Marist College Debuts New Gourmet Food Options for Students

Long gone are the days of college students surviving on cold ramen noodles and leftover pizza.

Marist College has partnered with a new food provider that is pampering students with some incredible food options. According to Marist's student-run paper, The Circle, a new food provider has taken over the on-campus dining services and has already elevated the culinary offerings.

When I attended Marist College in the early 1990s we had two choices; eat whatever slop was being served in the one cafeteria that day or order delivery. Today, college students have a wide range of on-campus options that include healthy options, decadent treats and everything in between.

This year, Marist College has remodeled its dining hall and opened up a separate allergy-free kitchen, offering foods that are safe to eat for students who suffer from most of the common food allergies. The dining hall will also open a "late-night dessert cafe" that offers coffee, desserts and even pizza and sandwiches for students with the late-night munchies.

The north end of campus is now adding milkshakes and noodles to the menu and expanding its hours. According to The Circle, one of the most popular changes is the expansion of the on-campus partnership with existing Hudson Valley restaurants. Rossi's Deli and Halal Shack have now expanded their partnership and are available to students in Donnelly Hall.

Across campus, the Marketplace has been transformed into a ghost kitchen that will operate through GrubHub. Hudson Valley restaurants including Lola's, Cosimo's and Eastdale Bagels have partnered with the space to prepare foods from their menu that are available for student pickup. The space will employ the use of innovative "food lockers" that will keep orders warm for students until they come to pick them up.

With Rossi's Deli sandwiches, milkshakes, GrubHub and gourmet menu items available in the dining hall, my freshman fifteen would probably have been more like a freshman twenty-five. I hope these young Marist students know just how good they have it.