More than just the ingredients.

I have an incredible passion for whipping up meals after meals for myself and my friends and spending hours in the kitchen. I've spent enough time trying out new recipes, coming up with my own improvisations to find the flavour that I am chasing after for a particular dish. I don't stay at home for the bulk of the week and most of my breakfasts and dinners are prepared by the caterer in University Town. It's my third semester here, and I am still dissatisfied with what I have been fed, both the quality and the price. Or rather, for the price paid, the quality could have been heaps better.

It is hard to part with $800 for the meals for one semester, especially when I know I could do it better at the same cost, easily. But, what is wrong with the meals? Is it the quality of the ingredients? No. I would say that Compass has got some great stuff waiting to be prepared. They have reasonable quality control over the ingredients they use for the meals. Yet, I can easily give you ten reasons why I don't like what they are serving me. What is really lacking is the taste, which is controlled by the 'chef' preparing the meals. I understand that it is tough preparing meals for 1200 hungry university staff and students, but it is not as though we are not paying. With a bit more patience in the kitchen, a little more effort in tasting every single tray that gets pushed out to the servers, and I'm sure you'll be winning people over. It is pointless to think of themed dinners when the non-themed dinners and breakfasts have barely met the standard.

Take today's dinner for example. I'm not sure if I chose the wrong stall, but it's bad anyway. I had Spanish baked rice for dinner. The rice was baked with cheese on top, it came with a few pieces of squid, mussels, fish, and broccoli. The whole dish was drizzled with a tomato and a white (cheese?) sauce. In my mind, I expected paella or something that is really baked properly. I checked the white sauce and the taste was funky with an odd consistency and colour. The tomato sauce was decent, could have been a wee bit more robust. Rice was clumpy and the cheese was only at the top. The dish lacked punch. Not enough cheese (could have been mixed into the rice) and the flavours not quite right, even though the ingredients on their own were alright. Baked rice should smell good and the whole kitchen should be filled with a very fragrant smell of baked cheese, and each rice grain can be separated from the next, yet coated with the tomato paste and has tones of sweetness from the seafood. The whole dish should be baked in on huge tray and served as it is.

I am generally not a picky eater, apart from the occasional complaints about really odd-tasting food. But, this caterer has got me complaining more than I have ever did about food.

Buck up, or don't make the meal plan compulsory.