George Fox Survival Guide: The Bon

Reported by Romare Ashford (Guest Submission)

After a warm welcome from the card-swiper, you enter the Bon. The cafeteria has a modern look to it, including an assortment of family tables and square cocktail tables divided into three parts with booth seats aligned horizontally. Between the sections is a silverware station that is never full, except occasionally with misplaced forks, spoons and knives. The glass windows on the side of the Bon open right up to George Fox’s canyon that leads to paths for quiet time and DTR benches.

Entering the Bon as a freshman can be quite stressful for someone who doesn’t know how to navigate it. Where do I sit if I need homework space or a meeting with faculty or need alone time? On burger day, how do I get through this line? Food sucks, what are my options? I’m getting tired of eating the same old routine meals every week.

“[I] hate when people act like they don’t know how lines [work],” said Jared Mar, junior at GFU. Line placement is very key on a crowded day at the Bon. You’re next in line, but this decision makes or breaks the flow of the Bon. Do the right thing. Pick the line position that doesn’t block the middle of the line.

Let's break down the complex methodology of finding a seat in the Bon on a regular lunch block. Like finding a seat in class, a seat tells you a lot about a person. The square cocktail tables are used for people on the go, conversations with professors, and those who love people watching from elevated points. Single tables hugging the windows of the Bon are used for aggressive cramming before exams and dramatic window dazing with headphones on. Booth seats and round tables are used for just about everything from student government teams, RES hall dinners, athletics teams, and department meetings.

Bon food can be rough at times. But we pay for these meals already, so let's find a solution to what we already have.

“The best part about the Bon is the cereal and ice cream, but sometimes it's soggy, and sometimes the ice cream is freezer burned. The saltines are the best part of the [Bon], the worst days are when there are no saltines in the Bon,” said Nicola, a junior at GFU. The Bon does have good food, you just have to be willing to improvise.

First, the chicken—is it really that bad? The chicken can be cooked, unseasoned, burned or dry. Even Saturday chicken strip night can get boring after eating every Saturday for 5+ weeks. Here are a few things you can make with the chicken: chicken parmesan, Caesar salads, and grilled chicken sandwiches. The parmesan dish can only be made on Saturdays.

You collect your regular amount of chicken strips. Then you gather pasta and marinara sauce from the pasta bar. Dice chicken strips to spread over the bowl of pasta. Add sauce and the parmesan and chicken strips become a fine pasta dish from Olive Garden.

A Caesar salad is just as easy as it sounds. Take some chicken from the Bon. Dice it up and pick your choice of greens for your salads. Throw all that into a bowl. Sandwich your salad with another bowl and shake well until salad is mixed to perfection.  

Making a grilled sandwich will be the easiest. Grab yourself a slice of bread and the chicken of the day. Use the panini machine to toast your sandwich and then grill the sandwich to a crisp. Add lettuce and cheese, and just like that you got yourself a Chick-fil-A level sandwich.

Now you have a good dinner happening. It just needs a dessert to bring it all together. For a classic Bon dessert, you can make an ice cream sandwich and cake layered cup.

The cookies look good, but they are stale. Tough as rocks? No problem! First, you get your pick of cookie and send it through the toaster oven. This gives your cookies a soft inside and crunchy outside. Grab a scoop of ice cream to put between the cookies, place the sandwich on a plate, and enjoy.

Next up you can make a cake layered cup fit to be seen on Food Network. For this all you need is a cup, brownie, cake, and ice cream. Grab a brownie of your choice. Scoop a bowl of ice cream. Then cut out brownie with the cup and add the ice cream layer after. Repeat this process until you have a finished cake layered cup.