On October 20, 2018 at approximately 10:06 PM, I walked into Hof USA and asked about my gluten-free options after a long day with my friends in the city. The woman at the front told me there is nothing here for me. That was the 4th time I had walked into Hof USA this semester and was told that I could not eat a single item. It is almost as if Hofstra would rather us starve than be able to eat a safely prepared gluten-free meal. The woman fought with me back and forth until she finally got a manager to come out and talk to me about my options. He finally offered me grilled chicken and lettuce as a “salad” which was my only option and said he would change his gloves. When my "salad" was ready, there were croutons right on top. You can tell from this experience that Hofstra does not even know what gluten is. I found out in February that I had celiac which means that I cannot have even a particle of gluten without getting cross contaminated on top of my many other food allergies. Just taking the croutons off would not have been okay; I needed to ask for a whole new salad to be prepared that had never touched gluten.

The amount of times that I have walked into a Hofstra dining location like Bits & Bites, Dutch Treats, Hof USA, or even the student center to look for gluten-free or allergy-free food to end up with a depressing bag of chips is unacceptable. Hofstra needs to cater better to people who can't eat certain foods, have food allergies, vegans, vegetarians, and kosher people. The student center has that allergy-free station but how many times in one day can a person eat chicken? Grilled chicken or die!!! The social aspect of a full college experience is also lost if friends want to meet at Hof USA or Dutch when I know that I will not be served food that is safe. At Dutch Treats, I noticed a disclaimer that states "we cannot guarantee that items made without gluten ingredients are 'gluten-free' as defined by the FDA...there is always the potential for cross-contact with other gluten containing food items, particularly in our self-serve facilities." Ironically, the allergy-free station in the student center is self-serve. Can we even trust that? Compass Dining needs to be better educated on what gluten-free means and be open to offering more food options to everybody.

Staff need to be trained like they are at other universities in America. At Syracuse University, all of their “staff is trained to serve students with food allergies and special diets… every dining center has vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free areas (foodservices.syr.edu).” At Dutch or Bits, there could be gluten-free pizza and pasta. The student center can start to include two meals at the hot food allergy-free station instead of just one so you aren't stuck eating the same chicken and sides twice in one day. Hof USA used to sell rice bowls two years ago which were gluten-free; those should come back. Separate gluten-free or vegan menus should be offered at all dining locations. Students with dietary restrictions should not have to struggle this much to find safe and nutritious food for them to eat on campus.

http://foodservices.psu.edu/gluten-freehttp://foodservices.syr.edu/nutritional/guides-for-food-allergies-and-celiac-disease/