As a sophomore in college, it is safe to say that I have gotten used to the college food in the dining halls by now. Pizza, pasta, french fries, junk food and if you get lucky, some vegetables that don’t taste completely like rubber.

Coming in as a freshman, I never really knew how difficult it would be to find food that was actually healthy but tasted good. I was swayed by the pizza station and the endless amount of french fries (and let me tell you, I’m talking about curly fries, regular french fries, waffle fries and even sweet potato fries), that being said, like any typical college freshman, I succumbed to the poor eating habits. Not to mention that my school has possibly the best baked goods I have ever tasted: fresh baked cookies, muffins and other pastries that really make you question why you can’t just live off of chocolate chip cookies and lemon poppy seed muffins for the rest of your life. All that being said, it is easy to see how the whole “freshman 15” phenomenon was born.

I go to a small liberal arts school so there is definitely not a wide variety of food like there is at some larger universities. I have friends that talk about how they have restaurants like Panera, Sweet Green and Einstein’s Bagels right on their campus. For me, not only do we not have restaurants on campus, but the closest ones in walking distance are all pizza joints. Honestly, it is beyond me why there needs to be four pizza places within 3 miles of each other.

I think that schools need to realize that we need to have healthier options. I’m not talking about kale salad and green smoothies, but I am suggesting things such as whole grain pasta, bread and rice.

There are days where there are better, healthier options where they do serve things such as whole wheat pasta or quinoa. There is a salad bar that is there every day, which is a very nice option. There are also pre-packaged sandwiches and salads, along with multiple kinds of sushi.

However, in general, the dining hall food is repetitive and just generally unhealthy. Tell me who ever thought of the idea to serve corn with bacon bits?! That completely eliminates the purpose of corn in the first place. I have walked into the dining hall and seen foods that I never even knew existed…I mean, one time I went to the bakery and their special for the day was a cookie sandwich stuffed with chocolate icing and sprinkles. It looked and sounded heavenly, but I mean come on, who knew that was even a thing?

I do believe that as you get over the initial transition from your mom’s home cooked food to the college dining hall, you start to figure out how to eat healthy. I make use of the salad bar almost every day, and usually just stick to the foods that I know are good.

I don’t think the solution is for college campuses to completely get rid of things such as pizza, burgers and fries. Those foods are the true depiction of college food and let’s be honest, they taste too good. What I am saying is that along with those options, there needs to be a better variety of things such as whole grains, lean proteins and vegetables.

I have some friends that are vegetarian, and can not eat the food half of the time. It would be nice if the dining halls accommodated and planned their food not only around health, but also around the dietary needs of students.

This problem of healthy eating in college dining halls is definitely a prolonged, universal issue. All we can hope for is that in the near future, college dining halls can begin to make small changes in the direction of healthy eating. As for now, I know all I’m going to be thinking about is going home to my mom’s home cooked meals and the upcoming Thanksgiving feast.