Almost 600 Panthers participated in the third annual Big, Fun Florida Tech Alumni Survey—all about food! In addition to the usual this-or-that and multiple choice questions, we asked you to share some of your favorite food-related memories from childhood and from your time on campus. Read on for the full list of responses, and view a summary of the remaining survey results in the winter 2026 issue of Florida Tech Magazine.
Dig in!
Share a food-related memory from your childhood.
| Dinner at Grandparents |
| Eating pickled hot peppers my grandfather canned. |
| fried okra |
| Fried biscuits |
| Eating “pamonha” and “pastelinho” which is a Brazilian/Goiás version of Portuguese traditional “pasteis de santa clara” at the steps of Main Colonial church in Goias Velho, the city where my father’s family relocated in Brazil from Portugal |
| Cassava pie |
| space dots at kennedy |
| Squishing a banana in my backpack and ruining the bag (and the banana, naturally). |
| My great aunt served my brother and I scrambled eggs and grape jelly when we were kids. I loved it, and like most people growing up, I thought everyone ate grape jelly with their eggs. I have yet to find a person on this planet that has ever eaten grape jelly with scrambled eggs. |
| Grandma sitting at table snapping green beans |
| Cici’s pizza after sports |
| Pork Chops |
| Dog eat the roast. No roast that year. Sides were good. |
| Baking cake from scratch with my Grandmother, still bake it today! |
| Roasted duck with brown rice, finish with Mississippi Mud Pie |
| eating mother’s ribs |
| Good smells coming from mom’s kitchen |
| Grandma’s chicken pasta |
| 4th of July cookouts |
| Going out to eat |
| Homemade pizza from scratch, every Saturday night. |
| Fried Chicken at the Big Chicken Marietta Ga |
| First time I tried an oyster, I was 6 years old and there was a pearl in the oyster, a nice on the spot gift to my Mom |
| Get hit in the face with a tomato during a cafeteria food fight |
| Grilled cheese |
| Eggnog at Christmas |
| Not sure why this is the first one that popped into my head, but my dad used to get a ginger bread cookie when he picked up coffee from it was either Dunkin or Tim Hortons and he would split that cookie with me every time. |
| Eating fresh mango just off the tree |
| Picking and eating peas right out of the garden. |
| Cheese fondue |
| Mom making hand/home made 1/2 pound cheeseburgers with a lot of melted cheese and real potato hand cut french fries – all cooked in front of you |
| Holiday lasagna |
| The first time I tried pizza pie. Living in HI as a child I never had a piece of pizza. When visiting my grandparents in NJ at age 5, we went to a carnival and my father shared a slice of a “piece” of pie with me which was a pizza pie slice. My reaction was “you have to be kidding” – this is not pie. Since moving to the mainland years latter we still did not eat pizza at home. Pizza was not part of our diet. It wasn’t until I went off to college that I had it on a more frequent basis. |
| Too many cereals with cold milk – Mom’s specialty! |
| “Coffee Hour” with sweets after church |
| NA |
| After church Sunday dinner(lunch). Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh vegetables from the garden |
| Eating dinner together as a family |
| Ferraro’s Italian Restaurant = fave rest. from my hometown, sadly now closed |
| Hoagies |
| Eating fried oreos with friends at my local fair. |
| Mmmm, beef stroganoff. Favorite food then and now. Birthday staple. |
| I won the watermelon-eating contest at my local Publix when I was 12 |
| Mom’s fried chicken |
| My grandmother making soup every weekend to use up leftovers. I called it “Garbage Soup” because it was how Gram cleaned up, but it was always delicious and never the same twice! |
| The time my sister cut my brother’s finger with her knife because he went for the cranberry first. |
| Birthday cake |
| My mother made Christmas cookies starting in October with shelling nuts and making cookie dough which she froze until needed. She made over 10,000 each season and stored them in our basement in individual tins. She’d ice those needing icing the night she packed the boxes. She started by giving the cookies as gifts. It grew into selling them as people begged her to sell them to her. My brother-in-law would always say to me when he came over, “Jerry, let’s go downstairs and check the pipes. I think their might be a leak.” His excuse to raid the cookies. My favorite: Spice Drops. But you can’t inhale when taking a bite or you will choke on the confectioners sugar going down your windpipe. |
| Mom’s homemade birthday cake(vanilla with chocolate frosting) |
| Worked at a Chinese restaurant ( as a carry-out specialist)for 3 years during high school age on weekends only |
| Raclette |
| When my sisters and I would visit our grandparents, our grandma would let us have cookies from our grandad’s personal cookie tin or an ice cream sandwich from his personal freezer in the basement. It made us feel special. |
| Mom’s steak rollups |
| My grandmothers Mac n cheese |
| My mom always made German Chocolate Cake for everyone’s birthdays. Loved licking the pot after the frosting was cooked while it was still warm! |
| Ice cream trips in the back of my grandpa’s truck |
| Mother and father preparing and cooking meals together for the family. |
| Grasshopper drink tasting at a 4 year old |
| the only kind of fruit i could eat was bananas and watermelon. I was very alergic to most fruit. |
| My mother always made the best birthday cakes from scratch. |
| Mom served long macaroni (buccatini) with butter, as a side with tacos. |
| Steak night! My mom would often cook 2 steaks for me because I loved it so much. |
| Bbq chicken in the summer with hot Boston baked beans , corn on the cob ,lettuce and tomato plates, homemade sweet tea and us kids making s’mores as the charcoal burns out. |
| Enjoying fresh caught fish from the open waters |
| Grilled Chhesse and Tomato Soup on a winter afternoon after school. |
| Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding |
| Christmas Eve Italian Fish Dinner with several dishes |
| We always cooked at home. My mother always prepared great, healthy meals. Food is civilization and also contributes to a healthy life! Snacking and eating poorly, skipping meals, and other bad habits are an insult to yourself and a great offense to your body and your mind. |
| My mom making me my favorite Cuban dish, picadillo. She made it when I was young and she made it well into her own old age. The woman was a mater at it…Miss you Mom, LOVE YOU! |
| The weddings that were held in a hall in the “old neighborhood” in a second-floor hall in the Back of the Yards of Chicago with all of the Polish aunts and cousins bringing huge roasters of beef, krout, kielbasa, etc. |
| twice baked potatoes! |
| Hot oatmeal on a cold winter morning |
| Moms bar be que pork chops |
| My mom would substitute Crisco instead of butter cake in recipes. I didn’t know how cakes were really supposed to taste. |
| Chicken |
| My grandmother’s Thanksgiving meals were amazing |
| Making Caribbean yeast rolls with my family! |
| Watching by dad cook on his outdoor grill for a big family gathering. |
| Italian food during the holidays. |
| Endless brasilian barbecues! or going to Benihana |
| My Dad thought he was a great cook and sometimes when he would make a dish, like Swiss Steak, he would burn it and it had that cigar-ish burnt taste and he would never admit it was burnt and would get so mad if we didn’t eat it!! It was like torture!! But he grew up in an environment where everything was always “Well-done” so, . . . . . . Also, growing up, the only steak I ever knew that existed was cube steak and then as I got older and went to a proper steak restaurant – maybe it was the Steak and Ale that was on US1 or maybe it was the Melbourne Beach Steak House, . . . .I had my first bite of ribeye steak!! OMG!! |
| none |
| Fried chicken |
| Spanakopita |
| Dad would get donuts every Sunday morning |
| Cooking or baking with my late grandmother almost every Christmas, treasured memories. |
| Tomato Sauce |
| Jim’s spaghetti |
| Bologna and gherkin sandwich with strawberry Quik |
| Eating popsicles in the bathtub because my mom hated a mess |
| Being asked if I liked “Adidas?” And not knowing in Tagalog that means chicken feet. Saying “yes” and being terrified at the sight when the showed me their “Adidas” |
| Grandma’s fried chicken |
| Yummy BBQ ribs at a beautiful beach |
| Grandma’s chopped liver |
| When growing up my father used to watch me and my brothers while my mother worked nights and he only knew how to cook one food item and that was baked beans with cut up hotdogs. It was edible. |
| All you can eat crabs in NJ |
| 15 cent hamburgers |
| Monkey bread on Christmas morning |
| mom’s fried chicken |
| Eating watermelon on the porch on a hot summer day. |
| My aunt makes delicious Nicaraguan tamales. When I traveled back home, I smuggled some back to Florida but not without being stopped by TSA.😆 |
| Going to Taco Bell at 2 o’clock in the morning. |
| Burgers and fries at the bowling alley |
| Italian festival food |
| I had strict parents and I didn’t know I was allowed to eat at my 6th or 7th birthday party, so when I got home I was very confused to find out I wasn’t getting dinner. |
| That time our cousin found a cookie under the couch and it had been under there for God-know’s how long and still ate it saying “ooh! a cookie!” |
| When I thought Wonderbread was cool to mash it into a ball in your hand |
| Grandma’s house on Sundays |
| We would eat popcorn and watch tv on Saturday nights. |
| Grandmas dumplings |
| Making food with grandma |
| Brother (5 yrs old)counting to one hundred so he didn’t have to eat his peas. |
| Meatloaf |
| I once tried to make fondue, but I used processed cheese instead of the good stuff because I didn’t know better. It turned into an oily mess, so we ate crackers and bread with a variety of meats and leftover cheese. That’s when I feel in love with charcouterie boards (adult lunchables). |
| Being forced to eat canned spinach-cant stand the slimy stuff today. |
| Making Bread with my Grandma |
| I don’t have anything fun to share really. |
| mom’s fried macaroni |
| Frozen custard |
| Mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows and raisins |
| Making and decorating cupcakes for Valentine’s Day |
| Baked cod with crushed lemon and ritz cracker crust. |
| Fried pork tenderloin. |
| Friends wanting to stay at my house for dinner when my mother (Chinese) was making dinner. |
| My dad was a meat and potato guy, so I have vivid memories of special meals of T-bone steaks broiled in the oven with fried potatoes and a “white” salad. My dad didn’t like the dark green leaves, so our salads were made from the center of an iceberg lettuce head. That all sounds disgusting now, but still makes me smile. |
| The smell of the cooking turkey going through the house on Thanksgiving Day. |
| Sunday dinner |
| Spider-Man cake that my mum made that temporarily stained my friends and I pink |
| Our local Italian place made the best veal parm and spaghetti ever. |
| Pierogies! |
| Bologna on Toast w/Mayo |
| My mom’s Thanksgiving dinners. |
| Hot dogs at Drug store |
| My grandma making green jello salad with fruits and veggies in it and my dad referring to it as nuclear waste |
| Having spaghetti and meatballs EVERY Sunday. |
| Liver and onions, cooked by my Mom |
| too many to name |
| meetballs every wednesday |
| Spending time in the kitchens of my Norwegian grandmother and great-grandmother was always such a joy. The distinctive scents generated by cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon, allspice and ginger in their baking and cooking signaled that something tasty and traditional was being made! Spice cookies were the best! |
| I had a beautiful strawberry cake with a merry-go-round cake topper on my 12th birthday. |
| Mom making the best tuna melts!!! |
| Picking favorite food/restaurant for dinner on your birthday |
| grandmother making babka with dozens of eggs, pounds of butter, tons of flour and no recipe |
| Apponaug Pizza, Warwick, RI |
| My grandmother making soup and crepes! |
| Father used to make BBQ wings before they were cool. |
| French Fry Fridays |
| Mom forcing me to eat liver |
| While serving in the Navy onboard an aircraft carrier operating within 5th fleet’s AOR, had the honor of being invited to a dinner with the host serving typical middle east food varieties. The appetizer was a soup called Pacha. The reason I remember this is the soup had eyeballs in it (I think sheep). Salty, swishy, and a pop can be heard if you bite into it. |
| Eating ice cream on day trips with my grandpa. Eating snacks and fleichwusrt on trips to Germany. |
| Melting cheddar cheese on Doritos in the microwave |
| Thanksgiving dinners with the family |
| Food cooked on an open campfire at our mountain property. Chop the wood, build the fire ( have now upgraded to a Schwenger) and enjoy by the beautiful flowing stream . |
| PB&Js with barbecue chips inside for crunch and tang |
| Creamed tuna on toast |
| Mom’s friends bringing Polish foods to the house. |
| eating amazing pizza and calzones in NY |
| Stuffed meatballs, gravy and steamed rice. |
| Fish sticks |
| My first crawfish boil with my Louisiana relations |
| I was a weird kid that would only eat croutons |
| Mother cooking roast on Sunday! |
| Making homemade pizza |
| Going to Zarda’s Ice Cream Parlor for a banana split after winning a softball game |
| Big family dinners for the holidays |
| Sunday after church supper gatherings at our farm with 30+ people and an entire table full of pie and other desserts. |
| Vienna sausages |
| Hamburgers on the gas grill, baked beans, corn on the cob – all while eating outside in the backyard at the picnic table behind our house on a Summer Sunday evening |
| First shrimp cocktail |
| grandma’s cooking (and teaching) |
| sauerkraut |
| Roast Turkey and mashed potato |
| Sitting at the dinner table unable to get up until I finished the liver on my plate. I fell asleep at the table. Liver haunts me to this day. Gross! |
| Making tamales with my dad’s side of the family. |
| Accidentally launching a scoop of ice cream across the room to my grandmothers plate |
| Thanksgiving dinners. The memory led us to do Pre-Friendsgiving potluck dinners |
| I remember the first time I came to Florida, we went to Disney. This was also the first “eating out” check I had ever seen, with a total well above $100 for the five of us. I thought that all food cost that much until I was a teenager… Nope, just Disney! |
| Macaroni and cheese made with sweetened condensed milk! |
| Eating hot pizza while wearing shorts can be dangerous. |
| Fruit cocktail from the can for dessert |
| Steamed Blue Point Crabs |
| pass |
| My grandmother would make an apricot filled cold dough cookie. I have the recipe, but have never been able to make them right. |
| N/a |
| Licking batter of the mixer |
| Going from hating marinera sauce to loving it as I got older. |
| Fresh cheese curds…Wisconsin staple |
| Baking sugar cookies every year with my nana |
| My mom asking me to make something that she had never made |
| R2D2 cake for my bday in 3rd grade |
| Every year for Thanksgiving, my family would come together and make a HUGE Thanksgiving feast. Every year, we would make and bring the pumpkin pie. One year, my grandmother requested that she make a pie. We obliged and so there, along with the spread of desserts, lie a scrumptious pumpkin pie! I went ahead and served up a sizable slice to enjoy after dinner. I dressed it up with a generous amount of whipped cream and an extra dash of cinnamon spice. I prepared a large bite, ready to consume a pie made with love and pumpkins. To my surprise, and ultimate disappointment, it was a SWEET POTATO PIE. I’m not sure if you’ve ever expected a pumpkin pie and wound up with sweet potato pie, but it was NOT pleasant to my taste buds. Though I am not a fan of sweet potato pie, I had already made my bed with the behemoth of a slice that lay before me. I ended up finishing the slice and I must say, it was the best (and only) sweet potato pie that I had ever eaten! |
| Learning how to scramble eggs. |
| Learning how to make pierogies from scratch with my great-great-grandma’s recipe |
| Popcorn |
| Sunday meals with extended family |
| Dutch baby (big pancake!) |
| Discovering I have alpha-gal syndrome. |
| The first time I had calamari, my parents basically tricked me into it when I was 8. I still love it to this day. |
| Having fish chowder at my grandmother’s house in Maine |
| Let’s just say that you shouldn’t eat undercooked hamburger meet on your 13th birthday unless you want to spend 24 hours in the bathroom. |
| Getting soft serve ice cream with chocolate sprinkles at the beach with Mom |
| Cooking with my Mum. We would always talk about life. Us being in the kitchen everyday together produced some of my favorite memories. Food helps bring families together. |
| Food fight in Evan’s hall. |
| Making a gingerbread house from scratch every Christmas based on a trip we had taken that year. |
| Easter morning hard boiled eggs and Polish kielbasa with red beet horseradish sauce made hotter with the addiction of stronger horseradish. Tea or coffee to drink, gathered with family. |
| Chicken |
| I would fall asleep many times at the dinner table because I would not eat certain foods. |
| The smell of long cooked spaghetti sauce as you opened the door to my grandmothers house after the long drive. It was magic every time. |
| Walking through the street market in Thailand. Eating all the good food and desserts along the way. |
| Big turkey dinners for Thanksgiving with family recipe sides. |
| Ate a whole broiled pan of pork chops when I was 10 years old |
| My grandmother making two pots of curry, one spicy and one mild, to accommodate different tastes for everyone |
| Mom’s pie |
| Eating poffertjes (mini pancakes!) on The beach with my family in the Netherlands :)! |
| Every Saturday I woke up to the smell of pancakes, waffles, or egg sandwiches that my Dad was making. |
| Grilling out with mom and dad |
| My mom’s picadillo and my dad’s sweet potato pie. I wish I could have both of those just one more time. Heck, if I ever had the opportunity to time travel, I would go back and get them to make it for me one more time… |
| Chasing after the ice cream truck |
| My mom would make hotdog octopuses by cutting the bottom into sections to make tentacles and serve it with a sea of mac and cheese with broccoli sea grass. |
| My mom teaching me how to make tortillas from scratch and learning to flip them by hand. |
| Cooking with my grandmother |
| Shrimp cocktail |
| Calves liver with onions |
| shake-a-pudding |
| We almost always eat the same on Sundays for lunch |
| Sunday dinner after church, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn bread and a vegetable from the garden. Rural Arkansas from the 1940’s. |
| My family’s Christmas Eve tradition of fondue chocolate with cream puffs and other desserts. |
| Eating peanut butter on a BLT. |
| Christmas eve feast of seven fishes |
| Homemade Salmon cakes from canned salmon. |
| Being challenged to eat pizza any way my friends doctored it up |
| Binging on massive plates of fries and coke floats. |
| Thai turkey my dad likes to make |
| my grandmother taking me and my siblings to lunch at PDH when we were little. |
| Spam and beans |
| My grandma used to always make fluffer-nutter sandwiches when I would go to her house. Peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, to this day, is still one of my favorite combinations. But I can never prepare them quite as well as she did. |
| Special sushi birthday dinners! |
| No thank you. |
| My Grandmothers pot roast, gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans. I can still smell it! |
| All my friends wanting to stay over for dinner at my house for my mom’s cooking! |
| I’ve got nothing |
| Eating my first lobster tail in San Francisco. I was 8 or 9 and have loved lobster ever since. I ate my first whole lobster in Maine (where else?). |
| Watching my Abuela making her tamales or mac-n-cheese |
| I didn’t like food that sounded weird like hot dogs, cottage cheese |
| Anything my Italian mother made. |
| The first time I ate boiled shrimp with my family on a beach trip was amazing. I had never tasted something like that and have loved anything shrimp ever since. I was about 8 when I first tried shrimp. |
| swirled vanilla/chocolate ice cream with rainbow sprinkles in the summer from surfin turtle in satellite beach! |
| My mom’s Pumpkin Roll during October/November is to die for |
| BLTs |
| Homemade popcorn on weekends. Dad used to say “shall we make a batch”. I now own a commercial popcorn machine! |
| Baking and decorating gingerbread houses each year |
| Spaghetti dinners in the living room on Saturdays! |
| Sunday dinner in Kentucky was always fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans & cornbread. Seems like my family should be related to Colonel Sanders! |
| Growing up, many of my family members loved czarnina. (Polish duck blood soup). I did not! However, I do make goląbki (cabbage rolls) like my family did and it doesn’t repulse people lol! |
| My mom’s paula dean taco soup |
| Friday lunchtime spaghetti & meat sauce. |
| When I would stay over at my grandparents house, my Pop would always send me home with a big jar of Skippy peanut butter. My mother only bought the all natural stuff and the sugar added Skippy drove her nuts! But she would let me keep it and make sandwiches with it. |
| Learning how to make latkes (potato pancakes) with my mother |
| Eating lasagna |
| To convince me to eat fish when I was younger, my family told me it was Flounder from the Little Mermaid (dark, I know). It wasn’t until recently that I found out the fish dish I loved my whole life wasn’t actually Flounder but various other types of fish. My family forgot to ever correct me. 31 years of lies! But…it’s still delicious, flounder or not. |
| Portuguese fish / seafood |
| Eating steak fondue. My parents good not get themselves fed because we were eating ours so quickly. All of their time was spent helping us cook our steak. |
| Pierogies for Christmas Eve |
| Trips to McDonalds whenever my aunt visits. It was a short walk but we always were excited to enjoy a happy meal to get the toy! |
| Dunking Donuts after church on Sunday |
| Sheet pizzas at Longos |
| My mom making my favorite meal for birthday |
| My great aunt Edna’s fried okra |
| I went to my grandfather’s home after school for lunch and we had banana stew! They used bananas in the sauce, which included chicken, vegetables, and spices, served over rice. It was new to me, but I’ve never forgotten how delicious it was! |
Share a food-related memory from your time at Florida Tech.
| Those were the days when they were serving beer and wine at the SUB cafeteria along with a sandwich. |
| Managing the snack bar. |
| The burger grill at Evans dining hall. |
| Coffee |
| The first time I ate at Firehouse Subs, when they first opened at the SUB, I tried the Engineer sandwich – delicious! It has become a family staple; everyone at my home loves it! I used to love eating at the SUB before it turned into a food court – those ladies that served us were the best and also the food! |
| Late night food at the Rat |
| rat nuggets with corn inside |
| The grilled chicken sandwich at the SUB. |
| I really liked the bubble tea drinks at the Rathskeller . But the one food-related memory that sticks out for me is that one of my friends ate a cheeseburger and fries everyday for dinner for over a month. I told him he needed to be careful and vary his diet more. Well he ended up gaining 50 lbs and got mono during his freshman year. |
| Having a graduation lunch with Dr Trefrey, our team and Alan, another graduate. |
| Full trays of everything at Evans and going back for chocolate cake after every meal. |
| Black kats cafe |
| Milkshake at the Rat |
| Thanksgiving with friends who stayed for the long weekend. Wonderful potlucks and interesting new things to try. |
| Grabbing a milkshake on the way to class. If we were going to be late, we brought one for the professor. |
| Sub sandwiches with pickles |
| Going to Jerry’s Italian |
| Pizza during the ball games on the weekend at Rick’s Oak Tree |
| Not many but in relatively recent time had a mothers day brunch at Panther Dining Hall Excellent. Never a bad meal at Florida Tech |
| Something they called sloppy Joe…….I am from another country and never heard of it, when I tasted it at the Cafeteria, I couldnt believe people actually ate this. It was so overwhelming, so the days that was served it was salad day for me. |
| Loosing 20 pounds my first year while on the standard cafeteria meal plan because either the selections did not appeal to me or the operating hours were inconvenient. |
| Pizza |
| My freshman-fifteen (lbs) was really a freshman-thirty (but I had room for it). |
| Buffalo chicken wraps. The end. |
| International Dinners in Panther Dining Hall |
| Food fight in the cafeteria. |
| Wraps from the Sub! |
| Dim Sum in Orlando |
| Walking into town – Melbourne (we didn’t have cars or bicycles then) on Sundays to eat at the all you can eat buffet on Babcock, by the old Publix Supermarket, in the shopping center. |
| Lunch at Cabana Shores or dinner at The Mansion in Melbourne, FL |
| There was only one small dining hall on campus when I started at FIT in 1967. At that time it was about as far away from the dorms as possible. I was part of the residence meal plan. The food was nothing to write home about!!! This was the era when Freshmen had to wear beanies and it was during the trip to the facility or in the facility that we were engaged by our seniors level classmates. We became very good at “ribitting”. I must admit it was somewhat of an embarrassing time, however, it did provide me with the opportunity to learn the names of many of many upper level classmates which benefited me in my time at FIT |
| The best scrambled eggs where at Evans Hall cafeteria. |
| Gathering and grilling at the beach with my fraternity Theta Xi. |
| Any day there is tater tot bar at the dining hall! |
| Making ice cream sandwiches with cookies and soft serve at the dining hall. Did that in front of a troop of visiting boy scouts once, you should have seen how big their eyes got! |
| Free food on the quad every now and then~ |
| Eating while doing homework! |
| After my first semester as a freshman, I went home for Christmas to learn my mother had become a vegetarian in my absence! To further my disappointment, after months of choices in Evans Hall, The Ratt and The SUB, I was subjected to the one (vegetarian) meal feeds all approach and lack of drink choices at home. It was a shock to the system! |
| Walking to the 7-Eleven (University & Babcock) for hotdogs late night. While waiting, saw a mother and adult daughter who I found equally appetizing, then realized I was getting older. |
| Buffalo chicken wraps |
| As a Freshman on the Rowing Team I liked being able to go back for unlimited servings. I easily ate 7ths when it was chicken legs and thighs. I’d get 5ths for breakfast on the eggs. I also remember the hard boiled Quail eggs being served in a bowl. I put on about 20 lbs of muscle that year. |
| I love the Christmas buffet! |
| Graduation banquet on base at the Naval Air Station Test Center Patuxent River Maryland. Coordinated by all graduate participants, in 1982 |
| It’s been a while! Nothing comes to mind!! |
| Going to the Shroom with friends. |
| Peanut butter and jelly |
| Going to cosmic creamery every Friday when it first opened with two good friends…we are still close to this day. |
| Cooking with my roommate in our apartment. Eating at the Mighty Mushroom. |
| Eating free pizza while making calls to perspective students |
| Buffalo chicken wraps on Tuesdays |
| Free Mighty Mushroom pizza (and beer) after flag football championship |
| Eating at Evan’s with my friends Saturday morning. |
| Getting some fast food to go and eating it on the balcony of the top floor of the engineering building. |
| My friends and i usually walked to Jose’s (i think that was what it was called) by 7-11. |
| Getting together for game night and one friend from Venezuela always brought a dip called guacacaca (spelling*, it’s similar to guacamole). |
| Eating pizza on the quad in front of the science building at night with MD2020 |
| Chatting with Donna in the SUB with my girlfriend (now wife) when ordering my lunch. |
| At home on my computer with protein drinks trying to get as much done as possible. |
| Going out to dinner after graduation, rven though I was online I was invited to campus to graduation, it meant a lot. |
| I had no money so would often eat hotdogs in my apartment for lunch. Good times! |
| N/A (online student) |
| Food on campus wasn’t particularly good. Renting a room nearby, I just never ate on campus. |
| Not a food related memory, more of a restaurant eating and drinking memory from the ‘shroom…Too many good ones to tell… |
| I went to the St Petersburg campus and grabbed a Squirt and 2 fire balls on the way to night classes. |
| burgers from the grill at Evans! |
| Tippy’s taco house !!!! |
| Freshman year, served steak at the dining hall. There was a dog who always came around looking for hand outs. We gave him one of the steaks and he wouldn’t eat it! Yes, they were that bad back in 1973! |
| I loved the midnight breakfast offered during finals week. |
| The much-maligned SUB cafeteria did an incredible transformation the summer I spent on campus (1972). The meals were of gourmet quality! They took requests from those of us still on campus and produced marvelous meals that would rival the best restaurants in the area. Birthdays were celebrated with steaks and cakes to please the celebrant. No food fights occurred because this was truly a place to cherish, at least three times a day. |
| Picking oysters & other shellfish from the Indian River & bringing them back to a party to roast & eat |
| A multicultural potluck on the last day of stats class! |
| Sorry, I was too busy working at Radiation 8 to 10 hours a day and going to classes after work. I remember running home from work, grabbing a snack and running off to my classes. |
| Going to Melbourne Square mall to eat. |
| How bad the cafeteria food was in the early 196o’s |
| Magic Mushroom |
| Cramming like 12 friends around a circle table in Evans Hall for dinner every night |
| Having fellow foodie friends that found creative ways to make tastier dishes out of the mundane/usual. Thankful for them all hahah. |
| Tuna Fish |
| Mighty Mushroom Pizza |
| Honestly the food on campus was not great when I was there. But there was a cool little restaurant just off campus on Babcock that I used to frequently visit |
| A lot of late night snacking while writing papers! |
| Buffalo chicken wrap – that is all that needs to be said |
| Studying in the dining hall during the summer when nobody is there |
| Back in my day, the food was not that great on campus. |
| Hanging out at the Rat, ordering a variety of foods, sharing and snacking while playing pool & arcade games! |
| I love that Starbucks is on campus. I get that 2pm craving at times for coffee and I will go get Starbucks. |
| Working in the Kitchen at Strawberry Mansion and getting leftovers to take home. |
| “Free-For-All” on Friday nights at the Hilton on Melbourne Beach. When the free pizza came out, we made a chain to keep piling up the slices on our table, and then pigged out! |
| I was a student during the Vietnam era. I don’t remember any antiwar demonstrations, but I do remember a protest about the cafeteria food. |
| As an off campus student, I did not eat in the Dining Hall very often, but I did visit the Black Katz Kafe back in the day that only opened “after hours”. My friends and I would pick up decadent red velvet or apple pie milkshakes and hang out late at night. There was always one poor soul that had class early the next morning, but we did it anyways! |
| Buying milkshakes at black Kats nightly for all of my friends because I had left over flex credit. |
| none |
| Don’t have one. |
| Filling the ice cream cone with chocolate sprinkles then giving it to someone else to watch their surprise when they bit into the cone |
| At Panther dining hall, I loved the cultural days where I was able to try many different cuisines. This helped me mature my taste pallet and grow my love for food. |
| Going to Taco Bell at 3 o’clock in the morning. |
| Fresh made donuts at Evans |
| Salad bar at the SUB |
| When I was having the worst morning of my entire life, one of my cross country teammates texted me and asked if I wanted to come with her to TJ Flats. I wiped off my tears and forced myself to go with her, and that decision changed my life because it gave me a moment to feel normal and enjoy a meal, which enabled me to make smarter decisions that day. |
| That time we accidentally spilled a bubblegum pink smoothie on the 3rd floor carpet of the Health sciences building and it left a stain |
| Chocolate coated coffee beans during exam prep |
| Late nights at the Rat |
| Taste of the Season event that featured sea scallops. |
| DaKine Burrito by Patrick AFB |
| Chilling at Panther grocery with friends in between classes |
| Catching fresh lobster and eating them back on campus. (southgate) |
| Cereal,for,dinner |
| I used to love the cheese pizza from the Rat. Nothing like splitting a large with friends and talking trash about our classes and ROTC instructors! |
| Eating wings at Wally’s Pad or eating at Bunky’s raw bar |
| Remote student-was on a call when I spilled my coffee on my keyboard. The chat kept showing “m” a bunch of times. |
| Buffalo Chicken Wrap |
| Once I bought a giant tray of ice cream for my fraternity. |
| gourmet parties where you brought your favorite food. that way if others brought junk you had a big bowl of stuff you like |
| Can anyone say Chicken Philly Day at the RAT? |
| Food fights and mystery meat |
| Frequent food fights in the SUB. |
| Ordering pizza during a long night working at the HSDC. |
| Good fat juicey cheese burgers and cold beer in the Rat. |
| I loved the Sub’s ham salad. The staff that would make sandwiches knew that and would always make sure that there was enough for me when I came for lunch late. Ham salad was only a periodic offering, but these kind women made me feel special and loved because when they saw me in line they would wink and start my sandwich. Some times the people in front of me were told they had sold out! And they had sold out, except for the dish that was set aside for me. |
| No real memory to share. |
| When the midnight breakfast aux takeover |
| I used to love getting high ends subs and chvocolate covered espresso beans at the Student Union building. |
| Doughnuts from Evans Hall, a slice at Mighty Mushroom, wings from JJ’s, Ryan’s steak house, and mud pie at the Chart House! |
| Any of the country-themed meals in the PDF. |
| McDonalds Melbourne. Worked there one summer |
| Evans was where I first tried biscuits and gravy. |
| Jalapeño wraps at the sub and pay-by-weight salads when I would literally put a single chickpea back to stay under budget. |
| Having to eat at George’s Restaurant in Cocoa Beach, because Hydrospace Institute of Technology didn’t have a cafeteria. I drove the shuttle bus between the dorm and the restaurant and usually got a better meal at the end of the time slot because the staff treated the drivers the best! |
| Steak night in Evans Hall |
| Late night Rat flatbread |
| The first time I ate in Panther Hall was an eye-opener! A far nicer experience than my undergraduate memories of on-campus dining. |
| BBQ with CSA |
| I was so broke, I would sometimes wait until about 1 pm to eat, then I’d go to Ryan’s to have their $3.99 buffet. I would eat enough to hold me over to the next day. |
| Ugly plastic “jail type” dishes at Evans hall… |
| PDH chicken from the grill with teriyaki and putting it on a salad! Or buffalo chicken wrap day! |
| cafeteria produced pompano almondine hooked me on this local cuisine |
| Gene and Dolores at Jose’s Cuban Sandwich Shop, southeast corner of Babcock and University Blvd. They were SO nice and the food was always great. You could pay by check. |
| Non of the foods presented in the cafeteria were good. Did like to eat at Lum’s (hot dogs simmered in beer with fries) and Mr. Donuts both I think were located on Babcock! |
| Sorry, I got none. |
| Popeye’s chicken with the students in the lab |
| Mighty Mushroom pizza |
| I have none |
| Eating at Old School Pizza/The Slice right at the corner of campus. Best hang-out spot and cheap food! Eating Buffalo chicken wraps in the SUB. |
| Ordering as many wings as possible to use up my food credits. |
| Pink chiffon “pie” food fight in the SUB |
| Clams Rock-a-fellow |
| Food fight in Evan’s Cafeteria. I was actually appalled. Felt sorry for the folks who had to clean it up a d the food really wasn’t all that bad. |
| Walking with pressed sandwiches from 7-11 to class |
| Back in the day, the cafeteria food was boring, but plentiful. |
| The FIT cafeteria actually provided pretty good food. But, the once yearly “food fight” that usually erupted sometime in the Autumn. |
| pizza in the rathskeller. |
| Rick’s Oak Tree and Big A’s Deli sandwiches. |
| I worked in the Rat, so learning how to cook stuff “until it looked like something I’d want to eat”… |
| Too long ago |
| Ramen noodles and popcorn |
| Eating pizza at.the shroom |
| Eating calzones at Mellow Mushroom! Best I’ve ever had |
| Subs and salads |
| The one time they had grilled chicken tenders at Evan’s hall. Also mixing Cheerios and Lucky Charms together as a go-to breakfast staple. |
| Spaghetti |
| Eating a big breakfast every day after morning practice with the cross country team in the dining hall. Lots of chocolate milk and pancakes post long runs! |
| Veggie burgers from a Mom and Pop shop off campus |
| Bad food |
| Thanksgivings in Southgate |
| the hotdog cart outside Crawford |
| Pizza night |
| Don’t have one. |
| Buffalo chicken wraps at the SUB every Thursday! |
| Late night milkshakes at the bar next to the rat after downtown Melbourne drinks (as a senior over 21 of course) |
| Pre-Friendsgiving potluck dinners. We’d get a group of friends together. We’d always fry 2 turkeys and I make a killer cranberry sauce (fresh cranberries, maple syrup, ginger and water). Everyone would bring something and we’d eat together. |
| We used to have these International Coffee Hours. Cultural clubs would make coffee in the traditional way of their country and we would always have excellent conversation. I went on to be a barista for a bit and I always cherished these moments as I made drinks to the preferences of others. |
| Ham and cheddar cheese sandwiches on an onion roll at the old student union sub shop |
| Bacon egg and cheese bagels from panther grocery before class |
| Inviting female students over for seafood and study time. =) |
| I was on the Student Food Committee at the Sub…..didn’t help too much on the choices or quality! |
| Chicken dinner |
| Going to Wags or Perkins after rehearsal. |
| Eating desserts first. |
| Not really knowing what was in those mystery meat patties. |
| Mighty Mushroom calzone was my favorite |
| Getting breakfast sandwiches from Freddie in the morning at the SUB |
| food fights in Evans hall |
| Eating out with the soccer team after games at the buffet thanks to Coach Stottler. |
| There are far too many experiences to count, especially with all of the cultural theme nights that PDH hosts! Every time I was able to commune with friends was a great memory! |
| Midnight Dinner my sophomore year. It was a fun break while I was preparing for finals. |
| Milk shakes at night with my boyfriend (now husband) |
| Heading to The Sub for salad from the salad bar, hot french fries, and a blueberry banana smoothie, a lunch staple during my freshman year. |
| Kool-Aide |
| The old S.U.B. Cafeteria serving free quail eggs from the research init |
| Buffalo chicken wraps at the SUB! |
| Um…microwave popcorn during study sessions? |
| Buffalo Chicken Wrap Thursdays at the SUB was THE go-to. I still haven’t had one since that meets the memory I have of the one from the SUB. |
| Freshman year a group of us made a lemon meringue pie and used a hot plate to brown the meringue. We then showed it off to everyone and had a guest list for everyone who saw it. |
| Evans hall was the meeting place – especially for breakfast. |
| Bringing our own marshmallows to throw back at Marty Putz, the comedian. |
| All the memories with friends in the Panther Dining Hall. It was such a great social spot on campus with good food. Just being able to run into people, eat, chat, and hang out. I really miss PDH. It was such a wonerful place – definetly one of my favorite Florida Tech memories. |
| Oops. Food fight from Evans Hall |
| Eating with the women’s rowing team at Evans Hall after morning practice |
| Going with my friends to Evans Hall cafeteria for dinner. Going through the SUB cafeteria after checking your mail to grab a quick bite between classes or before heading to my work study job in the Chem Labs. |
| Pizza |
| Eating pizza with friends at the Ratskellar and listening to music. |
| The grilled turkey and cheese sando from the SUB (RIP) made lovingly by Freddy. |
| I learned to like cream cheese because a bagel and a square of Philadelphia Cream Cheese was $0.50 in 1987/88. I didn’t come from a rich family, so some days that was my only food for the day. |
| Buffalo chicken wrap day at the sub! |
| Last time I was there I was at a basketball game, got hot dogs and popcorn. |
| wings and milkshakes hanging out in the Rat Pub |
| I took my sandwich into a friend’s bathroom and dropped it in there and was really sad I had to throw it away. |
| Cuban sandwiches |
| Late night snacks at the Rat and omg the best grilled cheese at the Sub |
| I always loved the international bar offered, I liked experiencing all the different cultural flavors! |
| Rathskeller |
| None comes to mind, but I have plenty of drink-related ones that involve the rathskeller… |
| I loved the international food series at PDH, and meeting my friends for lunch every day at the SUB |
| Smuggling food out of PDH in ziplock bags as a freshman with only weekday dining hall swipes. This was when the dividers still separated the booths and the staff couldn’t see me stealing sandwiches and bags of spaghetti on a Friday night to last through the weekend. |
| My roommate and I prepared for one of the hurricanes by buying a whole pizza from Mighty Mushroom that we thought would keep us fed throughout the ordeal 😬 little did we know how long it would last! |
| Corn nuggets from the Rat! |
| Breakfast at midnight |
| Absolutely nothing |
| I’ll always remember the Christmas lunch that was served around finals week time in the fall semester. The head chef at Panther Dining Hall was always really excited about it and would come around to every table asking everyone how their food was. The food was always incredible and the vibes were amazing. |
| The red snapper speared off Sebastian inlet while scuba diving,, and cooking it back at my apartment on a hibachi grill — best fish ever! |
| picnics in the jungle |
| First of all, it was Florida Institute of Technology. The Florida Tech name didn’t come until later. Back then there was a seafood restaurant right on the line between Melbourne and Eau Gallie that served a crab claw scampi that was absolutely delicious. The local blue crab claws combined perfectly with the buttery, garlicky scampi sauce. You could smell the garlic when you walked in the door. |
| Cheese steak from the sub cafeteria The Caribean Student Association melting the floor in Evans cafeteria during a cultural food takeover |
| Eating dinner at the Panther Dining hall surrounded by friends and being able to catch up with each other. |
| The cold sour milk requested by the Middle Eastern students. |
| Food fight at Evans cafeteria. Everyone eating on the required meal plan for first quarter. Somebody stands up and yells “I can’t eat this s–t!!”, and throws his food. Then the entire place erupted in a massive food fight. |
| See the comm ent about childhood. That took place while at FIT |
| PFM! Enough said. |
| Sushi from Panther grocery |
| midnight breakfast at PDH |
| Hamburgers in Evan’s hall made by Freddy |
| I was meeting friends at the Rat to play pool and hang out. While we were waiting for a table, we were talking and making jokes. One of my friends laughed so hard, his energy drink came out of his nose! |
| Late night rat Mac and cheese bites with my roommates freshmen year |
| While at panther grocer the sandwich maker accidentally poured 1/2 a container of buffalo sauce in my wrap when I asked for extra. It was perfect. |
| Bunkys Wings!! |
| The closing of Evan’s hall 🙁 |
| Every Christmas party at Panther dining was spectacular and fun, and the food was incredible, even if it was just finger foods. |
| Having lunch on the front porch of the new PDH. And sandwiches from Dale at the deli. |
| I would spend way too much time at the milkshake spot, and that chocolate-covered strawberry shake still haunts my dreams. |
| Great cheesburgers at Rathskeller. |
| Fat Boys BBQ |
| Tortellini salad. Must have. |
| My grandmother’s molasses donuts were the best! |
| Stretching my meal credit into two meals at the rat bc I could eat a personal pizza for two days |
| The wings from the Rat at 1 a.m. is such a happy feeling. |
| Eating a milk shake and fries after every diff eq test with my roommate at the RAT. |
| The 3 layer chocolate mouse pie was my go-to. If that wasn’t available getting a cone of soft serve from the machine. OR Going to Culver’s with my best friend to work on homework until they closed. |
| First week on campus 1981. The chicken in the dining hall was way undercooked. The next day the chicken was almost cooked. Bu the third a day the chicken was fully cooked. We cracked jokes for weeks that if we didn’t like something just wait three days and they’ll get it right |
| My then girlfriend and now wife used to get buffalo chicken wraps from panther grocery and have lunch dates between class |
| Midnight breakfast during exam weeks |
| The cultural dinner series! |
| Would walk to a nearby pizza place called the Mellow Mushroom! Not sure if there’s any relation to the current one. |
| When writing papers I always had a piece or 2 of bubble gum in my mouth to help me concentrate. Something about the popping and snapping of the gum was soothing. No way I did this in a room full of others and lived to tell about it though! |
| Clams and oysters |
| Thanksgiving at the dining hall |
| Cooked to order burgers from the chef at Evans Hall 1991-1995. The days that the lawn service came we seemed to always have wild rice; coincidence? |
| My floor mates, yes the entire floor (Fourth Floor Roberts) loved hanging out. At the end of the semester when we all had large amounts of flex cash remaining, we would buy a bunch of pizzas and have a pool &pizza party at the former Brownlie pool. It was always a blast. One weekend, my roommate and I decided to try every flavor of cheesecake you could buy from the Rat. It was a very exhausting experience but a great memory. |
| Holding a Lakte competition as part of Florida Tech Hillel during Hanukkah. |
| None, was remote and then Covid hit. |
| Buffalo chicken wraps from The SUB and pumpkin pie milkshakes from The Rat got me through my collegiate experience. |
| Ham and cheese omelettes for lunch with our cook Jorge in the cafeteria |
| I don’t have one due to being an online student. |
| Pizza delivery to the library during finals |
| Smoothies at Clemente Center |
| Eating at the Rat with friends |
| Breakfast croissants in between teaching my morning and afternoon science classes. |
| Freshman year, I’d go to PDH for breakfast after my MWF 8 AM class. I’d order the same thing every time: 2 chocolate chip pancakes. A few weeks in, every time I’d walk up to order, the grillmaster would hand me a plate already ready for me! It was a kind gesture that I’ve never forgotten. One of many stories that demonstrates how Florida Tech is truly a community. |
