Correction: "Tech's top-ranked food hits the road," (CT, Feb. 20) should be clarified. The Hokie Bird did not travel with Chef Bratton, but a large selection of Hokie memorabilia was distributed to the UMass Amhe
Mark Bratton, executive chef of West End Market dining hall, will be traveling to the University of Massachusetts Amherst to share some of his favorite dishes with the students there.Related:
The university is hosting chefs from eight schools around the country in a Visiting Chef Series, which seeks to bring new food to its students as well as a chance to make connections between universities.
The invitation comes after Tech was honored with the No. 1 ranking on the Princeton Review's list of best campus food.
"The Visiting Chef Series is better than any NCAA competition — everybody wins," said Ken Toong, director of food services at UMass Amherst. "I am looking forward to it; it is a great way to network and create brotherhood between chefs while enhancing campus life."
The Visiting Chef Series has been going on since the end of January and will continue through mid-April, featuring a chef from one of the eight universities each week. Mark Bratton will be serving his dishes on Wednesday, Feb. 20 during the dinner shift in UMass Amherst's newest and busiest dining hall, Berkshire. An estimated 3,000 featured meals will be served, including West End Market's famous London broil and salmon.
Through the series, Massachusetts students will not only have the chance to enjoy Bratton's cuisine, but they will also learn more about Tech and get a "taste" of our campus life. Bratton will help distribute T-shirts and other Tech memorabilia.
In return for Bratton's presentation at Berkshire dining hall, the UMass Amherst has agreed to send one of its chefs to Tech to share some of the Amherst students' favorite meals. When the chef comes to visit, Tech students will have the opportunity to enjoy another school's flavor, which will include Thai cuisine, one of the Massachusetts' program's most popular meals.
Robert Franek, author of Princeton Review's Best 366 Colleges, recognized Mark Bratton and his peers for the hard work they have done, as well as Tech students for their opinions.
"Virginia Tech has been on our list of top 20 schools for 'Best Campus Food' for three years, moving from ninth in 2005, to second in 2006 and to No. 1 in 2007," Franek said. "That ranking is a real credit to chef Bratton and his staff because it is totally based on how Virginia Tech students rated their campus cuisine and dining hall services. For our ranking tallies last year, at no other school did students rate their campus food more highly than Virginia Tech."
Tech's No. 1 position relies solely on students' answers on surveys and their additional responses.
"From what I understand from the responses we got, you can have a big selection of all different kinds of foods at any time of day at Virginia Tech," Franek said. "I certainly didn't have that when I was in school."
Christy Aldridge, a junior accounting major and office assistant at Owens Dining Hall, gave her opinion on campus food and the collaboration with UMass Amherst.
"I think it's pretty cool that we share our good food ideas with other universities," Aldridge said. "As long as I continue to get the same great food here, I'm OK with it."
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