In the fall, all NC State first-year students alongside many upperclassmen and graduate students will sign up for a NC State Dining meal plan, and NC State Dining* must consider for the first time the demands of a fully boarded campus.

With thousands of students to be eating in dining halls and on-campus restaurants, NC State Dining is looking for ways to make healthy options more accessible to students, as well as expand upon students’ ability to prepare their own nutritious meals.

NC State Dining defines itself as a program “to meet the unique needs and taste of our student body,” offering vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and allergy-friendly options to accommodate varying dietary needs and preferences. 

Developing Healthy Choices

Lisa Eberhart, NC State’s registered dietician, is in charge of monitoring campus nutrition and ensuring that NC State dining options are nutritious, versatile and accommodating to students’ needs.

“I vet every item that comes on campus,” Eberhart said. “I take everything that we buy and put it into a database. Our software automatically merges our ingredient lists and pulls out all of the allergens so that a student can pull up the ingredients, the additives and the allergens. We look at taste, price and nutrition.”

One example of Eberhart’s work includes the sandwiches as Newton’s Grill at On the Oval, which are now solely offered as whole wheat. Eberhart also says that NC State Dining is working on better staging water options, among other healthy dining options, within the dining halls to encourage students to refrain from beverages with added sugars and to provide accessible, healthy alternatives.

“We make sure that our grab and go options at the Atrium have healthy options,” Eberhart said. “At the dining halls, we have all of the variety possible. So if people say, ‘I don’t feel like I can eat healthy on campus,” you can eat unlimited amounts of fruits and vegetables. We want to give people options. Also, people need to have things that are recognizable and quick.”

Access to Healthy Options

For students on Centennial Campus, dining options are currently limited to On the Oval during lunch periods and Newton’s Grill during breakfast and dinner. With the Wolf Ridge apartments full in the fall, Eberhart says that NC State Dining will rely on student feedback in order to best accommodate students’ dining needs.

“If a student lives out on Centennial, I hope they have a kitchen,” Eberhart said. “We want to continue to teach [cooking classes] so that people have that option of cooking for themselves, especially if they’re not close to an all-you-care-to-eat-environment. I see a lot of potential for learning to cook.”

For accommodating immediate dining needs, including extending hours, modifying menu options and voicing nutrition concerns, NC State Dining Director Randy Lait prefers to hear from students via a series of fall dining surveys, email and personal interactions.

“Talk to us in person,” Lait said. “Use our website to submit questions. Social media comments are read and considered. We really value student input, and I believe we have a good record of responding to student asks.”

In the past year, NC State Dining has hosted various cooking demonstrations at Clark Dining Hall, Case Dining Hall and the 1887 Bistro. According to Lait, the classes were well-received by students.

“We really enjoy working with students that are into food and interested in learning how to cook,” Lait said. “We have hopes to one day have a teaching kitchen where our culinary team of more than two dozen chefs can teach students the joys of cooking fresh, healthy, delicious food.  It’s such an important part of life, and life is too short to spend it eating from drive-through windows.”

Right now, NC State Dining and University Recreation are in the process of completing a long-term plan to install a permanent teaching kitchen in the new part of the University Recreation building. The current classes use minimal utensils, usually a saucepan, a cutting board and a knife, according to Eberhart. 

NC State Dining relies heavily on student taste and opinion to make decisions about hours, menu items and nutrition, according to Lait and Eberhart. To send feedback about your on-campus dining experience to NC State Dining, complete the contact form on their site. To schedule a nutrition appointment or become involved in the Well Fed Wolfpack initiative, contact Lisa Eberhart at ljeberha@ncsu.edu.

*Editor’s Note: This article was corrected to reflect the current name of NC State Dining.