Written By Claire Berrigan
On Monday 28th of September 2026, I attended the writing workshop for Her Campus DCU
where I took part in a writing exercise. There were a number of themes to choose from and I
chose the second one. – “What do you think of all the food options on campus?”
Personally, I think there are great options for a lot of us. However, improvements are still
required for those of us who experience food allergies and intolerance to various ingredients.
Take me for example, I am gluten and dairy intolerant but I can eat these ingredients up to
three times a week.
Londis deli and burrito bar have some good options that are available like e.g. rice bowls.
Before I say this, this is not limited to DCU shops, it’s everywhere I go whenever I want to
dine out. Although, there are more options now than there were five years ago.
In DCU and other acai bowl vendors, the acai bowls are lovely but they have no gluten free
granola. Also in Londis, there is a good selection of free-from snacks; but from my
experience, I have found that when I go to the free-from section fridge to get a sandwich,
there aren’t many options to choose from. The other issue is that there is never an option for
someone who can only have dairy free cheese. There are vegan cheese brands such as
VioLife vegan cheese, although it unfortunately doesn’t taste like the real thing at all, but it’s
nice when it’s all a person can have on their toasties. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t enjoy a
ham and cheese toastie? I know I do and I’m sure I’m not the only one on campus who has
one or more intolerances.
I do like the other selection of treats and drinks, but there is also the case of flavored milk
like chocolate milk, for those who can’t consume dairy products. I noticed there is plenty of
Yazoo but what about Alpro soya chocolate milk or almond flavored chocolate milk for those
who might have soya allergies etc. Just an extra tip is that oat milk is not gluten free unless
the carton specifically says “free from gluten.” This is an issue because there’s places that
only have regular oat milk and people like me can’t drink that.
Also, I occasionally enjoy a Chai Latté. I can’t find anywhere that has this drink on campus
anywhere, or maybe I’m missing something? There are of course great options for food and
beverages on the Glasnevin Campus in DCU and I want to highlight that with immense
gratitude on behalf of us students.
That being said though, Nubar has great options for coeliacs and people with other gluten
intolerances (thank you for the gluten free pasta and pizza). Might I add that the staff in
Nubar are so professional, polite and respectful. Shoutout to Ray, the manager of Nubar
who was one of the first people I spoke to and ordered from.
Lastly of course there’s The Restaurant and I’ve had a few meals there and so far what I’ve
had is very nice and like everything else on campus, it is very good value. I’m looking
forward to eating more of this restaurant’s menu.
Thank you for reading my article. I hope you found it a worthwhile read of your day.
Claire Berrigan.