What usually brings you to Fourth Meal?

Double-degree first-year Max Kassoy: Sometimes I come when I’m with friends and they’re like, ‘I’m hitting up the [Rathskeller].’ And then I get here and I’m like, ‘Well, I’ve got a meal swipe; I might as well eat.’ But other times I come because I’m just hungry. I often eat dinner really early if I have a rehearsal and then I’m hungry after the rehearsal, so it’s kind of perfect. I’ll come and hit up Fourth Meal, and I feel like a happy man.

What would you do without Fourth Meal?

MK: I would be forced to eat really s**tty boxed DeCafé food, which I really don’t want to do.

Do you prefer DeCafé over the Rat for a late night meal?

College second-year Johnny Ragsdale: If I’ve got a meal swipe to spend, yeah. Last year, I would go to the Rat. If I was peckish, the Rat was my number one. The Impossible Burger was my go-to. I actually haven’t gone to Fourth Meal yet this year; I’m protesting.

Why did you prefer a late night meal at the Rat last year?

JR: Last year, the Rat had every option available until 11:30 p.m. It was great because you could get a veggie option, you could get anything you wanted, every single day. Now, they try to communicate what Fourth Meal has, but it is generally not super well communicated, and also it only has one option, which is not very inclusive of people who might want something vegetarian. It is nice to have options.

What are your thoughts on Fourth Meal?

Conservatory fourth-year Daniel Karnaukh: The food, most of the time, is pretty much what the menu says it is. If there are gyros offered, you’ll most likely get gyros, unless it’s that one Monday where they had avocado toast instead. Whether or not you will get your food at a hot temperature is much more of a gamble. I typically tend to come at earlier times, as there is a higher chance of the food being fresh and warm. I’ve seen stories on Instagram of undercooked wings, but I personally haven’t run into that. 

I like Fourth Meal now. It’s not perfect — the line is long, the food isn’t always hot, and they took away almost all of the seats and replaced them with lockers, but to be completely blunt, it’s the only thing we’ve got. And all of the people who work at the Rat are absolutely wonderful and are working super hard, so we can’t acknowledge Fourth Meal without mentioning the people that actually make it happen for us hungry students. It may be imperfect, but I’m grateful for Fourth Meal.

What is your favorite Fourth Meal meal?

Conservatory second-year Chris Leimgruber: “The gyros.”

Conservatory second-year Bradley Boatright: Really? Hm, okay.

CL: Yeah, I think so. I forget which other ones there are.

Do you disagree?

BB: I think so. I think I like the wings.

CL: OHH, the wings, the wings!

BB: There we go.

CL: “Yeah the wings, that’s true.”