As a person with dietary restrictions, the Marketplace is not a fun place to be, but the guilt of not using my $4,000 freshman meal plan is even worse.
Dining Services does nothing but brag about how great the allergy-friendly options are at orientation and on tours to justify forcing meal plans on every single freshman. Those freshmen, however, are in for a sad awakening when they move in and realize there’s not a whole lot they can actually eat
Sure, someone without allergies andan iron stomach will be fine. But for the people who can’t eat chicken nuggets and quesadillas every day, it isn’t ideal.
I, for example, can’t have dairy. Yes, the little fridge with every nut milk imaginable is nice, but I don’t exactly want cereal for dinner every night. And the salad bar is great, but cereal and veggies isn’t a dinner of champs — it’s just carbs with a few vitamins thrown in.
A vegan would have zero sources of protein in the Marketplace except for the questionably prepared tofu at the Mongo station.
The gluten-free options are almost unspeakable because there aren’t many to speak of. Yes, there’s a freezer full of Lean Cuisine-equivalent meals in the corner. But that isn’t great when you’re forced to pay over an incredulous amount per year for meals that you have to make yourself anyway.
Going off of the block meal plans on the Housing website, it costs $450 to get 45 meals per semester. That’s $10 per meal. Which is great for an all-you-can-eat buffet — if you could eat it all.
If your diet doesn’t allow you to eat $10 worth of food from the Marketplace because all you can get is a $3 frozen meal that you have to prepare yourself anyway, you’re not getting your money’s worth.
Students’ meal plan money could be better allocated to grocery shopping and cooking on their own if they can’t eat the Marketplace’s options.
This isn’t to say there’s no hope for dining on campus, though. The Marketplace could easily make themselves more inclusive to dietary restrictions with a few changes.
More alternative protein options would make a huge difference—maybe a completely allergen-friendly section where meals are prepared daily? No peanuts, soy, dairy, gluten, etc. There are hundreds of recipes that can accommodate the main allergens.
More plant-based options would also go a long way. Several students, myself included, would appreciate meatless protein.
Sure, there are meatless options available now, but most of them are so carb-packed that you won’t stay full long enough to call it a meal.
Another option that would greatly enhance my dining experience would be a dairy-free option at the pizza station. Maybe throw a cauliflower crust underneath it to be gluten-free too.
While I’m on my dairy-free cheese rant, can we please get some for the salad bar too? I’m a cheese-loving girl, and I’d like to see some justice.
Dairy-free foods don’t even expire as fast as regular milks and cheeses. You can literally have a bag of dairy-free shredded cheese open for a month at a time. There’s no reason it isn’t provided as an option.
I understand that food and employees cost plenty of money, but maybe some of the options could be replaced with ones that people who need other foods can eat.
