Starting a new thread for people to share their experiences with the best schools for people with Celiacs disease, food allergies, and sensitivities.
I’ll get us going…
Cornell has always been on or near the top of the lists for best college food for decades now. They take food allergies very seriously. They have a dedicated dining hall, Risley, on North campus where all the freshman live, that is gluten free/nut free. Here’s the link to the dining page that lists the speciality dining halls and what is offered: Food Allergies, Special & Individualized Diets | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University
Here is the link to the today’s menu at the dining halls: Dining Now
Northwestern - They have “Pure Eats" food stations at most of the dining halls and a dedicated allergy free dining hall at the Foster Walker Complex. Link to dining halls and daily menus: https://dineoncampus.com/northwestern
In practice, repetition and a lot of rice dishes were reported.
Students need to live on campus for two years but sophomores have access to apartment style suites with their own kitchens. Most upperclassmen live off campus in their own apartments.
Lots of Celiac friends restaurants adjacent to campus as well as a few Chicago area gluten free bakeries that sell to the local Whole Foods.
If US News and World Report were to include metrics of delicious gluten free cafeteria options in the formula for its annual Top Colleges rankings, food offerings would improve in 2-3 years. U.S. college dining halls would compete with those of European universities in tasty meals for students with celiac disease. Too late for my kid, but I’d love to see this.
Just want to add that typical “gluten free” offerings are not necessarily safe for celiac. Cross-contamination is a big issue as are pots, grills, ovens and so on that have been used for gluten-containing foods.
Seems like a satisfactory accommodation or mitigation is much more difficult for both the student and the dining hall if the food allergy is severe enough that cross contamination is a risk.
I’ve found many colleges to have allergen free areas, dining halls, or options. The problem is that most of them become so repetitive (especially if you have additional allergies) that kids end up not having well rounded diets. It’s so scary to be at the mercy of other people preparing your food (I have major anxiety over this) .I wish more colleges would just offer accommodations with kitchens.
Fine point: Celiac is actually not an allergy. To keep things simple, many of us do use that term rather than launch into an explanation that is an autoimmune disorder.
My older kid’s college has a whole allergen-free food prep & pick-up area in the dining hall that’s separated from the regular food prep & pick-up stations. So I don’t think it’s a college that’s well known for having the “best food for students with celiacs,” but they are very accommodating for anybody with a food allergy.
Cornell Uni is amazing for celiac disease/allergies. There is a dining hall that is dedicated gluten-free/peanut free/tree nut free that is great. They also have a special meal program for kids with allergies to get custom meals free from their allergens. Additionally, the labelling in the dining halls is super clear and the staff in general is super great and supportive, you can meet with a dietician on staff with dining.
Food Allergies, Special & Individualized Diets | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University says that “Cornell Dining is proud to offer Risley Dining — a residential dining room that sources ingredients and menus without gluten, peanuts, or tree nuts (coconut is allowed).” Presumably, this is for students who must be very strict about gluten, peanut, or tree nut (other than coconut) free eating and need to avoid any possibility of cross contamination.
However, the complaint in the Williams thread about those needing gluten free diets being required to eat diets free of some other allergen (in this case peanuts and tree nuts) could apply (and vice-versa for those needing peanut or tree nut free diets).
S23 and D26 are both Celiac and it is/was one of the things we were keen on understanding when doing college tours. Many schools have “allergen” area’s where the 7 most common… etc… but what if the celiac really like peanuts or vice versa. S23 is at Tulane and says that the food is incredibly repetitive but has been 100% “safe”. Obviously without going out back you don’t know what the kitchen staff is doing to minimize cross-contamination, etc but that’s no different than a restaurant or even eating at family holidays. Tulane - and several other schools we toured - had a locked room accessible by the students ID that had contained GF food items and several had toasters, waffle makers, etc. It gives the student the option to grab an Udi’s hamburger bun and go get a burger from that station or toast up a GF Bagel or grab some GF snack bars.
D26 is in the process of making her decision now and we have an appointment with the dietician at UMaine on Monday to discuss how they structure their cafeteria for kids with dietary issues. The tour was not a positive experience so we’ll see how that goes. If poor she’ll end up at a SUNY which was a more positive experience.
It’s an adjustment since up to the point of leaving for school the parents are largely the ones advocating for them in restaurants (or doing the research on where to go to eat with the best options). The students need to lean more on advocating for themselves.
UMass had great Celiac safe options. At least one full station dedicated to it and all the other stations well labeled.
As @compmom points out, it’s not an allergy. We kind of feel fortunate it’s not. Although the kids would get sick (D26 will have a 2 hour session of throwing up!) it’s not like an allergy where they need to carry an epi-pen and/or potentially end up in the hospital.
Just saw this in the Boston Globe about one of Boston University’s newly renovated dorms. The Warren Towers dorm cafeteria will have a dedicated gluten-free section. As someone who’s celiac kid did university with few gluten-free option (4 years of rice and veggies), it is great to see some progress. Hope someone with a celiac kid will see this. Boston University finishes first phase Warren Tower renovation
In case it’s paywalled, the relevant paragraph from the article is:
“The newly renovated tower includes housing for 600 students in single, double, and triple dorm rooms, as well as several faculty apartments. The fourth floor of the 18-story building has a new cafeteria with electric pizza ovens and a section with nothing but gluten-free options, and soon will include study rooms, lounges, and practice spaces for musicians. Dorm rooms feature near floor-to-ceiling windows with aerial views of the city; the windows are triple-glazed to mute the street noise below.”