dining hall

Sitting in the back of South Campus Dining Hall, freshman Gabe Moses wasn’t complaining as he took a large bite of his burger on a gluten-free bun.

“I’m satisfied,” the environmental science and technology major said. “They have a replacement for pretty much everything, even the chef’s special.”

Moses found out he had an intolerance to gluten when he was 4. When he eats it, he feels irritable and has a hard time concentrating.

“That’s a bad combination when you’re trying to do homework and you can’t focus on it,” he said.

Like most freshmen, he has a meal plan, but his routine when he gets to the dining hall is a little different. Both dining halls have a special gluten-free fridge in the kitchen.

“I’m just allowed to walk into the back and pick stuff out from the fridge and there’s a gluten free microwave there,” Moses said. “You just take it out of the fridge, put it in the microwave and then just bring it to whatever station you want.”

Gluten-free versions of pancakes, wraps, muffins, cookies, breads and bagels are always available.

Bart Hipple, Dining Services assistant director, said the dining halls constantly work to improve the way they accommodate dietary needs.

“We’re always looking for new things to do and different things to present,” he said. “Our industry is constantly introducing new items and different things to give to our students.”

In August, incoming freshmen are mailed a welcome box that contains a mallet and Old Bay — or a form for those with food allergies.

Sister Maureen Schrimpe, Dining Services’ nutritionist, meets with students who return the form to discuss their options.

“We walk them around the dining hall and show them the gluten-free freezer, toaster, fryer specifically for them,” she said. “We also provide a list of products that they can choose from to enhance their meals.”

There’s even a listserv so that students can keep up with new offerings.

“Our senior executive chef writes a special monthly menu for our gluten-free students so they can eat almost the same as any other student,” she said. “We provide them with a blank menu and they complete it weekly and send it in.”

Each year more and more students report food allergy needs, the largest group being gluten-free, Sister Maureen said.

Even so, only 15 students out of the 9,000 with meal plans have a gluten-free restriction, Hipple said.

Because of the expense and delicacy of gluten-free foods, they’re only offered to students with documented needs.

“Some of the foods, because of the way they’re made, have to be cooked in very small quantities and require special handling,” Hipple said. “We couldn’t put out 300 orders of something and have all 300 orders be good.”

It seems that dining services’ efforts are  appreciated. Tayler Schmidt, a freshman criminology and criminal justice and philosophy major, emailed Sister Maureen Tuesday to turn in her last menu of the year.

“Thank you so much for all the wonderful meals,” she wrote. “You guys really made being gluten-free easy and it means so much.”