The Whetstone/ Kim Manahan
By Sky West Whetstone Contributor

The dining at Wesley is not the college’s best attribute, some students say.

Although it is common for students to complain about school food, Pete Buoncristiano, the executive chef of Aramark, claims rumors that have been going around give the food a bad reputation.

“I’ve heard before that we were putting something in the food to make students tired,” Buoncristiano said. “There’s also a rumor that the food [we serve] is of lower quality than prison grade, and that we hire people off the street to cook.”

Buoncristiano said none of these rumors is true.

The chefs who are hired, he said, either have culinary degrees or are trained daily in safety, sanitation and customer service.

He said that fresh vegetables and top cuts of meat are used in the kitchen, and that there is no reason why they would want to make students tired.

Many students said that they did not hear any rumors regarding Wesley’s cafeteria food that Buoncristiano had repeated.

“As far as hiring random people, I could see that being true,” said Wesley sophomore Taylor Mushrush. “But I haven’t actually heard anything.”

In fact, she believes that the school’s food has been improving.

“It’s gotten a lot better since last year,” she said.

Sophomore Caitlin Grinstead said that instead of rumors, she only hears complaints.

“Everybody always says how bad the food is,” she said. “But I think it’s all right. It’s a lot better than the food in high school, and it’s ridiculous that people think the food is lower than prison grade.”

Buoncristiano said that the kitchen employees try their best to appeal to students’ tastes.

The weekend menu is going to be “spiced up,” he said, and given more of a restaurant theme due to complaints of a lack of variety.

“We change the menu from time to time,” he said. “If the students don’t seem to like something, we’ll take it off the menu and replace it with something that we think they would prefer.”

Buoncristiano said students may talk to him or any other members of the staff if they have any questions or concerns, and they also may see for themselves what goes on in the kitchen by taking a free tour.