The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

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Campus eatery lacks in the flavor department

As you all may know, the Sierra Marketplace is one of the many eateries on campus. They sell a variety of foods, such as deli sandwiches, pizzas, freshly cooked pasta, Chinese food and more.

With so many varieties for students to choose from to satisfy their hunger when they’re on campus, the food needs to be somewhat flavorful. Even though the prices students pay aren’t a staggering amount, they should still get their monies worth.

One of the many choices at the Sierra Marketplace is the chicken fun noodles. The word fun in Chinese translates to mean the noodles are made of mostly rice and a type of starch.

The chicken fun noodles were served in a pretty large bowl, offering a significant amount of food for any meal. There were chicken, mushrooms, bok choy, green onions, lemon, and obviously the ‘fun’ noodles.

Even with the abundance of different ingredients, the flavor was borderline bland. After sampling the entr’eacute;e I can see why students add so much Sriracha hot sauce to the noodles. Note I said ‘add.’ The hot sauce itself is a good add-on to the noodles, but it should not be the main flavor throughout the dish.

I blame the soup. The liquid portion tasted as though it was just hot water with only minimal flavors add because of the extra ingredients. Why couldn’t it be a broth to add more flavor?

Last but not least, the noodles used in the soup were overcooked and tasted as though they had been soaking in the hot liquid for hours and had turned soft and uneatable.
In addition to the not so fun noodles, the Sierra Marketplace also sells two different soups each day. The Irish soup consists of roast beef, onions, carrots, celery and red potatoes. The flavor itself was light, but still had a good amount of variety for the palette. This may be because the soup just sits there in a container all day.

The last selection is the roasted beef and cabbage with mashed potatoes as a side. The roasted beef and cabbage itself was too salty and the mashed potatoes flavor that would please anyone with a hunger pain. Even if you try mixing the beef, cabbage and mashed potatoes together, the experience of the meal does not get better by any means. The different elements do not complement one another and lack in the department of satisfaction.

In the end, the food served at the Sierra Marketplace should contain some balance of flavors for hungry students who are trying to sustain themselves between classes and study sessions. It’s not like I’m asking for a complete overhaul of what we currently have in place, just a slight readjustment in the cooking process.

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