To preface: I like the caf food most of the time. It generally tastes good. My complaints are not about quality, but how the caf handles allergies and dietary restrictions . 

I had high hopes for the Dickinson cafeteria coming back from winter break. For the first two weeks, the food was great. I mean great for Dickinson standards, which is mediocre for most other standards.  Though it is a college cafeteria, so I wouldn’t expect a Michelin Star meal. 

However, the gluten free food has gotten inarguably worse. Not just in the quality, but also in the portion sizes. How could a thin layer of eggs in the morning satiate the hunger of 110 students. We can not just be eating these eggs. Now what if I bumped that statistic up to the assumed percentage of the population which somewhat regularly adheres to a gluten-free diet. That’s 551 students. How does the college expect to feed 551 students with minimal portion sizes? In addition to minimal portion sizes, they give us one protein option, which might not be vegan, maybe two vegetable options, which might not be vegan, and maybe one potato option, which, for y’all in the back, might not be vegan. 

This highlights another major problem with the cafeteria food: none of it is guaranteed to be gluten free and vegan, just one or the other. To eat in the Dickinson cafeteria as a person with food allergies is like wandering through a comic store with a single dollar. Sure you can look at a bunch of nice things, but when it comes to buying something, it’s the most basic thing there. Or you choose not to get anything from the gluten free section and hedge your bets on not getting sick from eating food which may be cross-contaminated or straight up includes gluten. People with allergies should not have to choose between getting nutrition or feeling well. 

In addition to having to make the choice between nausea and nutrition or health and hunger, not all the food in the gluten free area is guaranteed to not be cross-contaminated. I have heard from many of my friends that work in the dining hall, as well as other people, that some workers do not take cross-contamination measures seriously. For me, this is fine. Cross-contamination doesn’t hurt me much, but people like my sister or mother, or any other person who needs food which can be generally cross-contamination free has to take additional measures. 

These additional measures, while making it seem like the caf cares about allergies, also places a social stigma on students. Instead of catering for our allergies and dietary preferences, the caf places a level of othering on students with allergies. If I want pasta, there is no gluten free pasta at the pasta bar, instead I have to heat up pasta in the microwave. If I want sandwich bread, I have to make it myself, then walk to the opposite end of the caf to get the rest of the sandwich made for me. I, on some level, think this is so gluten-free students know they are getting gluten-free food, but it also instills a level of embarrassment. It is genuinely embarrassing to walk through the caf with two pieces of bread on a plate, then hold up the line to make sure the people change their gloves. 

I am by no means qualified to change any policies of the caf, or even fully critique them. They are making steps towards making more stuff gluten or flour free. Flourless cookies and fully gluten free oat loaves are all steps toward the right direction, but they also aren’t with the rest of the gluten free food. There is most definitely more work to be done.