Caltech Chews up the Competition in Annual College Dining Services Contest

PASADENA, Calif.-Students at the California Institute of Technology may be interested primarily in food for the mind, but the results of the 2005 Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards contest suggest that they're doing okay in the food-for-the-body category as well.

Winning the gold medals in the standard menu catering and multiple concepts/outlets categories this year was Caltech Dining Services, beating out Harvard University and MIT in the former category and Miami University and the University of Connecticut in the latter. Caltech also took the silver medal in the single stand-alone concept/outlet category.

According to event organizers, 182 American universities entered this year's contest of campus comestibles. For Caltech's Tom Mannion, assistant vice president for student affairs for campus life, the win over MIT alone is sufficient for keeping a smile on the face of the dining staff for the next year.

"We're always happy to beat the Other Institute of Technology in anything," says Mannion, whose responsibilities include the campus food services. "But also beating Harvard sends out the message that maybe you're just better off eating campus food in Pasadena than in Cambridge!"

André Mallié, director of dining services and executive chef at Caltech, notes that this is the third straight year that Caltech Dining Services has won at least one gold medal.

"This is quite an accomplishment for our organization," says Mallié. "It's not just about good food, but the entire spectrum of services."

A complete listing of winners, judging criteria, and other information is available at http://www.nacufs.org/awards/hortondining/awards.html.