For years, the notorious chicken wraps, quesadillas, curly fries and mozzarella sticks that comprise the menu of the Boston University Dining Services' Late Nite Café have been all the rage among the BU student body.
Even the nutrition experts at Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences can't stop talking about them &- but for a different reason.
The food served at Late Nite Café, the after-hours branch of Dining Services located in various residential buildings on campus, is a popular topic of discussion in meetings between the staff of Sargent's Nutrition &' Fitness Center and the managers and chefs of BU Dining Services.
The Nutrition &' Fitness Center runs the Sargent Choice program, whose nutritious meals and snacks are offered throughout BU's dining locales. While students may favor Sargent Choice items during regular dining hours and even suggest them for the Late Nite menu in dining surveys, they somehow reject them when presented alongside the junk food Late Nite has come to be known for &- rendering them almost nonexistent on the menu.
The unpopularity of healthy food at Late Nite has continued to puzzle the BUNFC staff and has driven it to search for answers.
"We've definitely tried to do Sargent Choice items at Late Nite, but people don't buy them," said Laura Judd, a registered dietitian at the BUNFC. "Late Nite is like a retail situation. So if something's not selling, they're not going to keep making it."
"We're still trying to figure out what we can offer that students will like and accept," she said. The most popular items on the Late Nite menu are ridden with thoroughly non-nutritious ingredients.
A person on a 2,000-calorie diet should typically consume no more than 65 grams of fat, 20 grams of saturated fat and 2,400 milligrams of sodium per day, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
However, some of Late Nite's menu items, listed on the BU dining website, exceed the recommended consumption of calories, saturated fat and milligrams of sodium that the FDA recommends. The crispy chicken wrap, contains 620 calories, 28 grams of fat, 11 grams of saturated fat and 1,720 milligrams of sodium. Its "lighter" counterpart, the grilled chicken wrap, has 570 calories, 18 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat and 2,020 milligrams of sodium.
The veggie quesadilla packs in 920 calories, 59 grams of fat, 35 grams of saturated fat (175 percent daily value) and 1,630 milligrams of sodium.
The BU Platter, which consists of mozzarella sticks, "Twister Fries," chicken tenders and sauce, contains 660 calories, 31 grams of fat, 10 grams of saturated fat and 1,680 milligrams of sodium.
The Myles Midnight Plate, a newcomer to the menu at Myles Standish Hall's Late Nite Café whose nutrition information is not yet available on the BU Dining website, consists of layered macaroni salad, twin hamburger patties, cheese, curly fries and chili.
Aside from their potentially alarming nutrition facts, the foods listed above have something else in common: students find them appetizing.
"I go to Late Nite because it's a delicious food option," said College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Luke Savoca.
"Sometimes I miss dinner and then this is enough sustenance for the night."
"It's the best option for food at the time," added School of Education sophomore Brett Weinstein. "If the dining hall was open I'd go there, but this is the best available."
According to Judd, when people are hungry, they become vulnerable.
"We want to eat something that gives us a lot of energy, [and] that's where some of those things become appealing," she said. "That's a normal human response." Judd explained that when the body is hungry, it tends to crave foods high in carbohydrates, which raise blood sugar levels to quickly relieve hunger and boost energy.
"You're not going to grab two cups of broccoli when you're hungry," she said.
However, she said that the high water content of fruits and vegetables makes them just as filling as any kind of junk food. But since this knowledge alone may not be enough to offset a curly fry craving, the key to helping students make healthier food choices is a bit more complicated.
The challenge, said Judd, is to show students that food doesn't need absurdly high amounts of saturated fat, salt and added sugar to be tasty, and that carrot sticks and bowls of steamed broccoli don't have to define healthy eating.
"We want students to choose Sargent Choice so that they can start learning how healthy foods can taste great," she said. "We want to make healthy food as attractive and appealing as anything else...we don't want people to think that they have to sacrifice to eat healthy."
"Our goals are to put as many great healthy options out there to appeal to as many people as possible," said Stacey Zawacki, director of the BUNFC.
The Sargent Choice program brings its expertise to the BU kitchens by creating recipes for the chefs that include a colorful variety of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, heart healthy oils, herbs and spices.
While these dishes may be far from bland, they also usually aren't simple to make, making it difficult to recreate them in the Late Nite kitchens, which have limited equipment and staff (student employees instead of trained chefs), Judd said.
As a result, she said, the majority of the past Sargent Choice options at Late Nite &- which have subsequently been removed from the menu due to unpopularity &- have included already prepared grab-and-go salads and sandwiches.
Among other trial-and-error items have been a whole wheat pita pizza and a baked chicken parmesan sandwich.
However the BUNFC is still armed with more Late Nite menu ideas and plans to supply granola bars and other snacks in the future.
While Zawacki acknowledged that the continuous process of trying out new recipes can be tedious, she said she has faith in the large alliance that has come together to crack the Late Nite Food case.
"We have a very enthusiastic team working on it," she said. "I think it's definitely going to happen."
Gabe Herrera, a sophomore in the College of General Studies, said he thinks that college students are more willing to treat themselves late at night than during the day.
"I think it's the general college student mentality to eat [junk food] at night," he said. "College kids are just prone to order pizza, [etc.]"
Dining Services Marketing Director Scott Rosario could not be reached for comment.
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