MORAVIAN MOMENT
A Moveable Feast
T
ucked away in sometimes-forgotten
its food services. Slater Food Service
The Star Campus Restaurant serves as the
corners of Moravian’s campuses are
Management operated the dining hall in
main dining hall on North Campus while
various spaces that once served as
the North Campus Refectory as of the late
Clewell Dining Hall serves the South. Also
dining halls. In the earliest days, when the
1950s, just before those dining facilities
on North Campus, students can stop into
women’s and men’s colleges were separate
were relocated to the new College Union
the Blue & Grey Café for lunch, dinner, or
and more of the student body came from
Building—now the Haupert Union Building
late-night noshing.
the Bethlehem area, many students enjoyed
(HUB). In 2001, long-time contractor at
home-cooked meals with their families.
Moravian, Wood Dining Services, was
Resident students were kept fed by cooks
purchased by Sodexo, the current providers
employed by the two colleges.
of meals, snacks, and drinks on campus.
ground floor of the Sally Breidegam
From 1848 to 1867, students at Moravian
Today Moravian students can choose from
in the fall of 2017, continuing a Moravian
College for Women gathered for meals in a
several meal plans and are able to consult
tradition of satisfying students’ appetites
refectory (a.k.a. dining hall) on the ground
a registered dietitian on staff to make sure
for good food as well as their appetites
floor of the Old Chapel (we know it today
those plans accommodate any special
for learning.
as Hearst Hall). When the New Chapel,
dietary needs.
—Nancy Rutman ’84
The newest dining venue on campus is DeLight’s Café, which opened on the Miksiewicz Center for Health Sciences
today’s Peter Hall, was built in 1867, the old refectory was remodeled into a kitchen and joined to a new refectory on the ground floor of Peter Hall. This combined space, now known as Clewell Dining Hall, is still providing meals 156 years later.
ON BOARD Costs per semester for board (meal plans) over the years: 1957–58 $200
1970–71 $280
1979–80 $435
1989–90 $815
2000–01 $1,395
2008–09 $1,821
2023–24 $3,350– $3,731
On the women’s college campus, food preparation was not only a student service but for many years part of the curriculum. Women were taught food science as part of their home economics education, and dedicated kitchens were equipped for this purpose. Unfortunately, cooking didn’t make it into the men’s curriculum. As for where the men ate, head to North Campus and Zinzendorf Hall, home to the English Department, and you’ve come to the former dining hall of the men’s college and seminary, built when the men moved from East Church Street to Main Street in 1891 (see Moravian Moment, Spring 2023).
Students enjoy a conversation in the CUB dining room in the 1960s.
Moving up to the 20th century, Moravian transitioned from having an in-house
To view a slideshow of Moravian dining facilities and staff over the years,
cooking staff to hiring contractors for
go to our digital edition at magazine.moravian.edu.
FALL 2023
MORAVIAN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE
15
