A vast majority of college students are…less than satisfied with their dining plans. 

While Harvard does not have world-class, Michelin star food, our food is amazing for what it is — consistent and healthy meals for thousands and thousands of college students, made at convenient and inclusive times by our amazing Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) staff. 

The freshman year dinning hall is called Annenberg, affectionately referred to by students as "Berg" or "the Berg." Berg, like Harvard’s other dining halls, uses a rotating menu, where we have different meals every day for about two weeks, and the cycle then repeats again. After a couple two week cycles, this can become monotonous, even if the food itself is good, so here are some of my favorite ways to add some variety to the Harvard dining experience: 

1. The Salad Bar 

   One of the main constants in the dining hall is the salad bar, which with enough imagination, is basically a free Sweetgreen. The salad bar includes veggies and a variety of toppings, my favorite of which are the cherry tomatoes and avocado cubes. My favorite at the salad bar is the pre-made, pre-dressed caesar salad. The caesar salad is a reliable staple if you are bored of any of the other offerings. However, one of my favorite ways to use the salad bar is supplemented by our sandwich bar, a long table just outside of the main food area that contains bread, condiments, and various toppings, like pepperoncino and pickled onions. I like to take the tortillas provided at the sandwich bar and stuff them with various items from the salad bar – my go-tos are chicken and caesar salad to make a chicken caesar wrap. Last, the salad bar contains a freshman year staple: the Berg hard-boiled eggs. Often overlooked, these eggs are the key to an enjoyable and protein filled freshman year dining experience. Harvard students often share tips on Instagram about how to maximize the dining hall's resources. Using those tips, I frequently cut the hard boiled eggs in half, scoop out the yolk, and use mayo and paprika to make deviled eggs. 

    

   2. The Sandwich Bar 

   That brings me to the next underutilized station in Berg, the sandwich bar. I believe it is formally called the pickling station, which vastly underrepresents its many, many uses. The sandwich bar usually contains bread or tortillas. Like I mentioned before, I love to use the tortillas to make wraps. I also love to use the hard boiled eggs from the salad bar, an aforementioned staple, to make egg salad sandwiches. Overall, I think that utilizing the ingredient heavy stations in Annenberg is HUGE for the first year dining experience. 

   

    

   3. Breakfast

   While it seems like a no-brainer, showing up to breakfast is far easier in theory than in practice. I lived in Wigglesworth Hall during my first year, which is across the yard from the freshman dining hall. As you can imagine, my breakfast hit rate was abysmally low. However, I would highly recommend stopping in Berg to get breakfast in between classes, especially if you have a 9:00 am class nearby. During my second semester, I always stopped at Berg to get a yogurt parfait in a to-go cup between my 9:00 class in the science center and my 10:30 class in Sanders Theater. It may not be feasible to have a full breakfast every single day, but getting meals to-go helps! 

    

   4. Boardplus 

   Boardplus is a 65 dollar credit that is on our Harvard ID cards, and this 65 dollars rolls over between the fall and spring semesters if you don’t use all of it. So, in total, we get 130 dollars to spend at Harvard grilles, dining halls, and cafés. My favorite Boardplus spot is the Harvard Law School dining hall, where they have sushi and a wide variety of beverages. I also love to get a chai latte from Lamont Library Café or a matcha from El Gato Rojo (one of Harvard's student-run cafés), which are both located in Harvard Yard. Boardplus is a great way to take a break from the dining hall or to get a fun beverage or snack to have while studying. 

    

   5. Classroom to Table 

   Classroom To Table is a program at Harvard where students can take their professors for a meal in Harvard Square and have the meal completely comped by Harvard. To get involved, all you have to do is reach out to your professor and whoever else you would like to join you on the meal and submit a brief form with a description of the meal. Classroom To Table trips get approved relatively quickly, and from there, you are free to catch a meal with your professor without worrying about the bill. Classroom to Table not only breaks up the cycle of Annenberg meals, but it is also a great way to better connect with your professor and get to know them, which speaks to the openness and accessibility of all of our professors here at Harvard. 

    

   6. Club Events 

   While they can be incessant, I would highly recommend that you join any freshman year or pre-orientation mailing list that you can. Most clubs and student organizations will promote their events and meetings on those forums, and those meetings will typically have lots of free food. It is great to have a genuine interest in the club, but I will shamelessly admit that I have gone to several club meetings with the sole purpose of getting free food, listening to a brief presentation, and leaving. I distinctly remember craving Raising Canes at the beginning of my freshman year, and that evening, as fate would have it, I received an email from a club announcing that they were giving out free Canes at their open meeting that night. 

   
   One of the most asked questions we get on our tours is whether or not the food is good, which honestly, was a priority of mine when I was deciding where to go to school as well. First-year dining is definitely what you make of it, but Harvard has many amazing resources that make dining a highly customizable and fun experience.