Conversely, the dining rooms of Atwater, Proctor and Ross have choices and choices and choices. Each of the three has at least three entrees and you have an opportunity to create something else from the salad bar or in Proctor’s case, the Panini bar.

The dining rooms afford an opportunity to eat and run. The language table is a destination where food is but part of the experience. It should be treated as if you were actually “invited” to be there – as you would someone’s home. (from a conversation with language chairs)

The staff at FIC also takes care of producing all the dining events around campus in addition to five day per week lunches for the Language Tables.

The menu has been going through an evolution over the years it has been in FIC. At times, the students were happy and the professors were not. Other times, the professors were happy and the students were not. Thus far, this year, we have received extremely positive comments on the quality and selection from students AND faculty.

If you have not been to a Language Table lunch this semester, please make time to. If you want, select the day you would like to come by checking out the menu on the dining website. Language Table menus are just below Ross menus. Do know, that there is limited seating per language. And, if you have a comment, let us know what it is with a suggested change but understand the concept of the Language Tables.

It’s common knowledge that the food at language tables is sub-par. It is not sub-par just every now and then, but rather, every single day. I certainly haven’t met a student who believed the food at language tables was better than the food at the other dining halls. I haven’t even met a student who thought the food at language tables was at the same level as the food at the other dining halls.

It was somewhat surprising to me when you actually asked in your blog entry if it were the case that the food at language tables is bad. Bad food is synonymous with language tables and everyone who goes there knows it.

As a result, students often eat at the three normal dining halls after the time for language tables has ended. Some students, if they have time like the student who spoke to you, eat before going to language tables because the food is so consistently bad that they already know it’s worth the time and energy required to go to a completely separate dining hall to eat before venturing over to language tables.

This is a shame since much effort (and I’m sure money) is poured into language tables. I believe that the language tables are a worthwhile endeavor and an interesting part of Middlebury life but in light of the food quality, the language table has turned from a positive activity to a negative one.

I remember back when I was required to go to language table twice a week for my language class that many of my fellow students actually dreaded (I’m not making this up) going to language tables because of the food quality. In fact, everyday we sat around those tables and complained about the food but of course, nothing was done about it.

If the food quality were raised a bit to even an acceptable level, if not to the same level as the other dining halls, then I believe many more students would go to language tables. In my personal experience, my friends and I have actually talked about going to language tables for fun (rather than as a class requirement) but ultimately our knowledge of the quality of food there deterred us every time we thought about going. It is a shame that such an interesting part of Middlebury has become so negatively perceived.