Tufts Blogs

An integral part of adapting to school this semester has been learning the ins and outs of a new form of Tufts Dining. Last year, I spent a significant chunk of my time hanging out in the dining halls—chatting with friends for hours, enjoying the unlimited meal variety of Dewick dining hall, or just quietly doing homework. Naturally, this year marked a stark shift in what dining on campus looks like now, but I really think Tufts has done a wonderful job providing students with meal options. 

For one thing, we now have an app that we order food on. It gives us the menu options for each dining location and allows us to customize an order for pick-up. That process is pretty straightforward, but I know that it can be hard to picture what meal options even look like in this new situation. So today, I thought I would review some of my favorite places to order from, and my go-to orders when I want a meal without giving it too much thought.

1) Hotung Cafe is one of my favorite places, located downhill. It serves Starbucks drinks, like lattes, cold brew iced coffee, tea, and even hot chocolate. In the mornings, they also have delicious breakfast sandwiches; I’m personally a huge fan of bacon, egg, and cheese on a croissant. Whenever I pair that sandwich with a hot latte for breakfast, I know I’ll be ready to go for the rest of the day! Other student favorites from Hotung include freshly made smoothies, as well as smoothie bowls that are essentially the basis of smoothies, but paired with fun and tasty toppings, like a peanut butter drizzle, coconut shavings, and berries.

2) Hodgdon Food-on-the-Run, more lovingly known as Hodge, is another of my favorite places to get meals. Hodge has many different food stations and therefore a lot of food variety; options range from burritos/burrito bowls, to Pan Asia bowls (think noodles, protein, and delicious sauces), to grain bowls, to chicken wings, to pita plates. Those options are made freshly at Hodge, but you can also opt to get pre-made sushi, as well as pastries, sandwiches, and many delicious snacks. My personal favorite Hodge order is during the breakfast period (can you tell it’s my favorite meal of the day yet?); they have a bagel station, where there are many customizing options for bagels. My go-to is a bagel they call the Somerville, which comes with cream cheese, prosciutto, tomatoes, and basil… it’s the best way to start the morning!

3) Pax et Lox is the Kosher Deli on campus, and it is always a great treat for either lunch or dinner! I personally always end up getting one of three sandwiches: smoked salmon on a bagel, chicken salad on a wrap, or tuna salad on a wrap. Although I end up always getting the same type of sandwich, Pax has many options, with ingredients in sandwiches ranging from salami, to buffalo chicken, to a whitefish mix, to egg salad, to glazed tofu. Even that doesn’t begin to cover the sheer range of sandwiches that Pax offers, and suffice it to say, it’s almost guaranteed they offer something that appeals to everyone.

Those are my three personal favorite dining spots, as well as my favorite orders from them, but I can definitely say I am a fan of the other places on campus as well. Even with the food takeout format, the two main dining halls, called Carm (part of which is pictured in the blog image above) and Dewick, are still offering close to unlimited food, with the ability to walk through and select the food options that look good to you. All in all, I want to say hats off, and thank you, to Tufts Dining and all the people who work hard to provide students with a variety of food options, even during this difficult time.