Food, glorious food!

Each day in the Memorial Union kitchen, a crew of 50 or more workers prepares lunch fare by the truckload for distribution to 20 delis and food service units across campus. They aren’t just slinging tuna salad onto onion rolls, either. The kitchen workers are as adept at specialty menus of international cuisine and prepare food for catered events of 12 to 2,500 people. They’re also the folks who make the figgy pudding and other old English palette pleasers of the Tudor dinners (this year beginning Wednesday, Nov. 29). It’s a big operation, and it may get bigger. The kitchen will undergo a $1.78 million modernization project under a plan approved by the UW System Board of Regents.

To crank out those delicious Rice Krispie treats, Wisconsin Union food service worker Craig Gierck starts by packing a vat with 75 pounds of marshmallows. (Photo: Stephanie Judge)

Honeydew melons soak in a Memorial Union kitchen sink, awaiting slicing for fruit plates. Workers carve up 50 to 60 honeydew each day, along with a similar number of cantaloupe and 15 to 20 watermelons. (Photo: Stephanie Judge)

Dietetics major Amy Sitek and food service worker Don Sparby prepare entrees. (Photo: Stephanie Judge)

Staff load prepared items onto a truck bound for one of 20 food service locations served by the kitchen staff. (Photo: Stephanie Judge)

Early Easterling, right, works on rows of hummus and tabouli wraps, which are among 50 varieties of sandwiches regularly prepared by Union food service. Then there are the 50 to 75 pans of lasagna, 500 gallons of soup and chili, and 300 pounds of assorted salads produced each week. (Photo: Stephanie Judge)