Going from beautiful home-cooked meals to the college dining hall diet was a major transition for me. At home, I was lucky enough to eat amazing Asian food every night made by the world’s best chef also known as my mom. She made intensely flavorful and savory dishes like pork and chives over steaming rice or hot miso noodles soup with bok choy.
I was living the good life. And then I got to college.
UVA dining halls are notorious for their bland meals that are consistently devoid of salt, spices, herbs, or any flavor for that matter. Eating at the dining hall day after day, everything started to taste the same. It has been 1.25 semesters of trial and error. But after experimenting with the food and supplies that are available at the dining halls, here are my best dining hall hacks:
1. Boujee af toast
Image credit: Sun-Pat
Directions: Toast a slice of bread. While you’re waiting, grab a banana from the fruit section and slice. Spread peanut butter on toast, position the banana slices, and drizzle on honey from the tea bar (or chocolate syrup from ice cream bar, no judgements).
2. Cucumber and Egg Sandwich
Image Credit: tasteofhome.com
Directions: Toast two slices of bread. While you’re waiting, grab a few cucumber slices from the salad bar and grab a few hard-boiled eggs at the breakfast stand. Crack, deshell, and slice the eggs. Spread cream cheese on the toast and pile on cucumbers and eggs. Sprinkle pepper for extra flavor.
3. Ice cream sandwich: Buzzfeed tasty level
Image Credit: completelydelicious.com
Directions: get two cookies and a plate and microwave for 20 seconds. Pipe ice cream onto the cookie and make a sandwich. Pour sprinkles onto a plate and roll the sandwich in the sprinkles. Enjoy (it’s so good)