YuLin Zhen, Photography Editor
On March 2, the Yale College Council passed a policy that would introduce avocados in residential college dining halls.
The proposal hopes to address the nutritional needs of students with dietary restrictions and low-income students. It was created by Silliman senator Bella Amell ’27 after she discovered a new culinary obsession: bagel sandwiches with avocado and egg.
“I’m a vegetarian, so my dining hall experiences are usually either really good or really bad,” Amell said. “I’m always searching for little ways to make my own meals at the dining hall, and I was talking to my suitemate one morning about how I wished there were avocados in the dining halls when I remembered I genuinely have the ability to do something about it through my role as a YCC Senator.”
Amell believes that the introduction of avocados in dining halls would add a new healthy fat to students’ diets. Amell also researched the availability of avocados at other schools, finding that peers like Harvard and Columbia offer the fruit.
Per Amell’s proposal, avocados would be featured during breakfast, lunch and dinner services, allowing students to incorporate them into meals such as sandwiches, toast or salads.
The proposal recommends that Yale Hospitality pilot a program with one or more residential dining halls during breakfast or weekend brunch, and it also includes students’ testimonies on how they believe it would impact the campus.
Isabela Snow ’27, whose testimony was included in the proposal, said that having avocados in dining halls would help address her worries about receiving key nutrients.
“As someone who is always busy, going from one club or team meeting to another, I always look for food in the dining hall that will sustain my energy levels throughout the day,” Snow said. “At home, I always looked forward to a good avocado toast, and I wish that could be something that I could have here. It would help improve my productivity, and it would taste great.”
Helen McCormack ’28 shared similar sentiments.
McCormack believes that avocados in dining halls would be ‘very popular’ and would help reduce current tensions between students on campus and Yale Hospitality.
“I think a lot of students would be very excited if they were offered avocados,” McCormack said. “Especially because right now some students are unhappy with the recent changes to the menus and food service, and it might make people just a little bit happier.”
At her policy proposal presentation, many senators brought up the logistical challenges that having avocados in dining halls may pose, such as browning and going to waste.
While admitting the validity of these concerns, Amell believes that having avocados on campus would address Yale Hospitality’s commitment to “nourish the diverse community of the Yale student body.”
“This year we have seen a steady stream of unsatisfactory changes to a Yale Hospitality system that didn’t have anything wrong with it,” Amell said. “I’m disappointed to see the lack of student input considered by Yale Hospitality, but I will always be an advocate for increased plant-based and sustainable options across campus.”
Over the past year, Yale Hospitality has removed to-go-boxes and “hot lunches” at five residential colleges.
She hopes to get in touch with Yale Hospitality to discuss the proposal.
“In a perfect world, whole avocados would be available for students in the same way that apples or pears are available during all three meals,” Amell said.
On March 24, through collaboration between the YCC Dining Team and Yale Hospitality, clementines returned to Commons.