"Culinary Trends" Say Breasts Are Out, Thighs Are In

If any of the rest of you have gotten into the habit of frequenting the residential dining hall grills at lunch and dinner to add some protein to your pasta, salad, what have you… chances are you have realized some time over the past few weeks that these formerly tender, sometimes-too-dry, but otherwise tasty chicken breasts:have been replaced by this darker, oddly shapen, somewhat suspect alternative:After holding out for a while, I concluded that this was not simply a “we ran out of white meat,” temporary solution, but could actually be a permanent switch.Director of Dining Services Stu Orefice vaguely confirmed this, saying:“Regarding the boneless chicken offered at the grill areas in the Residential Colleges, each chef determines what shall be offered.  Many of the chefs recently have offered boneless, skinless thighs in line with culinary trends and changing flavor profiles…”Wow, fancy.“… and the cost of thighs tends to be lower than that of boneless breasts.”Hmm.  Well, if you are not a chicken snob, you can be happy about the fact that although dark meat has more calories, it also contains more zinc, riboflavin, vitamins, amino acids, and iron than white meat.If you are particular about having your poultry lean, white, and uniformly striped, Orefice added that the chefs welcome customer feedback and suggestions, and that students are welcome to share their thoughts with the chefs in each college.“We are gratified to learn from the chefs that the overall response to the addition of the boneless thighs has been very positive,” he said.