MBA Bound - GFree UT?

The countdown has begun. In a little over a month I'll be embarking on a new journey - the full-time MBA program at Texas. Full-time is exactly what you'd think...ALL day at McCombs either taking classes, studying or various group activities. This means that I'll most likely have at least 2 meals/day on or around UT and therefore need to start researching my options. I've reached out to UT and gotten some information as well as scouring the web...and of course the business school has microwaves so I can pack my lunches. Here is the email from the Division of Housing and Food Services from which I started my research:

Jaime,

Congrats on being accepted into McCombs! Information about gluten free dining is listed below. Also, UT is different from many universities in that there are many, many food service providers on campus. Our division, housing and food service, provides all of the dining within residence halls although anyone on campus is welcome to dine in our cafes. Aside from our dining options, there are two student unions, a conference center and many independently-operated cafes/carts sprinkled throughout campus.

- We have all of our menus online and you can look up the ingredients of the foods that we are serving for a particular meal. http://129.116.62.55/foodpro/

This link can be found by going the division of housing and food service home page: www.utexas.edu/student/housing > Dine Here > Weekly Menus. Once you are on that site, select the dining location from the drop-down menu on the left side of the screen. The current day will pop up first but other days within the week can be chosen from a list on the left side of the screen. Click on the apple next to the meal period you’re looking for and the recipe items turn into hyperlinks that can be chosen for nutritional information.

- At the Jester City Limits food court, we have a serving line called ‘The Chickpea’ which serves vegetarian/vegan/gluten free meals. The gluten free meal is always listed on a sign at the serving line.

- We are currently working to modify our labeling system in the two resident dining halls, J2 and Kinsolving, by including an icon that signifies when an item is gluten free. We hope to have this system active by next Fall.

- Additionally, I generally meet with students that have specific dietary needs at the beginning of the school year and take them around to all of our dining facilities to introduce them to the managers. We stock items like gluten free pizza crust, breads, etc that are available upon request.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,

Meagan Jones, RD

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Thank you Meagan! Very helpful start...I will definitely be hitting up the ChickPea in Jester City Limits to check out their daily gluten-free option. Here is the interactive nutrition menu she was referring to: Jester City Limits Menu

I doubt that many, if any, MBA students dine in the cafeteria style dining halls so we'll put that on hold for now...the next step was looking into the availabilities at the different Unions. Locations that I know have gluten-free options include:

- Chick Fil-A

- Zen

- Wendy's

- Starbucks

There are some others that I think would be accommodating such as Smokehouse BBQ and Field of Greens, so I'll go ahead and reach out to them.

Within the business and engineering schools there is a restaurant called O's Campus Cafe. After going through their website I did find a section referring to gluten-free options, but I'm not yet sure which locations and which offerings (lunch, breakfast, to-go) are available so I plan on digging into that one a little more too - the website says the following:

Inquire About:
Vegetarian Options
Gluten Free Pasta's
Chicken Tomatillo Gluten Free
Veggie Fajitas Gluten Free
Grilled Portobello Piccata Vegetarian
Spin/Mushroom Lasagna Vegetarian
Eggplant Parmesan Vegetarian
Stuffed Mushrooms Vegetarian

Finally, let's touch on dining options that are on "the Drag" (Guadalupe) or close to campus but not part of UT Food Services. The options I know of at this point are:

- Mellow Mushroom (gluten-free pizza)

- Austin's Pizza

- McDonalds

- Trudy's

- Milto's Greek

Overall, I've got options and it will be an adventure navigating campus, adjusting to life as a student again AND remembering to eat throughout. I feel lucky to be in a city and near a campus that is very aware of the words gluten-free!!