Alix McNitt, HUDS director of marketing and communications, said that she attributes many of the menu modifications to better preference and satisfaction surveys.

“We asked open-ended questions to pick up patterns that helped us to design a menu this year that reflects the specific tastes of the community,” McNitt said. “We also determined that a vast majority of students eat a vegetarian entree at least three times a week and that there was room for more vegetarian dishes with mass appeal.”

Despite new and more exotic menu options, some students say Harvard’s food has plenty of room for improvement.

According to Radu Tatucu ’05, satisfaction surveys may not be the best way of collecting data about the menu.

“It seems like there’s more healthy food to choose from, but it’s unrealistic to expect people to spend 15 minutes filling out a survey to give their food preferences,” he said.

“It’s a lot easier to eat healthy this year because there’s so much more variety and sophisticated food selections,” Allison Smith ’06 said.

According to Executive Chef of Residential Dining Martin Breslin, the food will only get healthier.

“Improving food is an evolving process. We need to keep up with current food trends and student requests so that we can make dining fun and exciting,” Breslin said.

—Staff writer Kimberly A. Kicenuik can be reached at kicenuik@fas.harvard.edu.