Whether it's burgers and fries at Flip's, lobster and London Broil at West End Market, or just a coffee and Danish pastry at Deet's, there's sure to be something to suit your palate here on campus.
If you're not already familiar with the ins and outs of Dining Services and the myriad of options available to you as a Virginia Tech student, I'm going to give you a little tour, so put your feet up and stay a while!
For starters, I'm not just blowing smoke when I say that Tech has the best college food in the nation - we have the recognition to prove it. Tech has been voted No. 1 this year in the Princeton Review's list of Best Campus Food. In addition, this year Tech was honored with the 2009 Ivy Award, a highly prestigious peer-voted recognition of the best foodservice operations in the industry. Although our campus cuisine has steadily improved over the past five years, it has always been pretty great, and the university has won dozens of other awards and honors in the past 15 years. When it comes to a decent lunch, you could do far worse than a Tech dining hall.
There are many different meal options for all schedules and budgets. If your appetite is as big as the Drillfield, there are all-you-can-eat options at Shultz Hall and D2. On the other hand, if a quick snack is all you need, you can stop by Dietrick Hall or Shultz for some a la carte "express" dining. And for those who absolutely must have their fast food, there are several places to go: Sbarro and Au Bon Pain in Squires, or Pizza Hut, Chick-fil-A and even Cinnabon in Hokie Grill. Unfortunately, there isn't anywhere on campus where you can pull an all-nighter, but for those late-night study groups, Deet's Place is open until midnight every day, and DXpress offers late-night options from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Finally, when you need to fuel up before those early morning classes, places open before 8 a.m. include Dietrick, Deet's, Shultz Express, Au Bon Pain (in both Squires and the Graduate Life Center) and the Vet Med Cafe.
All that great-tasting food is enticing, but some students have concerns about nutritional content or issues with special dietary concerns. How can they possibly know which are the best choices? Well, if you're one of those students, you're in luck: With the You're Eating Smarter Program, students can set up one-on-one consultations with a resident dietician or, for a more convenient approach, the YES Web site offers an interactive menu of nutritional information for all dining facilities allowing you to see information for a particular food item or get an estimated nutritive analysis of your entire lunch. The YES Web site also contains access to nutritional resources online, including information about vegetarianism, special dietary needs - such as food allergies and celiac disease - eating disorders and, of course, general nutritional information.
And if all that isn't enough to convince you to support your dining halls, Tech has made incredible progress in the area of sustainability directives in recent years. Currently, 8 to 15 percent of food sold through the dining halls is grown locally. The Farms and Fields Project dining venue in Owens Food Court, which is run by the student group Sustainable Food Corps, showcases organic, sustainable and local food options. Deet's offers a selection of Fair Trade certified coffee, meaning the coffee growers are supported in their efforts to grow coffee sustainably and responsibly. Growers are also given a fair price for their product. And finally, in an effort to reduce waste, several programs are either already implemented or in the works, such as taking the trays out of D2 and Shultz, switching to corn-based compostable Styrofoam and sending unused food either to a local Salvation Army food center or to a local composting center.
So the next time you're feeling rumbly in your tumbly, take a few minutes and peruse the Web site at www.studentprograms.vt.edu/dining, where you can find daily menus for all the dining halls. With food this good, why would you ever choose McDonald's again?
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The only problem I have with our dining system is this buy local nonsense. Give them a fair price on my dime, no way! If they can't sell their produce at market price kick them out and replace the food with something less expensive. If you want to buy local go to the farmers market don't force it on the rest of us.
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Why would I ever choose McDonald's? Well, it's cheap. The dining halls definitely have it beat on taste but when it comes down to it, the cash I drop at Mickey D's goes further than campus. Also, it's not like I am eating that much healthier at ABP, Owens, West End unless of course I go to the local farmers market (Owens) where I can spend twice the amount for half the food.
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