Every day, hundreds of students line up in the Dining Commons and decide what to eat from a large variety of options. There are the regular items that have a permanent spot on the menu—think of the chicken tenders and breadsticks—as well as the daily specials: the main entrée, international station, special station, vegetarian station, pizza, and wrap.
After almost a year of the same rotation of dishes, students might be feeling unsatisfied with the current offerings. Luckily, the Lancer Cafe is always cooking up something new, and today, we are sharing the newest addition to the smorgasbord of options on the menu: the mystery meat station.
From today and onward, the daily specials will include the new mystery meat station! Don’t be thrown off by the name: the Cafe decided to name the station “mystery meat” to pay homage to classic cafeteria horror stories. The meat in the dishes will be clearly specified, so no need to fear!
So, what is the mystery meat station? The dishes served at this station will be heavily focused on varieties of meat—think barbeque, meatballs, burgers, roasts (carnivores rejoice!). The current meat that Saint Francis serves come from cows, pigs, chickens, and other birds. However, this station expands the limits of where we source our meat from. There is a whole world of animals out there, and the current offerings are only a slight representation of the animal kingdom. Prepare to eat local and exotic meats previously thought of as “taboo” or even unimaginable.
To start off, dishes will focus on meats local to the state of California, including coyote, mountain lion, hawk, lizard, and otter meat. Our chefs have spent months developing new recipes with these meats such as coyote, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches as well as hawkburgers. Head Chef Eata Mormeets explains her philosophy in starting local: “Saint Francis lies in the heart of California and we wanted that to reflect in what we serve our students. First, we were only looking to find meat that is so fresh that it is still moving… then, we started thinking about how we can educate our students through this station. California has such a unique ecosystem, and that means that our animals are unique as well. We wanted to, literally, offer students a taste of what California has to offer.”
And for all the dessert lovers, there’s more! Every Friday, the mystery meat station will serve a delectable sweet delicacy. In our interview, Head Chef Mormeets emphasized that she wants everyone to be included, whether you have a savory or sweet tooth. The first Friday dessert will feature a vanilla ice cream topped with caramelized deer skins. Other desserts to look forward to include quail pudding, roasted fox-topped strawberry shortcake, and the Monarch butterfly donut. Hospitality intern Fisher Hunter (’26) expressed his hope for the new station: “Initially, I was a bit skeptical about all the new offerings. I didn’t know if we could come up with all these recipes for the new meats. However, when all the interns came in for taste-testing day, we were all blown away by how mouthwateringly delicious the food was. I am so excited for the whole Saint Francis community to be able to try these dishes. I know that they are going to love it! I hope that in the future we can expand to include dolphin meat and polar bear meat.”
Head Chef Mormeets detailed her future plans for the station: “I am planning to further expand our meat options to national and even international meats. I am already talking to an alligator farmer in Florida… I really want to serve alligator tacos—they’re to die for. I’ve also started writing a recipe for koala nuggets. Basically you deep fry the koalas, salt them, and boom! Deliciousness embodied! Other ideas include importing panda meat from China, zebra meat from Africa, and elephant meat from Thailand. We’re still trying to figure out the logistics of it… My number one priority remains to serve the freshest meats possible to our students. We might have to figure out a way to bring the animals here, living, just to ensure the highest quality.”
Saint Francis has always been known for being a place of innovation—remember, the Eggers Innovation Center literally has it in the name—and this expansion of Saint Francis Hospitality will further cement our legacy as trailblazers. We hope that our school community will try out the new meat dishes and embrace the mystery meat station with open arms.
