10 Best Colleges for Food in America
The 10th-ranked college for food: Emory University. (Courtesy: Emory University)
By Dan Myers
Nobody ever said that college was easy. With tests, book lists, and seemingly endless assignments, college students are under a whole lot of stress. Sometimes all that’s needed at the end of a long day is a good meal, but unfortunately, they can’t always get it. Let’s face it: College dining halls are typically not culinary havens.
Thankfully, though, there are more than a few colleges across the country that go above and beyond when it comes to their dining services. From schools that have their own vegetable gardens to ones that host chef demonstrations and serve only food that’s made in small batches from scratch, we’ve tracked down the best colleges for food in America.
These standout colleges were highly respected for a variety of reasons across the country, and had dining programs that caught our attention. After that, we ranked them by these criteria:
Nutrition and Sustainability: The college makes consistent efforts to ensure that its food is well-balanced as well as tasty, and is healthy not just for the students, but for the environment as well.
Accessibility and Service: The college accommodates all dietary preferences, has a variety of options for students to choose from, and makes sure that the dining options are conveniently located near students’ dorms. Dining program has on-campus eateries that are open late at night, and meal plans let students purchase off-campus food.
Education and Events: The college offers nutrition and culinary education to every student on campus and holds food-centered events to foster community and break the monotony of the dining experience.
Surrounding Area: Students have access to exciting and vast food options in the area surrounding the college and can access it easily.
The “X” Factor: These are the little extras that made our jaws drop and prove that these colleges really go above and beyond and get genuinely creative.
If you’re a food lover who wants to go to a college that’s as passionate about food as you are, you might want to get those transfer forms ready after you check our top 10 picks:
See the full list of top colleges for food
#10 Emory University, Atlanta, Ga.
The extensive list of events held at Emory, including Melon Mania, the Heirloom Tomato Festival, and a Mardi Gras celebration, had us at hello, but there’s so much more going on. The kitchen serves truly impressive dishes, like a grilled vegetable and balsamic panini, but it seems that the well-stocked salad bar is the healthy student favorite, which cannot be said for most colleges. And although Emory is dedicated to promoting health with their Healthy Eating Partners Program, they also realize that every once in a while, simple comfort food is all that diners need. That’s why students have access to national chains like Chick-fil-A and Starbucks right on campus. The student-run advisory committee runs the show at the dining halls, going through complaints and making sure that everything is suited to the students’ needs.
#9 Boston University, Boston
Photo: Boston University/ Kalman Zabarsky
One of the coolest things about Boston University is the fact that they have an on-campus bar/restaurant for all their 21-plus students known as the BU Pub, and of course, it’s a student favorite. But delicious food is still available to all the underage students, with menu options like barbecue chicken and caramelized onion pizza, stuffed shells, Rhode Island-style clam fritters, and polenta with broccoli rabe. You can find all that delicious food and more at their main dining facility, which features two massive levels and has the capacity to hold 900 people. And don’t ever think that dining at BU is boring, because it is anything but. Special events include Oktoberfest and Lobster Night. BU also tries to take as much care of the planet as it does its students, with initiatives like tray-less dining, Seafood Watch guidelines, and composting.
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#8 Occidental College, Los Angeles
Courtesy: Occidental College
The dining services at Occidental work with a student-led cooking and gardening course to educate students on good composting practices as well as proper food handling. Some of the events on campus include Food Justice Month, Public Health Week, and Earth Week, and on top of that, there are a huge array of themed meals that work in tandem with student-run organizations and clubs. And let’s not forget about the Chef’s Showcase, where on-campus chefs prepare their personal favorites, or Oxy Iron Chef, an in-house student culinary face-off.
Clearly Occidental’s mission is to focus on community building and community learning, and we think that it is a noble goal. But it’s not just the events that impress us. Meals have included balsamic-glazed chicken, butternut squash risotto, and braised beef ribs, and if you’re not satisfied with that, you can custom order exactly what it is you want and you’ll get it. Everything in the Occidental dining locations is made entirely from scratch in small batches.
#7 New York University, New York City
Photo: New York University/ Asselin
NYU had the third-highest Yelp rating of the whole bunch of colleges we looked at, and the college definitely takes advantage of its location in the food haven that is Manhattan. With Campus Cash, students can purchase food from over 20 locations, including 5 Napkin Burger and Whole Foods, as well as on-campus vendors like Starbucks and Argo Tea. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Student-wide events include a weekly brunch at the Palladium Dining Hall, complete with fresh omelettes, muffins, and fruits, and the spring Strawberry Fest, which features New York’s longest strawberry shortcake. Recently, NYU opened a community garden where students can learn to grow, tend, and harvest fresh fruits and vegetables — and on top of that, NYU is one of the first schools to create a master’s degree program exclusively for the study of food. And if you ever have any questions about anything going on at NYU’s dining services, you can always check out The Scoop, the dining services newsletter with all the up-to-date information on menus and events, plus fun facts.
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#6 Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.
Courtesy: Northwestern University
Tour of Pork, Noodlepalooza, Global Chef, Windy City Chefs, Battle of the Chefs, Street Week, and the WildCat Beach Club are just a few of the truly mind-blowing events that Northwestern University’s dining services throw. The college is dedicated to showing their students a deliciously fun time, while still dedicating themselves to the important issues of sustainability and nutrition.
All six dining halls are completely tray free, which encourages students to only take what they need each meal. The school’s purchases of local produce has reached approximately 20 percent and continues to rise, and the on-campus dietitian oversees all the menus to ensure healthfulness and holds quarterly Meet the Dietitian events to answer questions about healthy eating. Menu options include Buffalo chicken nuggets, spinach lasagna with marinara sauce, Tuscan kale salad, and curried rice with lentils, but the off-campus options are just as impressive as the on-campus ones. Lou Malnati’s, known for serving the quintessential Chicago deep-dish pizza, is right near the school. But if you want to hang around campus, you could always head to Fran’s Late Night, a hotspot for studying and late-night dining.
#5 Duke University, Durham, N.C.
Courtesy: Duke University
Duke has locations on campus serving fare that sounds more suited to a fine-dining restaurant than a college dining hall, such as pan-seared diver scallops with a basil pistou, carved-to-order porchetta with salsa verde, and gnocchi and sage au gratin. Don’t feel like leaving your bed all day? Don’t you worry, because there are eateries on Duke’s campus that will deliver your meal right to your dorm.
At Duke, there are a total of 51 dining options for students on the meal plan, including 27 on-campus locations ranging from coffee shops to outposts of local favorites, 17 local restaurants that deliver to anywhere on campus, and seven food trucks. But even with all these delicious options available, you’re still going to be eating healthily. Duke Dining partnered with the on-campus nutritionist to create the Balance Your Plate program, which is designed to help students build a healthy and delicious plate of food. The Chef’s Chatter series focuses on one healthy food item a month and how to cook, eat, and enjoy that food in many different ways. Oh yeah, and Duke Dining holds over 60 events every year, with each month featuring a large-scale event like the ever-popular Cruise Themed Dinner. They’re also in the process of renovating two main dining halls, and the finished product will be “the most cutting-edge service that has ever been attempted in a university dining environment,” according to the school. Do you see anything wrong with this dining program? Because we don’t.
#4 Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Ga.
Courtesy: Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw’s dining services are perpetually evolving, and they make sure that options served are always fresh and never boring. In fact, the menu changes so often that there are over 150 new dishes each week, and that doesn’t even include the delicious special events. The twice-monthly Black and Gold dining features high-class offerings like steak, lobster, and king crab, and other mouthwatering events include the Cram Jam, a Jell-O-eating contest, and Get Wild, which features exotic meats like kangaroo, rattlesnake, and emu right in the main dining hall!
But it doesn’t stop there. Kennesaw is one of the universities most committed to sustainability and health. The campus dietitian and the executive chef worked together to come up with Wise Choice meals, which are low in sodium, low in calories, and heart-healthy. As for sustainability, Kennesaw composts, reclaims rainwater, recycles, diverts more than 43,800 pounds of waste from landfills each month, and recycles cooking oil. If you ever want to get off campus, hit up Big Pie in the Sky Pizzeria, which was featured on Man vs. Food for its infamous Carnivore Challenge.
#3 Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
Courtesy: Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins’ dining services boast a hotel-quality brunch, food and wine pairings for seniors of legal drinking age, themed monotony breakers each month, and cooking classes in on-campus residences that focus on healthy eating. There are also monthly faculty and staff dinners with students to promote community-building as well as weekly chef demonstrations, tastings, and samplings in retail locations.
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Options served at the dining hall include manicotti puttanesca, house-smoked beef brisket sandwiches, rotisserie entrées and sides, and carved-to-order roasted meat sandwiches, so you will always be eating well at Johns Hopkins. Everything in the dining halls is made in small batches and from scratch, which not only gives students the freshest options available, but also reduces waste. Sustainability is very important on campus, which is why the dining services use compostable paper products and to-go packaging, and they compost all their food wastes and organic materials. JHU also only purchases cage-free eggs, hormone-free milk, and locally grown produce whenever possible. And if you are a student on campus craving a late-night bite, C-stores on campus are open as late as 2 a.m.
#2 Columbia University, New York City
Courtesy: Columbia University
New York is the city of dreams, and Columbia is making dreams come true by consistently proving to their students that the 600 menu items served on campus daily are just as good, if not better, than anything New York City has to offer. But if you really must eat somewhere else, Columbia’s dining plans let you use Flex Dollars at a slew of local restaurants and grocery stores, including Chipotle, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Five Guys Burgers, and Whole Foods. And if that isn’t enough to impress, Columbia dining services have completely eliminated the use of trans fats in their cooking and make a large percentage of their food from scratch, including marinara sauce and fresh mozzarella.
Columbia also consistently donates both food and money to City Harvest, and around 52 percent of all of the food purchased comes from vendors within 250 miles of campus. The registered dietitian on campus is available both online and in-person for one-on-one consultations with students. And what about events, you may ask? Well some of the most notable and exciting ones include Ice Cream and Sundaes, Sabor Latino, Food Day, National Nutrition Month, Peanut Butter and Jelly Bar, and the Food Expo. In the past year alone, culinary innovations include upgrading to hormone- and antibiotic-free pork and chicken; adding visits from chefs, including Jacques Torres and Robert Irvine, to the calendar; a chef’s table featuring cooking demos from guest chefs in the dining hall; cooking classes by executive chef Michael DeMartino, and menu additions like cold brew iced coffee and fresh-made sushi.
#1 Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine
Photo: Michele Stapleton
For the third year in a row, Bowdoin College’s dining program has snagged the No. 1 spot on this list — and it’s not hard to see why. Every single menu item is made from scratch, the two dining halls serve completely different menus, and menus are devised with whole foods, creative recipes, and the skillful use of herbs and spices in mind. Dining services truly believe that the food on campus should provide more than just a quick meal to satiate the hungry, but rather an overall experience.
Bowdoin purchases ingredients locally as often as possible, the on-campus meat shop uses locally raised beef for all of the ground beef used on campus, seafood is from certified local fishmongers, their organic garden doubled in size over the summer, and the bakeshop roasts its own pumpkins grown right in the campus garden for pumpkin pies. They’ve also recently completely upgraded kitchen equipment to be more energy and resource efficient, and food waste is composted and/or turned into pig feed. Bowdoin always encourages their students to live a healthy, fulfilled life, which is why the most popular recipes are featured on the dining services website for students to try at home; the dining program even has its own mobile app. Brunswick’s vibrant Maine Street, which boasts a wide variety of restaurants, food trucks, and a popular gelato shop, leads right to the college’s front door.
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