OP-ED Dear Dolci, Please never change

Author: Scott Kleiman

Dear Dolci,

While I'm sure there are legitimate and compelling reasons for the changes to Dolci recently announced, it saddens me that Dolci will no longer be as I experienced it from 2002-06. My four years cooking, managing, and eating as part of Dolci stand out as some of the most important parts of my Middlebury education, and the memories that seem to most resonate whenever I return to Vermont or pass by a bustling restaurant kitchen.

Spending my Fridays (all day!) in the basement kitchens of Chateau, FIC, and finally Proctor led me to many of my closest friends at Middlebury, improved my abilities as a leader and teacher (not without some bumps and bruises, as well as a few burns), and introduced me the exceptional men and women of Dining Services who serve an often under-appreciative student body.

Learning how to balance the intensity of preparing a four-course, 11-dish meal for nearly 100 people with the overarching reality that this was something we did for enjoyment remained one of the greatest challenges I faced at Middlebury, and one of the lasting lessons. Plus, Dolci was just really, really fun (not to mention a great thing to talk about on my resume). As was always true when we were forced to migrate to one and then another new dining-hall home, these most recent changes will create both new challenges, as well as new opportunities (perhaps 51 Main will allow Dolci to engage a new constituency of the broader town community).

Yet, I hope that some things stay the same: notably, that the organization remains well-connected with dining services, and that Dolci continues to bring together students and dining staff to collaborate, learn, make great food and befriend each other. So here's to Jill Santipietro and friends for launching Dolci in 1998-99; to Richard, Frenchie, Tony, Ian, Troy, Smitty, Michelle, Jim, and all the other kitchen staff for letting us make a mess of their kitchens and then teaching us the right ways to clean it up; to Matthew, Bo, Brad, and Charlie for their unflagging support and advice; and to my friends Leslie, Macy, Elisabeth, Rebecca, Nicole, Meg, Ellen, Dustin, Amy, Bernard, Julienne, and countless others without whom I would have just been a creepy guy wandering campus alone with my knives.

Thank you. Can't wait to come for a snack next time I'm in Vermont.

Bon appetit!