近日，有外媒报道，波士顿大学(Boston University)工作人员表示，为了更好地服务日益增加的中国学生，波士顿大学餐饮服务部(Boston University Dining Services)将在学校食堂增加中餐服务。
学校后勤服务部(Auxiliary Services)执行主任马克·罗比拉德(Marc Robillard)表示，2014年，波士顿大学所有食堂将提供15种地道的中餐菜品。
罗比拉德坦言，一开始，中国留学生喜欢在食堂吃饭，但随后他们希望能够在菜品上有些选择，就像在中国生活一样。“我们觉得满足中国学生的要求非常重要，所以我们决定增加中餐服务。”
过去几年，在波大求学的中国人数量越来越多，而学校希望能够从住宿和饮食方面使学生产生归属感，让他们对校园生活满意。
在波大，相比其它国家的国际生和美国本土学生，中国学生住在学校宿舍的比例较低。这也是波大决定提供中餐的原因之一。罗比拉德表示，进入大二，中国学生的住校率比其他学生群体低得多，校方希望中国学生的住校率能与本土学生持平。
“虽然整个学校的学生住校率都不高，但中国学生的比例可以说是奇低。我们只希望中国学生享受积极的校园生活。”罗比拉德说。在他看来，提供中餐即使无法显著提高中国学生的住校率，至少也可以提高中国学生的校园生活质量。“
来自香港的林谭宁(Tam Ning Lam，音译)是艺术科学院(College of Arts and Sciences)大一学生，她对学校的菜品不抱希望。她觉得新菜品不会比现在的菜品更好吃。“因为波大有很多中国学生，所以他们决定提供中餐合情合理。但是，我不认为这会奏效，食堂怎么会做出好吃的中餐？”她说。
另一名艺术科学院的学生丽萨·王(Lisa Wang，音译)来自广州，她也认为提供中餐根本不会影响她住校的决定。“明年，我就会搬出学校。住不住学校主要和钱有关。我觉得，在校外住生活质量更高。我可以自己做饭。”她说。
【原文阅读】
In an effort to reach out to the expanding Chinese student population, Boston University Dining Services will increase the culinary offerings of Chinese food, officials said.
Fifteen new authentically prepared Chinese meals will be added to all BU dining halls’ monthly meal rotation, said Executive Director for Auxiliary Services, Marc Robillard.
“Chinese students like the dining halls at first, but then they wished that they had options that were more like what they are accustomed to living in China,” Robillard said. “We felt it was important, since we can have control of the menu, to introduce new menu items that are more authentically prepared and more, from a taste perspective, in line with what students from China were expecting.”
The measure comes after a spike in Chinese student admissions rendered them the largest ethnic population at BU, prompting officials to consider their interests in particular.
“For the last couple of years, the number of Chinese students enrolled at BU has dramatically increased,” Robillard said. “As we are seeing more and more Chinese students, we wanted to do more things in both housing and in dining to be accommodating to those students and to increase their satisfaction with living on campus.”
Robillard said although this initiative is intended to appeal specifically to Chinese students, the movement is in line with BU Dining Services’ mission to adapt the menu to the needs of all students.
“It is nothing different than what we do for any other groups of students,” he said. “We have vegetarian options, we have vegan options; we have, at Marciano Commons, a gluten free station and halal food … we have vegan and we have vegetarian. We are trying to cover all of the big needs that are out there.”
The motivation for developing more Chinese dishes also stems from the significantly low return rate of on-campus housing among Chinese students, Robillard said.
“The [Chinese student] return rate from freshman to sophomore years on campus is not as high as domestic students and not as high as other international populations,” Robillard said. “We would like to see the Chinese students’ return rate the same as our domestic students.”
Robillard said he hopes the new meals will at the very least improve the Chinese student experience, if it does not encourage them to return to on-campus housing.
“All of the students are serious, but we are finding the Chinese students are very serious,” he said. “They seem to persist in staying in school, and their return rates are good. We just want to make sure that their experience is positive all the way around.”
Tam Ning Lam, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman from Hong Kong, said she does not think the new dishes will taste better than the current ones.
“Because they are so many Chinese [students] here, it is not surprising,” Lam said. “I do not think it is really effective because I do not think the dinning [hall] will have the best Chinese food.”
Lisa Wang, a CAS freshman from Ghangzhou, China, said the new Chinese dishes being added to the rotation will not affect her because she will not be living on-campus.
“I am living off-campus next year,” Wang said. “For me the reason is the price. I feel like living off-campus can make me have a better quality of life. I can cook my own food.”
