Dining

The residential dining services team is trained in food allergy awareness and offer a number of options for students with food allergies and celiac disease. This includes communication about and modification to existing menu items, special preparation of menu items, and access to special products, as agreed upon with students. 

We are committed to working with all students to find ways to ensure that meals can be enjoyed by everyone. Individuals with food allergies should be aware that we handle and prepare peanut, tree nut, fish, shellfish, soy, egg, milk, wheat/gluten, sesame and other potential allergens in our dining halls, eateries, and kitchens. We menu dishes prepared with these items and advise diners with allergies to do following:  

1. Pay attention to dish names and descriptions. Dishes made with common allergens often include the top allergens in the name of each dish or a description on the menu. Our team can also share labels from any products for your review.

2. Check Online Menus. Daily menus for each dining hall can be accessed HERE. Menu items that are appropriate options for most students with celiac disease are labeled as “made without gluten-containing ingredients” and can be filtered to streamline searching using the dietary preferences filter. Top-9 allergens are included in menu names and/or descriptions whenever possible.

3. Try the OASIS station. Oasis is a destination in Howard Dining Hall at Maseeh where all meals prepared are made without the use of the Top-9 allergens* and gluten. OASIS is a segregated station designed with your safety in mind and allows our team to best manage ingredients from delivery to plate.  All meals are prepared on designated equipment by a trained culinarian to avoid cross-contact. Oasis has expanded to offer made to order salads in addition to the hot and cold entree selections. 

4. Try the Global station. Next to the Oasis station at Maseeh, we offer our global-inspired Bowls station, where all the menu items will be prepared without peanuts, tree nuts, gluten, and seafood. This cook-to-order station features daily specials that rotate between various globally cuisines from Mediterranean to Barbecue and Korean-inspired bulgogi classics.  

5. Avoiding Gluten?  Our Avoiding Gluten pantry station provides breads, pastries, cookies, condiments, snacks, cereals, and other items that are without gluten-containing ingredients in all six residential dining houses.

Establish relationships with our chefs and dietitian. Simple conversations with chefs can make your dining experience a lot easier. Discuss your allergies with MIT Dining as early in the semester as possible. Questions can also be answered by our Residential Dietitian, Pina Boatwright, MS, RD, LDN, Senior Wellness Coordinator, who can be contacted HERE.

Individuals with food allergies or celiac disease who would like to request an accommodation should contact Disability and Access Services (DAS), das-student@mit.edu.

Students with special dietary needs can also be seen by a student health professional at MIT Health.

Vegetarians and Vegans 

All House Dining locations offer vegetarian and vegan entrees. Vegetarian and vegan food production is handled in ways to avoid cross-contact with meat products. Retail dining locations also offered varied menus.