General Information:
Informant: Sophie Pinnie
Place: Hanover, NH
Date: November 4, 2021
Genre/Form of folklore: Customary/Ritual
Title: “Lobster and Steak Dinner”

Informant Data: Sophie is a 21-year-old Dartmouth student who is a part of the class of 2023. She is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but she lives on campus at Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire. She is a student-athlete participating on the soccer team and is majoring in government.

Contextual Data: At the end of orientation week, the Dartmouth Dining Services provides a dinner for the students consisting of steak and lobster. The freshmen come to the ’53 Commons dining hall together to eat the meal. This meal is the nicest meal that they offer during the whole year since it is meant to celebrate the freshmen’s incorporation into Dartmouth College.

Social Data: The lobster and steak dinner is an exciting end to orientation week since it provides an expensive meal to the freshmen class. This dinner allows the freshmen to continue to meet and become acquainted with each other over a nice dinner.

Item: The lobster and steak dinner provided to freshmen at ’53 Commons.  

Transcript: 
Collector: “Are there any other traditions we haven’t discussed that you think are important to freshman fall at Dartmouth?”

Informant: “The steak and lobster dinner was something that was memorable to me during my freshman fall since it felt like a celebration for me entering the Dartmouth community. It also set my expectations really high for the dining hall, which didn’t end up being as true as I’d hoped.”

Collector Comment: I recall the lobster and steak dinner as being a surprise my freshman fall since I did not expect the dining hall to provide such an expensive meal. I still look forward to the meal since all individuals on campus are able to join in the celebration of welcoming the freshmen class.

Collected by:

Carson Reich 21

Houston, TX

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS 013

Fall 2021