Snacks, Sit-downs, Walkthroughs, and Feeds

Deerfield’s kitchen is legendary. Whether you’re a fan of vegetarian cuisine, or you love prime rib, or you could die for chocolate cheesecake, you are sure to be satiated by the menu at Deerfield; it is always good and there is always plenty of it!

Sit-down meals continue as one of our most important traditions; at each one we stand for a moment in silence and give thanks “for food, for friendship, and for the blessings of the day.” Student waiters serve each table, as does a faculty member, and each table gains its own character and energy. Laughter fills the air, singing breaks out on birthdays, and the students often applaud for their favorite meals. Relationships form over the ten-seat tables in the Dining Hall, but also in a booth at “the Greer,” over coffee in the Koch Center, or in the elbow-to-elbow tussle of a common-room feed.

Indeed, “feed” is a word with a special etymology at Deerfield. A feed is when dormitory faculty provide snacks and sustenance to their charges—often after study hall. Fourteen boys might pile into a faculty apartment, wolfing pounds of spaghetti, loaves of bread, and gallons of milk. The same is true in girls dorms: the Seven Layered Bean Dip served in Pocumtuck has acheived legendary status. Outside the dorm, feeds take different forms: in the winter term, each Friday finds “cookies and cocoa” served in front of the Main School Building fireplace, and the Greer Store and Louis Cafe literally pulsate with the lively energy of student life.