“Is a Question of Fare a Fare Question?” The Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, NC), November 16th, 1897. Courtesy of Newspapers.com
The source above is a page from The Tar Heel Newspaper published in 1897. In this newspaper article, there were a variety of topics within each section, such as sports, food, poetry, and advertisements. The section I choose to take a deeper look at was labeled “Is a Question of Fare a Fare Question?”. In this section the author describes the dilemma within the Commons Hall. Commons Hall was an UNC dining hall, similar to our current Lenoir and Chase dining hall. This section mentions Commons Hall providing an excellent fare to a large number of students conveniently. However, although the fare at Commons Hall was cheap, the author brings up the negatives of food choices offered there. He says those who were in charge of management there was determined to “force its boarders into a “diet of beef,” compelling them three times a day to eat this class of meat, or no meat at all”. He even goes on to say “if a Commons Hall boarder wishes a change of menu from that “enjoyed” any previous morning, he can obtain this at the expense of eating no breakfast at all, or a some different house”. This shows the lack of meat choices Commons Hall had to offer and if a student wanted change, it would be in their best interest to eat somewhere else or not eat at all. It was also mentioned that, although the other houses included a larger fare, they had more variety of meat offered than Commons Hall.
This article relates to Chapel Hill, as the newspaper is named The Tar Heel and is sourced from Chapel Hill. By reading this newspaper, we can see what topics were relevant during the time period and what kinds of foods were consumed by locals. I choose this as my source because it was interesting to see what was offered at UNC Chapel Hill around that time period. As seen by the section mentioned above, dining halls were one of the main source for students’ meals as it also is now. There was no clear explanation to why the Commons Hall lacked diversity in meats but it may potentially hint to a clear abundance of beef around the area during that time. The newspaper also shows there were other “houses” similar to how we have multiple restaurant at Franklin street. Like the students in the article, Franklin Street is still a dining option for those who do not want dining hall food.
“Is a Question of Fare a Fare Question?” The Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, NC), November 16, 1897. Accessed October 7, 2018. https://universityofnorthcarolinaatchapelhill.newspapers.com/image/70264838.