The Princeton Review just released its annual rankings of the best dining programs in the country. Here’s a look at who made this year’s list, as well as what they’re doing to help limit the spread of COVID-19 on campus.
The dining program at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, centers around scratch-made meals featuring global dishes. The dining team also offers a brunch each Wednesday for students.
This semester, students will not be able to dine-in on campus due to COVID-19. All meals will either be delivered to campus housing or available for pickup from the dining hall. Students will also receive a reusable bamboo cutlery set at the beginning of the year, after which the dining team will not provide silverware.
Students attending this liberal arts college in Gettysburg, Pa., can choose between five different dining options on campus and enjoy fare such as poached salmon with lemon-herb gremolata, vegetable jambalaya and more.
Due to COVID-19, the dining team has reduced seating capacity in its dining halls by 75% and is offering more takeout meals this fall. The team is also adding additional dining locations, such as a tent at one of its athletic fields.
Virginia Tech’s dining options include fine-dining restaurant Origami as well as numerous other eateries. The school serves around 7.4 million meals each year to students and faculty at its campus in Blacksburg, Va.
In an effort to combat COVID-19, the university will allow students to preorder meals using Grubhub and is also implementing safety features such as social distancing markers, hand-sanitizing stations and more.
The University of Scranton in Scranton, Pa., is known for its sustainability program, Green Thread, which highlights initiatives such as trayless dining, local sourcing, refillable water stations and more.
Due to COVID-19, the university is offering expanded outdoor seating and mobile ordering as well as express meal pickup locations.
Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., offers students the ability to submit real-time feedback through its mobile texting program. Last year, the university decided to eliminate all plastic water and soda bottles on campus as part of its plan to be carbon neutral by 2050.
This fall, all food will be served to-go due to COVID-19. The university is also offered boxed lunch meals for preorder at pickup spots throughout campus to help minimize the number of students going through the dining halls.
Students at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., can enjoy a plethora of options at the university’s nine all-you-care-to-eat dining rooms. The campus’ dairy bar also offers a variety of dairy products made in-house.
This fall, the dining team is using mobile ordering, contactless payment and reusable to-go containers to help limit the spread of COVID-19. It’s also allowing students to make reservations via OpenTable to make sure eateries on campus don’t get overcrowded.
Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., includes four eateries on campus, one of which is student-run. Its menus focus on seasonal ingredients and an emphasis is placed on sourcing locally.
This summer, school officials decided that fall classes at Pitzer would be online only due to COVID-19, so no eateries on campus will be open.
The dining program at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., includes over eight eateries on campus. Its Bear Balance program aims to promote wellness on campus and offer students and faculty nutritious meals full of whole grains, lean protein and more.
This fall, dining services will be offering mobile ordering through Grubhub and has introduced a hospitality coordinator at each of its dining halls, who will be in charge of making sure they don’t become overcrowded. Coordinators will also help students navigate the new policies in place to prevent COVID-19 spread on campus.
The dining program at this small liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine, is known for its in-house bake shop, meat shop and campus garden. Menus center around seasonal ingredients, and the school purchases around 34% of its food from local farmers.
Due to COVID-19, students will be assigned to a specific dining hall where they will eat their meals for the entirety of the semester. Students will also receive a two-and-a-half to three-hour meal block each meal period for them to come to the dining hall and receive their food.
The University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass., is No. 1 in the Princeton Review ranking for the fifth year in a row. The dining team serves over 8 million meals a year through its numerous eateries on campus.
In an effort to combat COVID-19, dining services is taking extra precautions such as eliminating self-service in dining halls and having students limit their dine-in meals to 45 minutes.
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