The newly renovated Chase Dining Hall now has a series of
changes that were made to instill a tone modern cleanliness. With these changes
came wavy walls, white tiling, and square plates. There is a varying array of
sizes of these plates stacked at the different stations that the new Chase has
to offer. The plate sizes indicated the “recommended” amount of food that
should be taken from each section. This seemingly is apart of the “Healthy” new
overtone that is wedged into the napkin dispensers with the “swap the salt
campaign” as well as the ambiguous back wall advertisement of the company’s
goal to serve a healthier lifestyle.
It
is through these plates that people organize themselves. The size offered at a
particular station will often be observed, but only because of the convenience
of its’ location. However, people will divert from the size plate to grab
another, or even a bowl if they see fit.
In
comparison to the old round plates, the square, hard edges do not allow for the
easiest clean up often leaving traces of the previous meal stained upon it. People
will sometimes search the stacks of plates until they find a plate clean enough
for their standard, which surprisingly is not necessarily any cleaner, but
after searching over three or four, the search seems too relentless.
Lastly, the easiest example of chase plates being a sense of
independent choice, and organization is the interesting phenomenon that people
will usually align their plate so that the parallels match the edges of the
table. In other words, most people will keep their plate, or the plate they are
focusing on if they have more than one, as a square instead of as a diamond
shape or to a degree. This is a subconscious act, most likely associated with
the vast number of squares and even lines that we come into contact with on a
daily basis. Often people will rotate their plates along as they eat different
foods situated on other sides.
Try it out, next time you are at a meal with someone who has
not finished their food, while they are away turn their plate to a slightly
different angle. See how it goes.
