CEU opens school year with limited food options

The hackneyed cliché "hungry in Hungary" is no joking matter for the students and staff at the Central European University (CEU) main campus on Nádor utca this fall. The 2007-08 school year opened with limited food options due to complications during a foodservice tender for the three largest foodservice facilities on the main campus: a full-service restaurant on the 10th floor, a cafeteria on the main floor of the Monument Building, and a coffee and sandwich stand outside the library. While the main floor cafeteria opened on the 24th of September, two weeks after school began, the coffee stand and restaurant remain closed.

CEU operates a cafeteria in the dormitory on Kerepesi utca in the 10th district - home to most master's degree students. The university rents space to Nády's Büfé on Október 6. utca. Both of these facilities were open when school started.

Vice President for Student Services Rositsa Bateson said catering services at CEU were interrupted over the summer months. The service provider on the ground floor left in June while the catering services on the 10th floor restaurant continued through the end of August.

"We tried to organize the process and find a proper service replacement as soon as possible," said Bateson.

Bateson said getting necessary permits to re-open both facilities contributed to the delay. Íz-s Kft. was the new catering company hired for the main campus during the second tender, the company also operates the cafeteria at the dormitory.

"We understand the need to provide adequate and timely dining services for our students," Bateson said.

"Lousy" food

The decision to bring Íz-s Kft. to the main campus was not made without complaints from students and staff as the catering service was criticized in previous years.

During the last academic year a dorm taskforce was organized by students to voice complaints about the dormitory, the infamously bad food was a major project for the team.

"Everyone thought that food was lousy, some saw ants in the breadbaskets," said Iryna Koshulap, a Ukrainian PhD student and the former chair of the student-led taskforce.

With the opening of the foodservice tender in January 2007 the Student Union Assembly (SUA) (which, at the time, I was a member of) lobbied the administration to find another catering company.

"We wanted a new company at the dormitory, but because of a contract, the administration said they wouldn't be able to do this. The food is terrible. I lived at the dorms, and I didn't eat there. If I did I only ate French fries, and it was surprising how one could spoil French fries."

Koshulap noted that some students had food poisoning after eating at the dormitory, however the cafeteria food could not be proven to be the source of their sickness.

Her team met with the administration and the catering company to talk about how to improve the food. However instead of changing things for the better, she said, the situation worsened. There were increasingly fewer options as the year went on: it went from three daily menus to one with no variation without a steep price increase, and Íz-s Kft. began charging for condiments.

"We tried really hard last year, we had many meetings," said Koshulap. "They hired a new manager even. He was young and full of energy and enthusiasm. He tried to make it better but no one helped him, the company was not making enough money. He quit after two months."

Péter Varga, the new manager of the CEU ground floor cafeteria, spoke on behalf of Íz-s Kft. He eagerly said he is looking forward to serving students good food for a low cost.

"I want to exceed people's expectations," he said. He is not familiar with how the company runs the dormitory cafeteria, he said, mentioning that he was hired only one week before the main floor cafeteria opened. But thinks it is within his grasp to keep the options at the main campus cafeteria varied for the international clientele.

Presently there are two daily menus, which include soup and a main course for Ft 700 (€2.50). The menus are not interchangeable but there is always a vegetarian option.

Nostalgia for options

Students and staff are not cheerful about the loss of the previous catering services on campus, nor the choice to bring Íz-s Kft. to campus.

"This is a tragedy, a real tragedy," said Katalin Solymosi, a staff member who works in CEU's library. "In my opinion things were much better in the past. We had options. It is terrible now; in particular we are missing the café outside the library. It was nice to get a coffee or sandwich. Everyone misses this," she said.

Koshulap said she walks past the library with her friends to get to and from class and they lament the closure.

"Now we pass and say we how much we loved the hot pancakes and coffee. Those who were here remember those times. For students now, well they never knew that these options existed."

For one new student, the food on the main campus and at the dormitory is nothing to write home about, but it is not as awful as people make it seem.

"Food here, it is fine, it is ok, edible," said Alexander Mirchev, a first-year master's student in sociology, from Bulgaria. He said his big wish is for the dormitory to provide kitchen facilities for students. Presently dorm residents can only use shared microwaves and refrigerators, one is available on every floor.

On the bright side

Students said they are frequenting Nády's Büfé, local Chinese büfés, or Brunch with the fewer on-campus dining options. Other local restaurants including Kama Sutra, Fruccola, and Sundance did not mention a significant increase in student patrons.

Nády said business is booming.

"I can seat 13 people but we are serving over 100. The lines go out the door and people take food upstairs to eat," Nády said. "This is more business than I have had in any other year."

Nády serves salads, sandwiches, and hot lunches flavored with imported Egyptian spices, all with a staff of two. He takes pride in keeping prices low, a hot meal is Ft 650 (€2.40).

Stefan Cibian, the former SUA president and a PhD candidate in International Relations said the problems between the administration and students can be resolved.

"If the students ask, the administration helps," Cibian said. "And they involve students some capacity in all decisions which affect us. If students want to see a change they need to get more involved."

He said he hopes that students will continue to "organize themselves well enough to contribute meaningfully to the development of CEU."

For instance, he mentioned that students last year petitioned for a campus coffee bar/café. The administration not only agreed, but asked students to join the planning team. Presently CEU is turning a computer lab and a lounge in the basement of the Monument Building into the new Student Café; renovations are already underway.

Bateson said a second tender for the student coffee bar/café will open in October.

The speed of this process pleases Mirchev, who mentioned he is frustrated with the lack of coffee options: "The thing I find outrageous is that the only coffee I can get on campus is in a machine, ugh, Nescafé or Coca-Cola. I mean if you want to be a conscious consumer, you just cannot drink that."

While the new Student Café is in the making, Mirchev admitted that for him loss of a couch is more bothersome than the kind of food in the cafeteria.

"I absolutely hate that they ripped out all of that free public space [the lounge] in the basement, it was the only place for a nap or chat. Really, I think that was neo-liberalizing," he said.

But then again, as student services at CEU may have discovered during negotiations regarding campus cuisine, it is near impossible to please everyone. However the administration is doing their best.

"We want students to have places to gather socially, and we support their expectations by organizing this [student café] with them," Bateson said.

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