The registered dietitian
A registered dietitian on the dining staff will meet with you one-on-one, free and confidential, and the appointment is worth booking in the first two weeks. It covers food allergies and intolerances, celiac disease and gluten-free eating, diabetes and other medical diets, religious requirements, disordered-eating recovery in coordination with the counseling center and health center, vegetarian and vegan eating that actually meets your needs, and fueling for a sport. You leave with a concrete plan — which stations and dishes are safe, what the kitchen will make to order, and how to flag a problem — not a pamphlet.
The dietitian also does grocery-store tours, teaching-kitchen sessions, and drop-in "ask the dietitian" hours in the dining hall.
Eating safely day to day
Every station in The Forge posts full ingredient and allergen information for the day's menu, and the dining app lets you filter to what you can eat before you walk over. The allergen-friendly station ("the pantry") is a dedicated space with its own storage, equipment, and staff, kept free of the top allergens and gluten, where you can build a complete meal without cross-contact — and students with a documented severe allergy can arrange standing orders the kitchen prepares separately. Managers and line staff are trained on cross-contact and are used to being asked; there is always a manager on the floor who can answer for the kitchen.
If something is unlabeled or you are unsure, ask before you eat it — the kitchen keeps ingredient sheets for everything on the line.
Severe allergies and emergencies
If you carry epinephrine, keep it on you, not in your room — reactions happen at the table. Share an emergency action plan with a roommate, a friend you eat with, and, if you want, the dining team, so someone nearby knows the signs and where your auto-injector is. Register with Accessibility Services if your allergy rises to the level of a disability; that can formalize dining accommodations and, in rare cases, support a meal-plan modification. Campus Safety officers and hall staff carry stock epinephrine and are trained to use it, and calling 911 for anaphylaxis is always right even after you have used your own injector.
Meal plans and the budget angle
A medical or religious diet does not require a special meal plan — the standard plans work with the pantry station and made-to-order options. If the dietitian and Accessibility Services agree that campus dining genuinely cannot meet your needs, a meal-plan reduction or exemption can be approved so you are not paying for food you cannot safely eat. Start that conversation early; it is a review, not a form.
Questions?
See the full staff & office directory for any phone number or email. Because this is a fictional parody site, addresses and phone numbers are illustrative and do not reach a real university.