Besides the fast food items, innovations in dining hall menus also include shrimp and chicken stirfries, couscous, and tabouli. Although these have received mixed reviews from students, it appears they are here to stay.

Students diverge widely in their views of the couscous and the tabouli. Miles F. Ehrlich '87, a Quincy House resident, has nothing but good things to say about the couscous. "The couscous is just perfect," Ehrlich says. "It strikes that perfect balance between clumpiness and granularity. I shiver with delight after every bite."

On tabouli, however, Ehrlich is less ebullient. "I don't touch that stuff. It looks too oily," he says.

Steven A. Gross '87, also of Quincy House, begs to differ on this matter of personal taste. "Good food entails risk," Gross says. "The tabouli risks and satisfies. I don't know what else one can say about the tabouli."

"The tabouli did not go over as well as the rest of the new salads on the salad bar," says Kevin M. O'Loughlin, manager of the Quincy House Dining Hall, adding that "there are some students who like it."

Elisabeth R. Micheli '86-7 takes a more basic view of the whole issue. "I think that cracked bulghar wheat should be a staple of almost anyone's diet," she says.

Julia H. Flanders '87 says she frequently cooks couscous in her room in Quincy House, and claims to know its properties well. "Couscous is pretty hard to destroy, but its not a good food to mass produce, because it's easy to overcook," she says.

Flanders also takes issue with the dining halls' rendition of stir-fry chicken. "The vegetables, especially the snow pea pods, tend to be overdone," she says. "Also, they add celery, which is not what you would call an authentic stir-fry food."

No matter what students think of the innovations, there are more to come. Executive Dietician Dale M. Hennessey says more new items will be added after spring break, with chicken tostadas and fresh fruit plates replacing beef stew.

"The stew and pot pies are just too heavy and hot," Hennessey says. "People's tastes have changed. They have become more nutritionally aware, and they seem to like more plain foods."