Resources

Allergy-Friendly Thomas Jefferson University Campus Guide

I am a sophomore in the PA program at Thomas Jefferson University and had to be on the 19 meal a week dining plan for my entire first year. My family and I met the dining staff, including the manager and chefs of all the dining halls, in the beginning of the year. I was able to eat on campus on move in day and was so excited to have the independence and freedom eating away from home. My process would be to email or text the chef three times a day with whatever I wanted for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This was tedious, challenging, and took a lot of time-management/trial and error, but it was the easiest way for the chefs to hand make my food. However, I did have two anaphylactic reactions in my fall semester because of mistakes in the dining hall, but they quickly changed the process with which they made my food. For example, the dining manager and head chef met with me and created a paper specific to my needs where the chef making my food had to sign off on the ingredients they used in my meal. Christopher Grant, the head chef, is amazing and I have never had any issues eating his or his Sous Chef, Steve’s, food. They’ve made me meals from salmon bowls, to ramen, to Philly Cheesesteaks, to shrimp scampi, and everything tastes so good. With that being said, I would recommend to someone with more severe allergies to commute or request a kitchen, because there will be human error in a college dining hall and it is difficult to prevent when there are many students. However, Jefferson has treated me well and I am well-acquainted with all of the kitchen staff. You must take the steps to meet with the chefs and speak up when you see something or have questions, which is all part of advocating for yourself. I also fought to get a single apartment for my second year so that I would not have any issues with cross contact in the kitchen with roommates and with the help of Student Accessibility Services, it all worked out and I have had a wonderful experience (and no hospital visits!) this year.

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Campus Guide: Tufts University

See Justin's top allergy-friendly picks around the Tufts University campus!  

Allergy-Friendly Tulane University Campus Guide

I met with a dietitian to go over everything I need to know about how to handle my severe peanut and tree nut allergies in college (I’m attending Tulane University in the fall) and not only are the cafeterias peanut and tree nut-free, they also have a section and a room (being built for fall 2019) where it’s completely nut-free and gluten-free. The school is Allertrained, which means a lot, and are very careful with cross contamination. Wow. Feel so safe going here.

Location: New Orleans, Louisiana

Allergy-Friendly University of California: Berkeley Campus Guide

Overall I would say my allergies at the UC Berkeley dining halls were pretty manageable. As they say on the website, the Big-8 allergens are listed on the menu signage in units and the online menu. If you have severe allergies, I would always ask, just to be safe. In terms of restaurants in the area, I would check those specific reviews on Spokin! For the most part, I have had a pretty safe experience, but if there’s a dish that I am suspicious might have something I am allergic to, I will double check on that dish specifically.

Location: Berkeley, California

Campus Guide: University of Central Arkansas

See Emily's top allergy-friendly picks around the University of Arkansas campus! Location: Conway, Arkansas

Campus Guide: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

See Ethan's top allergy-friendly picks around the University of Illinois campus!  

Campus Guide: University of Maryland

The University of Maryland's staff is amazing when it comes to food allergies. As a big university, their exposure to-food allergic kids has only increased their awareness of the issue and their ability to accommodate it. They cater so well to my allergies and have a program in which I can talk directly to chefs so they can know what I am allowed to have. At the beginning of every week, I email all of the top chefs on campus saying what meals I want, at which dining hall I want the meals, and at what time I want the meals. The chefs all have a list of my food allergies, and they have been great at accommodating me!