Taste of Hawaii

 This week at Clarke University, we were given the opportunity to expand our palates and try some authentic Hawaiian food! This was an amazing effort by our dinning staff to help those students who are from Hawaii feel more at home. These students travel many miles just to attend Clarke and, in most cases, play a sport. Like I said previously, our dining staff made sure to give them a small taste of home this week as we head into finals preparation this week and finals next week. The food that was featured was Loco Moco, Chicken Katsu, Jasmine Rice, Mac Salad, and for desert...Malasadas. 

I had the privilege of getting to sit down with friends and enjoy this meal. Although it tasted like traditional American food, burgers and eggs, it was a nice surprise to see a change in the dinning halls choice of food. They even offered a beyond meat version for the students who choose to be vegetarian. Although I usually don't eat bread or carbs, basically keto, I opted to cheat today to try the meal. My favorite dish out of what was served was the chicken katsu. This had amazing flavor and was quite filling for the most part.

Now for the part I know people don't want to hear. The bad. By no means am I hating on our dinning staff or the type of food served, all I'm saying is it wasn't my favorite. To start the Loco Moco was literally just a grilled hamburger patty and a fried egg on top. This was very greasy and although it looked appetizing, the amount of grease I ate ended up making me not want to finish it. This was a common reaction for most students. The next food option that wasn't a hit for me was the Malasadas. These sounded like an amazing idea, sweet roll with sugar all over it. I think the idea was there but the actual desert was a little doughy and not to my liking. Not to mention the amount of sugar that was on these was piled up. Just off of eating one my teeth were hurting. 

Now these are just my opinions but I got to sit down with one of the students from Hawaii and ask him about what he thought of the food. He stated that this was a huge improvement from the first time an attempt was made. He was thoroughly impressed with how the chicken katsu was on point and the loco moco was tasty as well. Although the mac salad wasn't bad, he suggested that they keep working on it but it wasn't bad for a first attempt! Overall he rated this a good meal and even said it was the closest taste of home in the midwest. 

In conclusion I want to thank the dinning staff and everyone involved with making this lunch as it met expectations of students from Hawaii and gave all Clarke students and staff the opportunity to expand their palates.

- Ash