Students were given the chance to sample a variety of residence hall fare Thursday night at Farley Hall's second annual Taste of ND.
A dozen campus halls brought offerings from their food sale shops for students to sample and to compete in a tasting contest, sophomore Erin Killymurray, a coordinator of the event, said.
"Taste of ND is a great opportunity for every dorm food sale to show off their own unique food," she said. "People should know that these places exist. Everyone has access to other dorms' foods. A lot of people just don't know about it."
Besides offering students the opportunity to get a taste of hall eateries, Farley took the opportunity to give back, Killmurray said.
Free to students last year, the hall decided to charge $2 per person, with proceeds benefitting the Northern Indiana Food Bank.
"There was a great turnout last year," she said. "We completely ran out of food. With such a great turnout from last year's event, we decided to charge $2 a person and donate the proceeds … It's a great way to give back to the community."
Some of the participating dorms included Keough Kitchen, Zahm Pizza, McGlinn Snack Shack and St. Edward Hall's shop, Ed's.
Senior Toph Stare of Zahm's Pizza said he was happy to get the word out about his hall's food sales.
"Finding ways to market food for dorm sales is difficult since a lot of people just don't even know these food sales exist," Stare said. "This event is a great opportunity for us to market our products and let people know what's out there."
Senior Dana McKane, representative for McGlinn's Snack Shack, agreed that Taste of ND could be helpful for future food sales.
"Every dorm has something different to offer," she said. "Now that more people can see and taste other dorms' products, hopefully sales in each dorm will increase. Last year was the first year for the Taste of ND and also the first year that McGlinn Snack Shack was in business, so it was great for us to get some attention right away."
Each attendee had the opportunity to vote on their favorite foods from the event, and guest judges also had input in the selection of the winning foods. Guest judges included Leprechaun Michael George, men's basketball guard Joey Brooks and student body vice president Brett Rocheleau.
The judges' top selection was Ed's, Killmurray said. Representatives from Ed's brought paninis and, the local favorite, smoothies.
"The St. Ed's smoothies are great," Brooks said. "I'm not going to lie, I might go to ‘Sted's' to get a smoothie once in a while."
George said tasting food from around campus might encourage hesitant students to venture to other dorms for late night snacks.
"I think a lot of people don't like to leave the comfort of their dorm when they are studying late at night," George said. "Hopefully that will change with this event."
Other judges' picks included Zahm Pizza and McGlinn Hall Snack Shack.
"You can taste the love and care in every cupcake," George said.
