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Starting any college when you have food allergies can be an anxious process. Not only do you have to accustom yourself to an entirely new dietary routine, but you also have to worry about whether the places where you get food will accommodate your allergies. As somebody who has a peanut allergy and an egg allergy that excludes me from eating cooked, but not baked eggs, it can be frustrating sometimes to explain to people exactly what I can and can not eat. Thankfully, Tufts makes it very easy to enjoy a wide variety of foods while complying with your dietary restrictions.

Each dining location at Tufts has signage listing the ingredients for all the food they serve with the top nine allergens in the food included at the very top of the sign. This makes it very easy to simply glance at the signs and know which items are safe for you or not. Being able to read all the ingredients in an item is especially important if your allergy has certain caveats. For example, if you are someone who can eat foods that “May contain egg,” the signs at the dining locations will make those distinctions. The ingredients and nutrition facts for all of the food served at every dining location are also located on the Tufts dining website. This is incredibly convenient for when you want to see what locations are serving on a specific day and if the foods will fit your dietary restrictions.

If your allergies are particularly sensitive to cross-contamination, Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center has a specific area in the dining hall, “All9Free”, that serves food free from the top nine allergens (milk, egg, peanut, tree nut, soy, gluten/wheat, shellfish, fish, and sesame) and where the food is prepared in a separate kitchen with separate equipment and the food is served by staff using separate plates. You don’t need to make any kind of special arrangements to access this food, in fact often students who don’t have allergies get this food on days when the selection is more appealing there. Dewick also has a Gluten-Free Pantry which provides gluten, peanut, and tree nut-free snacks, bread, cereal, desserts, and more in a separate, locked area. The other main dining hall, Carmichael Dining Center, is entirely free of peanuts, tree nuts, and gluten. Some people even swear by “Carm” pizza being better than other locations.

Another convenience at Tufts is the mobile ordering apps. Here you can order food on your phone to pick up from select locations. You can see the allergen information for all of the items on the app just the same as you can for the items in person. There is even a required step of ordering on the app where you list your allergy or dietary restrictions. Mobile ordering is extremely straightforward to use and makes it easy to grab a quick lunch in between classes while still having confidence that the food you are getting is safe.

Tufts is also incredibly accommodating of those with religious dietary restrictions. Both main dining halls, Dewick and Carmichael, have kosher and halal options daily. There is a kosher deli, Pax et Lox, that you use the mobile app to order from, and Hodgdon Food-on-the-Run has a halal chicken shawarma pita station. There are also special meal accommodations offered by Tufts during religious holidays. You can learn more about religious dietary accommodations  on the Tufts Dining website. 

Tufts also offers an “Alternative Meal Program” for students who have particularly severe food allergies. This program allows students to order custom meals that are prepared and packaged separately and are available to pick up at both Dewick and Carmichael Dining Centers. You can read more about this program on the Tufts Dining website.

In my more than three years at Tufts, I have never encountered a problem with my allergies that couldn’t be resolved or that prevented me from eating the way I wanted. In my opinion, when accommodating allergies it is just as important for a wide variety of options to be provided as it is for safety precautions. Thankfully, Tufts succeeds in both aspects; you can have confidence in eating foods that are safe for you, while simultaneously enjoying a wide variety of foods. 

Photo Credits: Rachel Liu / The Tufts Daily