A Cornell Dining Experiment
Bear Salad Bar with a Cup of Chicken Tortilla Soup
Today, I didn’t have to travel far for a gluten free meal- Bear Necessities had me covered! Starting my lunch off with a small cup of chicken tortilla soup (sans tortilla) was a fantastic way to warm up after trudging through the tundra. Once my fingers were thawed out enough to negotiate the finer skills of using a fork, my made-to-order salad filled with an assortment of veggies and grilled chicken proved to be quite tasty.
Today I had lunch in the Ivy Room. Enjoyed a Freshtake Kosher Corned Beef sandwich.
Although I wasn’t able to fully enjoy the entire meal at Seasonal 365 today, I did eat a variety of different foods for lunch. Today’s meal consisted of dry cereal, Del Monte Fruit cups, Pork Sausage cooked in pineapple and a bag of PopCorners. This is typical of how I normally eat throughout the day; basically just grazing through different stations when time permits and when I have a few minutes to think straight or realize that my stomach is hungry. The rest of 365 was dairy overload. Buttermilk and sourcream was seaping out of the pores of the pancakes; Ambrosia salad, well, the main ingredient is whipped cream; fried apples – think apple wedges sauteed in butter. All favorites of mine that had to be passed by this week.
I was thinking of going in for a cholesterol test at the end of the week, hoping that the lack of dairy would help lower my LDL; then I realized that I’ve consummed more pork products this week than I normally do, as today’s lunch was my third pork meal in two days. I guess it is human instinct to want to eat animal;…….. no need for the blood work now.
I know we were to eat the way of your diet on campus while on campus. Like others, I decided to eat my diet, Vegan all day for 5 Days. I tell the staff my diet and they ae very helpful. I am hopeful that they act this way with any special request. Today I went to Trillium for breakfast and Ivy Room for lunch. I ate oatmeal for breakfast and a salad with tofu for lunch. Both were more than satisfactory. I am going to go to N Star for dinner later this afternoon. If I remember, I will take a picture. Loving this! Gail
Day two started off late this morning as I came into Campus around noon and went to 104West! for some lunch to begin my day. The staff was super friendly, as always, and they had some great smelling offerings today. I went with the Spinach, Feta, Tomato personal pizza. I also had some of the Garlic bread, VERY GOOD!, and some tortellini Salad. They also had an all veggie and a cheese personal pizza available, as well as Grilled Cheese, Stir fry and some other options. You cannot leave this place hungry, they even had some donuts today! I ate them for dessert, it was wonderful. I’m still debating to go North for dinner tonight or walk back over to 104West, guess I’ll check out the online menus first.. Until Then… Enjoy Fat Tuesday! 
Good Afternoon!
Yesterday, our gluten free team had a group lunch at North Star. It was a big culture shock at first! Thankfully North Star has a section designated for gluten free products that are avalible to the public.
On my first day of being gluten free … I had a salad! Okay, I know it is not the most exciting gluten free meal that you can think of. But it was delicious! To make lunch even better, North Star had gluten free FUDGE BROWNIES!!!! You would have never known that they were gluten free.![WP_20140303_12_36_32_Pro[1]](https://blogs.cornell.edu/5days/files/2014/03/WP_20140303_12_36_32_Pro1-2h10gpv.jpg)
Today, we went to lunch at Synapsis Cafe. They have the most amazing gluten free baked pasta. I added grilled chicken, mushrooms, and gluten free marinara sauce. The pasta, being gluten free, did have a more al dente texture. Hey, I love al dente pasta! And get this … they sell the gluten free FUDGE BROWNIES too!
So far this whole gluten free diet is going great, but with all these brownies I’m going to have to watch my waistline!
For lunch today, northstar was offering a delicious vegetarian stuffed cabbage. Paired with a tossed salad and a cup of water, lunch was very satisfying. 
I had lunch at Northstar which consisted of a sweet pear and pineapple melody. For the main course I went straight for the taco bar which allowed me to select my own toppings including salsa, refrired beans, lettuce and tomato. I finished the meal with a delectable Mexi
can Bean salad.
Our Kosher team ate at 104West! this afternoon, it was our first team get together. I was surprised by the assortment of offerings available. There was Stir Fry to order, Calzones, a very nice fresh salad bar, and a great assortment of desserts. They also had omelets, Quessadilla’s and wraps available to order, and made fresh right in front on your eyes while you wait. I will admit that after only having some cereal for breakfast I had to do some digging around to find a few snacks before lunch today. I was able to identify that our fresh baked in house cookies are O/U certified as well as a number of our french fry offerings. I must point out though, I’m not sure how “kosher” the fries are after going into oil that has been used for other foods…. So, I may not be eating strictly Kosher, but Kosher certified works for me. I am looking forward to lunch tomorrow, Personal pan pizzas. I may also check out the Kosher offerings at Northstar for dinner tomorrow night. I am having trouble loading pics right now but I will try and follow up with them later.
How was lunch? I replied “great…quite full and I actually skipped dessert!” (although there was a a strawberry rhubarb pie fresh from the bakery calling my name) I gravitated to chefs table first for some vegetable couscous & roasted fresh roasted vegetables. I then made my way to the salad bar which was full of variety with beans & grains & overall looked very appealing. I was able to find lots of options there & additionally two chef inspired composed salads, I had the Farro with cranberries. I was impressed at how many options there were for vegans. I actually had more things to choose from then I could actually consume & was pleasantly satisfied at this North Campus all you care to eat dining hall! Lastly I did have a re-fried bean crispy taco from the taco station, which really I may have over done it by eating. Although I still managed to ask about that dessert…Denise who works at NS was able to find out that the pie I was eying earlier was indeed vegan! I told a few of my teammates and dairy free compadres… I was really full from my salad and grains so no pie for me today…another day sweetness!
