Paying for hunger

Kat Griffin does not have an eating disorder. But the sophomore public health major often leaves the dining halls with nothing more than fruit, vegetables or Fruity Pebbles. And sometimes back at her dorm, she throws up, unable to keep down what little she consumes.

"I get the dirtiest looks in the dining hall. People think I'm anorexic because I only get fruits and vegetables," Griffin said. "But really, I can't eat anything they serve." 

Last year, Griffin was diagnosed with Celiac disease — an autoimmune disease that allows the lining of her small intestine to be damaged by gluten protein, which is found in everything made with wheat or wheat products. Although Griffin can only eat a few items offered by Dining Services, she was required to purchase a dining plan in order to live in a traditional dorm and fully participate in the CIVICUS living and learning program. 

For Dining Services, Griffin's case is an extreme situation — she has the trifecta of dietary restrictions: She's a vegetarian by choice, and her condition requires her to remain gluten- and dairy-free.

While each of these options are offered in the dining halls on a regular basis, Dining Services officials said, it is very rare for meals that meet all three of these conditions to be offered.

"We have things that almost all students can eat, even though there are many cases when students cannot eat everything," Dining Services spokesman Bart Hipple said. 

After Griffin was diagnosed, she met with Dining Services Quality Coordinator and Dietitian Maureen Schrimpe to design a meal plan that would meet her needs.

To help accommodate students with allergies that keep them from eating a large range of foods, Dining Services instituted an icon labeling system that indicates if value meals and side dishes are gluten-free, dairy-free or vegetarian. Ingredients are listed online, and students with special dietary restrictions meet with chefs regularly to express their concerns, dining officials said.

"We try to listen to the students who come see us as much as possible because they're living with these allergies at home," Schrimpe said. "It's very rare that we get students who we can't accommodate."

Though the Residence Hall Association instituted the policy requiring all students living in traditional dorms to purchase dining plans, it is often up to Dining Services to ensure that students living in dorms who need special accommodations can still get the nutrition they need from the dining halls. 

When students have allergies that are just too severe to be accommodated, Dining Services works with the RHA to reassign students to apartment-style housing where they can prepare meals for themselves and are not required to purchase meal plans. 

Griffin's condition, however, is such that the possibility of cross-contamination keeps her from being able to share a kitchen with people who eat food with gluten or dairy. 

With dining hall food off the table and the thought of sharing a kitchen with strangers in apartment-style housing frightening, Griffin is looking to move off campus next semester.

"I've given up on Dining Services and Resident Life," Griffin said. "They've been really nice, but there is really nothing they have done to accommodate my situation."

Other students who have just one dietary restriction said they find the dining halls are generally non-restrictive. 

"A lot of the value meals and stuff usually have cheese in them. Since those are the cheaper options, it's inconvenient that I can't buy them more regularly," freshman computer science major Alexa Stott, who is lactose intolerant, said. "I can always go for the vegan meals, though, so there is always something I can eat."

hemmati@umdbk.com