BLAC Eats at Hofstra

BLAC Eats menu for Black History Month 2024. // Photo courtesy of Denivia Rivera.

During Black History Month, Black Leaders Advocating for Change (BLAC) Eats provided a variety of traditional Black and Caribbean food options to students on Hofstra’s campus. BLAC partnered with Campus Dining to supply four traditional meals with recipes which were presented once a week in the Student Center.

Because Hofstra does not currently have any permanent locations serving Black and Caribbean food, BLAC Eats served as an opportunity to provide more diverse options on campus.

Kaila Archer, a junior speech-language-hearing sciences major, is one of the core members of BLAC and believes that the BLAC Eats program is important for students.

“Compared to what we already have, there is no one station that is dedicated to just African American food,” Archer said. “I felt that BLAC Eats was a really crucial thing to fight for and execute because everyone should be represented.”

To properly represent students, BLAC leaders created the recipes by asking students what meals they personally enjoy.

Favour Chibuzo-Enwere, a junior neuroscience major, is another core member of BLAC who helped with the process of creating the menu with Compass Group.

“It was a matter of asking everybody in the group ‘what do you personally like’ and ‘do you have a recipe you can send us by a certain date,’” Chibuzo-Enwere said. “Once we compiled all those recipes, we sent them in to Compass [Group].”

The meals created by BLAC Eats included rasta pasta, jerk chicken with fried plantains, fried chicken with sweet potato casserole and corn on the cob and rice and stew.

Campus Dining marketing manager Lexis Meehan spoke about her experience with presenting meals with recipes from students.

“Creating multicultural dishes for our guests brings a sense of satisfaction,” Meehan said. “It’s particularly satisfying when the recipes are brought by our guests from home.”

Many students had a positive experience with the meals presented by BLAC Eats, agreeing that the program provided a comforting feeling.

Chris Crisden, a sophomore drama major, spoke about how he enjoyed seeing familiar foods from home offered on campus.

“It reminds me of home,” Crisden said. “If I want sweet potatoes, I can go and get some, or if I want fried chicken – I’m a fried chicken fiend. But I think it was really good to have that option there.”

Abigail Lakes, a sophomore psychology major, had a similar experience with BLAC Eats, expressing how she felt about the opportunity to have more cultural food available on campus.

“I don’t feel like there’s a lot of diversity in food on campus so when I saw that rasta pasta was given out, it just reminded me of home,” Lakes said.

Lakes raised another point students have voiced about needing to go off campus to buy foods they enjoy.

“A lot of the food on campus gets old really fast. It gets tasteless, and then, I’m spending more money outside of campus to get more food,” Lakes said.

By allowing programs like BLAC Eats to happen more often, students can have more diverse meal options and spend more of their dining money on campus.

Chibuzo-Enwere said she hopes for BLAC Eats to be a more frequent program on campus.

“Until we eventually get a station, we’re just hoping to expand how many meals are offered per month during a semester,” Chibuzo-Enwere said.

Meehan spoke on the idea of having BLAC Eats become a more frequent program on campus.

“For the last three years we have done two BLAC Eats meals every month,” said Meehan. “Though we would like to accommodate BLAC for more meals, this program is also extended to other cultural organizations on campus.”

While the accommodation for more frequent BLAC meals is limited, BLAC Eats remains an important and meaningful program to many students.

Khalia Rembert, a junior psychology major, spoke about the importance of having culturally diverse meal options on campus.

“Through food, we gain experiences and core memories,” Rembert said. “It’s also the craft that goes into making the food; it’s special for each culture.”