COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES
C ollege is a season in life where, if they haven’t already been exposed to interesting, varied flavors, students can move beyond just pizza and chicken tenders. At the same time, many students may come into college already dedicated to a plant-based diet and need easy options. Higher education foodservice teams have come a long way from cafeterias serving bland fare and now lean hard into innovation and creativity, doing their best to satisfy all appetites. Dynamic campus dining programs address cravings for comfort foods, such as myriad variations on mac ‘n cheese (including gourmet toppings) and indulgent options such as loaded fries, spicy chicken and desserts, as well as plant-forward and sustainable choices beyond just salad bars and veggie burgers. They’re also keen to menu functional and wellness foods with ingredients such as turmeric, kimchi, mushrooms and matcha. And don’t forget the allergen-free items for those with nut, gluten or dairy allergies. And, of course,
adding choices with global twists keeps things interesting. Four major universities in the South welcome residents with a taste of the excitement you can feel in the air on game day. Just as these schools, whose sports teams compete in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and continually upgrade their athletics facilities to recruit the best possible talent, campus chefs constantly look for ways to excite students at mealtime. In short, Southern college campus communities are just as obsessed with their food as they are with their beloved teams. What’s on-trend in the outside world finds its way to campus dining (and vice versa), with flavors from around the world and right up the road. From comfort food to global influences, the world is indeed a college student’s oyster. Staff and faculty enjoy the creativity, too. At the crossroads of “if you know, you know” and good ole Southern hospitality and deep traditions meeting with new menu stars, these are campus cult favorites, the y’all edition:
Cult of menu personality: 8 menu favorites from 4 SEC universities Southern college campus com- munities are just as obsessed with their food as they are with their beloved teams, y’all.
BY TAD WILKES
20
QUARTERLY | Q3
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ‘BAMA
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