How I Stay Healthy With Dining Hall Food
When they say “unlimited,” I really take it as “unlimited.” Once, I hopped through all three dining halls in the span of an hour, which you may equate to “big back tendencies,” but jokes on you, there were just flies in certain establishments that I could not ignore.
If you like seeking college advice from the greats of TikTok and Reddit like I do, you probably have been reassured that the possibility of the “freshman 15” is combatted by all the walking you will do around campus. USC is a pretty small campus, so unless you have classes in every which direction, you probably won’t be hitting those 20,000 steps a day stats like other college students just by attending school.
Hence, as a freshman myself, here is how I attempt to tackle a healthier lifestyle here at USC with dining hall food.
Every freshman with a USC housing contract or any other student living in USC housing residence halls and suites is required to have a $3830 meal plan—the Cardinal Plan. This plan includes unlimited meal swipes at all three dining halls and two meal swipes weekly at the Tutor Campus Center. The upgraded plan—the Trojan Plan—sets you back $555 per semester for you to have 60 residential meal swipes and $3835 worth of dining dollars.
Village Dining Hall
Obviously, I was not about to pay almost half a grand extra to still be restricted by the confines of USC food, even if it is outside the dining halls and in the campus marketplaces.
First, while everything may seem new and innovative, in reality, USC tends to repeat their options. Awed by the Village Dining Hall’s Crepe Bar? OMG churros? The Village routinely switches between crepes, funnel fries, french toast, churro bites, and sundaes (is this keto-friendly), so no, nothing here is really a rare commodity. Unless you want a glass cup at 8:00 PM on a Village Thursday night. So don’t feel like you need to try everything at once, because chances are, it will find itself back on the menu sooner or later.
EVK: Everybody’s Kitchen
Next, you probably have heard literally every other person dish on EVK, but let me explain why I appreciate the long lines for the hot bar minus the times I am trying to get to class.
With long lines, you basically commit to getting the food the dining hall staff prepares for you, or else waiting would have been a waste. During peak operation hours, you may find yourself choosing between the vats of hot food on the side or getting into that winded path of students for scoops of freshly served slop. The presence of the long line thus helps me really focus on whether or not I actually want to eat what’s served (which honestly is not usually healthy) or if it is just because it is there.
Speaking of the hot food bar, because the food is often packed with flavor, I like to add straight leaves from the salad bar to the entrees. Honestly, I have not had salad dressing in a while now because of this habit. Surprisingly, dipping spinach leaves in mashed potatoes and gravy just may be how I will cure my iron deficiency this year.
Parkside
Similarly to EVK, I employ the same tactics at Parkside—embracing long lines and adding leaves to my entrees. Especially when Parkside takes a stab at Asian food and botches it entirely, at least I know their pho soup base is tasty enough for me to dip my spinach leaves in (seriously, do I even need my iron pills?).
However, as much as I can try to stay healthy with dining hall foods, the downfall of the Cardinal plan is that I am basically confined to whatever is offered by USC or the campus meal swipes twice a week. Sometimes, that is not all that enjoyable, especially due to the lack of fruit varieties. I would honestly much rather the opportunity of being able to have some dining dollars allotted to buying my own fresh produce.
Dining hall food may not always be ideal (far from it, actually), but with what we have (a lot actually, food insecurity in LA looms large) we can have healthier approaches to the dining halls.
Doesn’t mean I’ll stop making mini Oreo McFlurry dupes at Parkside though.
