IMO- as a college student in the early 2000s the meal plan prices were not only insane and obligatory, they had hours that didn’t work for most students.
An issue here is serving out of season food. Which brings up the cost.
The Kool-Aid is the biggest offender. I find that blatantly racist and beyond unnecessary— all college dining rooms have their own automatic drink systems and no one NEEDS kook aid on top of the obvious soda options. Plus imagine how much they spent on sugar? And watermelon is NOT in season in the tristate area. Hell, serve sweet tea and you’d bet better off.
To me, they missed the point. African American cuisine to me, has roots in the Geechee culture, so even grits (easily made in large batches) should have been a no brainer, same with biscuits.
That said I think companies like Aramark have NO business attempting to make “holiday” foods for the masses. They would never be able to properly prepare a Chinese New Years feast. I sincerely doubt that anyone at NYU was enlightened about African American cuisine as a result of this messy meal.
ETA- I did not read the linked article to completion but the quality of food for death row inmates is probably one of the last things I could care about.
