10 Best Campuses for the Discerning Diner

  1. Yale University
    This New Haven, Connecticut Ivy League school features 18 residential dining halls offering a wide variety of meals for a palate that craves both flavor and variety. Lunch entrees have included clam pizza, French lamb stew, or smoked turkey and pear paninis, while dinner entrees have included flank steak with blue cheese demi glace and honey roasted salmon. How’s that for typical cafeteria food? Vegan options might include white bean and spinach casserole, and a kosher kitchen is even included among the dining halls for those with special dietary needs.
  2. Wheaton College
    From comfort foods like fried chicken and homemade mac & cheese to Latin and Asian cuisine, this campus west of Chicago likes to mix it up in its cafes. Anderson Commons always provides a gluten-free meal option, as well as gluten-free condiments for those that need them. Ethnic meals have included Vietnamese sizzle-cakes with coconut white rice, turkey teriyaki with pineapple and Moroccan chicken tagine. Those with a hankering for Chicago-style food can always run to Sam’s cafe for a classic Chicago dog.
  3. University of California—Los Angeles
    The UCLA campus is known for its diversity, and the menus of its residential eateries are equally diverse. So after working up an appetite getting lost in the UCLA Library—one of the top 10 libraries in the U.S.—you’ll have a variety of options including: sushi bowls, chicken and sausage gumbo and Asian cheeseless pizza. Bruin Café even offers a kosher menu with items like barbecue tofu sandwiches and penne pasta with chicken meatballs.
  4. New York University
    NYU’s cafés feature all of the variety you come to expect when living in a city with so many cultural influences. Dining halls offer foods like chicken tikka masala, parmesan grilled potatoes and beef involtini with roasted veggies. Vegan and vegetarian options are spot-on, with offerings like rosemary polenta with broccoli, Szechuan stir-fry and southern dirty rice. A cool feature of NYU’s food courts is that they implement a filtered water program and a reusable meal container program with the purpose of eliminating plastic bottle and food container waste.
  5. Bowdoin College
    One of the most interesting features at this Brunswick, Maine campus is its organic garden that supplies an on-campus farmer’s market during the summer and supplies various dining halls during the regular school year. The school also hosts a lobster bake at the beginning of each academic year. Everyday meals include ample healthy choices, as well as plenty of vegan and vegetarian options. Some of the delicious foods served here might include chilled strawberry soup, squash fettuccine and potatoes braised in ale. The dining halls have even been known to feature a build-your-own banana split bar.
  6. Harvard University
    This Boston-area Ivy League school is world-renowned for its academics, but its food options also deserve more than a passing glance in terms of healthy eating. Residential dining options include a number of vegan and vegetarian options, such as Turkish lentil soup and quinoa pilaf. The campus also features 13 retail dining options, many operating under green, sustainable principles so you can make both the environment and your taste buds happy. You can pick up locally-made baked goods at Belva’s, bubble tea and California-style tacos at Greenhouse Café and Sicilian-style pizza at Sebastian’s Café.
  7. Virginia Tech
    Located in Blacksburg, Virginia Tech is not only proud of its academics and research, but it is also proud of the dining opportunities it offers—and it’s not difficult to see why. Virginia Tech’s award-winning dining halls offer spectacular menus featuring Pan-Asian, Italian and Mediterranean cuisine, among others. Some items you will find as daily specials might include pecan-crusted tilapia or baked ziti with spinach and sausage.
  8. Boston College
    Hopefully you will have built up an appetite after exploring Boston College’s beautiful English gothic architecture, because there are more than enough delicious dining opportunities. Boston College strives every year to come up with new culinary options. During the summer of 2009, Boston College developed new plates such as Szechwan pork with peppers, caramelized salmon with cherry salsa, and hot & spicy Thai curry with tofu. They also added more gluten-free items for students with unique dietary constraints. Another bonus is the dining halls’ promotion of sustainable living; students are encouraged to separate out the leftover food on their plates for composting.
  9. Stanford University
    Situated in Palo Alto, California, Stanford is well-known for providing students with locally-grown organic produce. With the help of a sustainable foods coordinator, Stanford offers organic fruits and veggies from a student-run produce stand and encourages on-campus production of organic foods through Stanford Gardens and Farm. The result is some of the freshest and most delicious selections in the dining halls’ salad bars. Other culinary perks include: Sunday night Indian dinner at FloMo Dining, a peanut allergy-sensitive environment at Riker Dining, and a South American salsa bar at Stern Dining.
  10. University of Notre Dame
    This well-known school in Indiana is also known for its scrumptious dining options, with plenty of international foods and traditional American favorites available for its students. A recent menu showed you can start out your day with chocolate chip or apple pancakes from the North Dining Hall, eat a delicious black bean and sweet potato burrito for lunch and finish the day with a baked cod jardiniere dinner. Notre Dame is even partnering with Del Monte to offer fresh fruits and veggies through their vending machines, so you may not even need to go to a food court for a delicious healthy snack.

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