Examining OCSA Lunch Options

Angie Kidder

One thing that OCSA is best known for across campus is its food selection. From a warm chocolate chip cookie in the cafeteria to a pizza stick over on 10th Street, there are many beloved items on the campus menu.

OCSA has made positive changes to how the student body gets its lunch. Lunch options are all still available on the 2nd floor cafeteria, but now new, mini-cafeterias have been made for food items across campus in order to keep lines shorter. 

Even though OCSA has a wide array of options for lunch every day on campus, there is a lack of options for people on campus with dietary restrictions. Out of all the lunch options on campus, two out of eight options are vegan, one option is gluten-free, and only one option is dairy-free.

Not only that, the free lunch program at OCSA has little to no options for students on campus who need a free lunch, but also have a dietary restriction. Out of all the free lunch options, only one lunch option is vegan and none are gluten-free.

Hailey Knowles (IA ‘25) says, “I don’t mind bringing lunch from home, but if OCSA did take precautions to give gluten-free and dairy-free options, I would love to eat the delicious food our school offers. I also think it would be beneficial for the culinary students to learn how to accommodate for allergies and make gluten-free recipes since a lot of places don’t offer allergy-friendly options”.

In order to make cafeteria food accessible to everyone, we need to create more options for students, especially those in the free lunch program. The program typically offers one option a day, ranging from a bean and cheese quesadilla to penne pasta with marinara sauce. Due to the limited options, many students on campus will be unable to have lunch available to them every day.

It is important to realize that with such a large population on campus to feed, we need to create more options for students with dietary restrictions on both the daily lunch menu and the free lunch menu.