Last Thursday was the annual Boar’s Head Dinner, a Rochester tradition that I never really understood until I went. It’s held in Douglass dining hall and costs $21 in declining (meal plan money) to go, so I basically just assumed it would be like normal dinner but somewhat fancier. I decided to buy a ticket because my friends were really excited for it and because it’s my senior year, meaning I jump at the chance to do basically anything that’s labeled as a “Rochester tradition.”
In the days leading up to Boar’s Head, as the Campus Activities Board began to decorate Douglass and people started talking about how they were going to get dressed up, I grew more and more excited to go. When I found out that dinner actually involved a multi-course meal including dessert, I was totally sold. I walked into Douglass on Thursday night and could not believe my eyes—this was our dining hall? The whole room had been transformed with banners and all kinds of medieval decorations, including a high table of sorts in the middle of the room, where deans and important student leaders sat. There were even fake torches and an ice sculpture!
The dinner was fun because it was almost more like a show—the UR Jugglers, acting as court jesters, did a performance, all the a cappella groups and some members of Off Broadway On Campus (OBOC) sang before each course, and the servers and everyone sitting at the high table were dressed in their best medieval attire. I learned that it’s a tradition for a professor from a different department each year to give the annual “reading of the boar,” a story they modify to reflect their respective disciplines. This year it was a public health professor, so we heard a lot of jokes about boar obesity and theories that I didn’t entirely understand, but enjoyed nonetheless.
The food itself was awesome! We started out with bread and soup, had a main course of mashed potatoes, vegetables and, of course, pork (and pasta for vegetarians!) and finished the evening with a delicious cake and coffee. Each table had several pitchers of apple cider, which we drank out of awesome mugs (that we got to keep!). Every table had a student host, two student servers, and a faculty member plus a guest, which, combined with everything else of course, made it seem like much more of an official meal.
I had no idea what to expect from Boar’s Head, but I’m so glad I went! Not only was the food amazing, but it was such a fun and unique experience. I now understand why nearly everyone tries to go their senior year.
