Let’s be honest – even though it’s nice to not have to cook our own meals, we all have our problems with the Gordon Dining Hall. Maybe you don’t like it when they cook fish, or you wish there were more fresh fruits, or you can’t stand the overcooked pasta. Maybe it’s worse; you might have allergies they struggle to accommodate, or you’re an athlete who can’t make it to dinner in time after a game, or you got food poisoning once and have been terrified ever since. All real problems. But despite its numerous imperfections, it’s what we get, so we need to learn to make the most of it.
Here are a few tips I’ve compiled, from friends, nutritionists, and myself, that will help you make your way through the dining hall and come out on the other side with a full plate of food that’s as interesting as you can get.
1. Corner to corner
I’m telling you this first, because it’s by far the most important: use every station. Don’t grab the first thing you see that looks okay-enough, or go straight to the one thing you can always trust. Take some time to explore the whole dining area – from the breakfast corner, to the salad bar, to the international station. If you find something you haven’t tried before, today’s the day. Maybe you challenge yourself to make the most diverse meal you can make, and take at least one thing from every station. Why? Diversity in your meals is vital. It keeps you healthier, but more importantly, keeps you from getting bored. If you make it a game, even the dining hall can be fun. Or at least bearable.
2. Don’t be fussy, you aren’t teething anymore
Try new things – it might not seem like a college dining hall would be a good place to try new foods, but if you don’t give everything a chance, you limit your options even further.
So try new things, but also combinations you’re unsure of. What’s the benefits of trying new things on the menu?
Your biggest obstacle will be if you’re a picky eater. Listen, I can be a picky eater too, so I get it, but when you let go of your fears and allow yourself to explore the wide culinary jungle of flavors and textures, so many barriers will fall. Be resourceful. Be creative. There are so many foods that I eat now, as a Junior in college, that would have made high school me gag. You just have to try those things that most don’t want to try.
3. Utilize the toppings in the salad and sandwich bar
You can put these toppings anywhere! You can make a crazy sandwich out of salad bar toppings, or a salad piled with foods from other stations. You can even add toppings from different stations onto a slice of pizza.
4. Check online
There are two things you should be regularly checking: your dining balance, and the online menu. With the regular meal plan, you can’t get three meals a day all the time. And if you choose the plan with 190 swipes and 300 dining dollars, you can’t even have two meals a day. So do the math, and figure out how often you can have your meals. Be sure to choose the plan that best serves you.
And check the online menu before heading over to lane, to make sure it’s worth the swipe.
5. Get food to go and bring it back to your room
Sometimes the dining hall can seem like a hostile place. If you don’t have someone to sit with, it can feel worse, and might keep you from wanting to go at all. And God forbid you drop something, making the whole hall erupt in mocking applause.
When I was an underclassman, I often got my dinners to go and brought them back to my dorm. My room was a safe space, so it was just more comfortable to get a green box or bring my own Tupperware to take the food to go, so I didn’t have to sit alone or with people I didn’t know well. I also found that if I didn’t want to take my food to go, simply
Bringing a book and reading during my meal got rid of the social anxiety of sitting at an empty table.
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