their meal being prepared and being able to customize their dish. Many students enjoyed trying out the new option, especially with Chef Wells cooking.
“It was delicious, I’ve never had [shrimp and grits] like that before,” said Peralt Annulysse, a Peace senior.
“The grits were really cheesy,” said Braxton Hirn, a junior at Peace, “I liked adding the bacon too!”
There will not always be a celebrity chef behind the cooktop, but the cafeteria intends to keep the action station open every day with their own staff cooking. The dining staff is a little concerned with being short on cooks could require the station to be closed on some days until they are able to fill their open positions. All of them are optimistic it won’t take long to fill those positions.
There are endless possibilities of meals that can be prepared in this new space. So far lunch has also seen chicken caesar salad and BBQ chicken mashed potato bowls being prepared for eager and hungry students and staff.
Many students hope to see more gourmet and exotic foods featured in the action station. Some suggestions have included sushi, stir-fry and even fondue.
Peace junior Quinten Craft mentioned our raising tuition and meal plan costs when considering what he would like to see being prepared in the station.