College foodservice becomes a big "bracket"

I’ve written about how I think it is semi-ridiculous to rank the food at different colleges, but this is just too much fun to ignore. Taking a page from the NCAA Championship basketball tournament, The Cooking Channel has compiled a list of “classic” college foods from around the country and then matched them up head to head in true March Madness style. Website visitors can vote for their favorites; winning foods move on to the next round.

Perusing the list of contenders I saw a few items created by dining services worth calling out, especially in light of FSD’s signature online series (the second of which, to be posted online in a few days, includes an item on this list). Here are the contenders that are made in-house by the universities' respective foodservice departments. Congrats to all for making the cut!

From cookingchanneltv.com

   Gonzaga University: COG Cookies
   The Center of Gonzaga (COG) servesthese soft, crunchy, straight-from-the-oven  
   chocolate chip cookies at all sporting events. Now that’s something to cheer for.

   University of Kansas: ChickenCheddar Wrap
   The crunchy chicken tender wraps sold at on-campus shop Brellas are so popular,
   every year students participate in a race where they down these sandwiches at the
   halfway point.

   University of Maryland: Fear the Turtle Ice Cream
   On-campus shop The Dairy turns its vanilla ice cream into creative flavors like this
   white chocolate, caramel and pecan fave that unites students against competitors
   (cough, Duke).

The full list is worth reading, just to see what college student customers are loving in other parts of the country. Perhaps, the competition can even inspire a few new menu ideas for those that didn’t make the list? I for one would be interested to try what looks the Marquette-area creation of spaghetti topped with chili and cheddar cheese. To check out the full bracket, click here.