The 7 Healthiest College Dining Halls in the Country
College is the time for late-night study-break burgers with your suitemates, loaded deli sandwiches, and endless french fries. But, these days, universities are implementing everything from on-campus farmers markets to aquaponics systems (designed by college alums, of course), as collegiate reputations are going from kegs of lager to bushels of kale. Many universities are now committed to providing better options in dining halls, not to mention sustainability programs, on-site farms, and cows you can pet before you taste their fresh, grassy milk. Here are seven of our favorite healthyish college dining programs.
Photo courtesy of @TheSterlingKitchen1/71. Sterling College, Craftsbury Common, VT
Laugh about Vermont’s hippie rep all you want, but our friends in the Green Mountain State are onto something. Sterling College doesn’t have any food courts or fast food joints on campus. Instead, it manages its food system from seed to compost. All students have to put in one week of dish duty each semester (trust us, your twentysomething, studio-apartment-dwelling self will be grateful), and students roll up their sleeves in the kitchen next to pro chefs to make recipes with produce from local farms.
Sterling’s Rian Fried Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems houses more than 130 acres of farm and gardens, an edible forest garden, the Alfond Draft Horse Barn, hoop houses, and a sugarhouse and sugarbush for maple syrup production (it is, after all, Vermont). The college grows 35 percent of its own food using no pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Even cooler? Sterling sources 53% of their grub locally, either from large farms within a 150-mile radius or from small farms within 250 miles. Non-profit The Real Food Challenge, a nationwide initiative to make campus food more local, healthful, and sustainable has rated Sterling as #1 in America three years in a row. Those hungry for more can enroll in the School of the New American Farmstead, Sterling’s continuing education program, and take classes like Fundamentals of Artisan Cheese, Wildcrafting: Food & Beverages from the Natural World, Artisan Breadmaking & Heritage Grains, and the Art of Fermentation.
Photo courtesy of @umassdining.2/72. University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, MA
Local food and fresh ingredients are at the center of UMass-Amherst’s campus food, which The Princeton Review has ranked as the #1 in the country for the second year in a row. And they practice what they preach: Within the last fiscal year they invested more than $4.9 million dollars for local, regional, and healthy ingredients. Standout fare includes sushi, miso ramen bowls, Mediterranean-inspired antipasti bars and local produce ranging from stone fruit to mushrooms. They also serve antibiotic-free chicken, local grass-fed beef, honey, maple syrup, and jam throughout their dining facilities. Students may still fall for the late-night slices at Antonio’s Pizza, but at least they had handmade tamales for lunch.
Photo courtesy of @pittdining3/73. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Steel City may not top your list when it comes to thinking about healthy cuisine, but the University of Pittsburgh is making great strides in changing that. This school year, they’re expanding their wholesome dining options with vegan cuisine and a campus farmers market. The Office of the Provost declared this academic year the “Year of Healthy U,” and the menu offers restaurant-quality dishes like locally sourced organic chicken, lentil salad with citrus vinaigrette, and mushroom chili.
Photo courtesy of University of Montana4/74. University of Montana, Missoula, MT
Vegetarian/vegan/halal food in the cafeteria? Two juice bar locations? Two campus gardens? Check, check, check, and an aquaponic system to boot. (Fun fact: UM is the only college in Montana to receive an A rating on PETA2’s Vegan Report Card this year.). At UM’s Food Zoo, there’s also gluten-free and allergen-free dishes and reusable, recyclable and compostable to-go containers to reduce waste. If you need help navigating it all, UM Dining employs a full-time registered dietitian who can assist students with nutritional issues.
More neat features include their Farm to College program, a local procurement program designed to bring responsibly raised and grown Montana products to campus. (For products that can’t be sourced locally, the UMD Sustainable program helps ensure products like coffee and chocolate are sourced from companies that use responsible practices and are certified by independent third-party organizations.)
But the pièce de résistance here is the aquaponic system. There, the system melds traditional aquaculture (raising fish and other aquatic animals) with hydroponics (growing plants in water). The system also offers 100-square feet of growing space with vertical grow towers that support a variety of leafy green using only 10 percent of the water required for traditional agriculture, as well as full-spectrum LEDs, which require less energy than one traditional grow light. If all that isn’t enough, there’s also a microgreen garden that grows year-round, and all this hyper-local produce ends up right on your dining hall tray.
Photo courtesy of @holycrossdining5/75. College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA
Among the first college campuses to create an allergy-free kitchen and start a community garden, Holy Cross stands out for its impressive sustainability commitment and all-around delicious food fitting all kinds of dietary restrictions. Inspired by the success of their Lean & Green station in Kimball Dining Hall, dining services has added 50 new vegan/vegetarian recipes for this fall’s semester with plant-based proteins like quinoa, lentils, and other legumes. Other cool initiatives include the use of healthier oils in place of those with trans fats, serving sustainable and/or underutilized seafood more frequently, and developing recipes with five or fewer ingredients.
Photo courtesy of Jason Getz6/76. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Remember telling your freshman year buddies to “meet you at the vegan bar?” Yeah, we don’t either. At Georgia Tech, there’s both a vegan and grain bar at two campus restaurants, smoothie bars at three locations, and Atlanta-based Freshens Fresh Food Studio located inside of the Campus Recreational Center. Want to improve your diet? Book an appointment with the campus RD to talk shop. Customized meal plan en tote, rejoice in knowing local produce comes from a 250-mile radius, and eggs and beef come cage-free and grass-fed, respectively.
Photo courtesy of @kennyoyama7/77. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Alright, emphasis on healthyish here, folks, but we couldn’t resist including UWM, because of the Babcock Dairy Store. The school is hailed for its food science program and center for dairy research. Accordingly, Babcock Dairy Store gives students the ability to eat ice cream, yogurt, and cheese (as well as a handful of other breakfast and lunch items) made ingredients from the university’s Babcock Hall Dairy Plant. Let’s be real, college kids will eat copious amounts of ice cream during their four-year tenure. Why not make it one of 15 farm fresh flavors?
