Creating an inclusive environment is of utmost importance to us at Queen’s Hospitality Services. Our goal is to create an environment where everyone feels at home and welcome to celebrate their culture and observe religious practices at all times of the year and especially during periods of significance for them.
We strive to ensure traditions and observances from different cultures and diverse backgrounds are represented in our dining halls. This is a learning process and we are committed to continually looking at opportunities for improvement.
Hospitality Services provides cultural food supports and celebrations around significant periods, including but not limited to: Holi, Lunar New Year, Black Histories and Futures Month, Passover, Diwali, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur. New this year, we offered a Dumpling Day feature at Jean Royce dining hall, partnering with a student representative to offer handmade dumplings for all to enjoy this Chinese cuisine. Additionally, we connected with the Pinoy Student Association to feature Chicken Adobo. Leonard dining hall welcomed its first guest chef since the new renovation to bring Indigenous cuisine to the dining hall.
For each celebration or observance in the dining halls, we meet with student groups through a consultative process, which includes the provision of a paid honorarium for their time. Through discussion with different student groups on traditional menu offerings, our culinary team drafts a menu in celebration of a religious or cultural event. Students are invited to a menu tasting to provide feedback on the quality and authenticity of the dishes. This feedback is used to create a culturally inspired menu in celebration of a religious or cultural event. Décor, music, and other programming, such as activities or accommodations are reviewed with the student groups to ensure the environment created in the dining hall is one in which students feel their culture is accurately and respectfully represented.
If you have feedback or questions about the consultative process or representation from other backgrounds and observances, email dietitian@queensu.ca.