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When Harvard College students returned to campus this fall, they were greeted by a flurry of changes in their dining halls, including Make-Your-Own breakfast sandwiches with fried eggs.

The new sandwich bar, which was rolled out in all the College’s House dining halls, marked one of the most significant changes to breakfast offerings following nearly a decade of student complaints for greater hot breakfast options.

Students have consistently pushed for more hot breakfast options, pointing to the limited service. Currently, only Quincy House and Annenberg Hall provide full breakfast service, while other upperclassman Houses serve only continental breakfast.

Nichole M. Tirado ’28 said that the extra protein choices offered during breakfast “saved” her.

“I’m a very picky eater for breakfast,” Tirado said. “I feel like the sandwich bar is phenomenal.”

For others, the breakfast sandwich bar was an insufficient change.

Sophia R. Mills ’27 said that she will continue to eat at Quincy House for breakfast every morning.

“I’m proud of HUDS and hopefully they can put hot breakfast in every single House and then I’ll be super proud of HUDS and talk about it publicly,” Mills said.

According to Crista Martin, Harvard University Dining Services’ Director for Strategic Initiatives & Communication, this semester’s recent host of changes emerged directly from feedback provided by students at the end of last semester.

“Changes – as has always been the case – were motivated by student feedback. With almost 7,000 opinions to be considered in developing daily menus, we do our best to meet the most needs we can,” she wrote.

The adjustments this fall were not the first time HUDS has altered their menu offerings in response to student feedback. In February, HUDS implemented and quickly walked back its “Pub Night” after undergraduates shared their dissatisfaction with the unhealthy entrees.

In addition to breakfast additions, HUDS introduced a Crunch Station, featuring pickled vegetables at dinner. The new station has replaced the Build-Your-Own station, which featured side dishes like Mediterranean food and nachos.

The change drew a wide spectrum of opinions from students, including Skye Lam ’26-27 who said he was “unfazed” by the swap.

Weston H. Lewin ’26, who preferred the Build-Your-Own station, said that the customizable station added “an extra option for dining and you can’t just eat pickles.”

But Benjamin D. Langman ’26 said that the Crunch Station had versatile applications, giving students “more bang for your buck.”

“With the pickling, you can put the pickled stuff on anything,” he said.

HUDS also phased out Bistro Bowls dishes served at dining hall grills — such as kimchi fried rice and poutine fries— and instead opened daily grill service.

All House grills now serve the Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich, a student favorite which was previously a rotational offering.

“I’m a big grill user,” Lam said. “It’s always a good pick-me-up at the end of the day.”

“Who does it hurt if the grill is open every day? Does this not benefit everybody? I think this is just a general plus,” Gunnar Sizemore ’27 said.

But some students said they missed the rotational Bistro Bowls.

“It was a pre-made, really nice dish by a chef,” Mills said. “So I’m kind of sad about that, even though I do like the grill.”

“Student feedback reflected a strong preference for having the grill available nightly, uninterrupted by other specials,” Martin wrote in an email.

Despite the addition of the Make-Your-Own sandwich bar, students mourned the loss of strawberry yogurt, chia pudding, and overnight oats from their breakfast spread.

“Being a student athlete on the football team for Harvard University, I am looking for protein in the morning and without the strawberry yogurt that they used to provide, it’s really hard for me to get the protein that I adequately desire,” Josh V. Fedd ’27 said.

According to Martin, “every house should have four kinds of yogurt – plain, non-fat Greek, plain low-fat non- Greek, plain full-fat Greek, and plain soy” and “overnight oats or chia pudding in rotation.”

“This approach reflects the broad array of feedback we’ve received regarding preferences for the fat-level and flavors of yogurt,” Martin wrote in an email.

Students expressed overall appreciation for the changes and continue to engage with HUDS to further improve their menu offerings.

Lam said that many of his friends regularly text HUDS’ feedback hotline “saying, ‘this is good food. We should include it more.’

“I think they’ve been pretty responsive to whatever students want to see change,”

“I just think that any person who doesn’t like HUDS is grandstanding because this is perfectly good food and we’re perfectly good people,” Lewin said.

—Staff writer Darcy G Lin can be reached at darcy.lin@thecrimson.com.