From A La Carte to Mocha Turtle Tarts

The experience of dining on campus this academic year flipped as completely as a Testudo-shaped waffle maker. 

Under the previous “unlimited access” model at Maryland, students are asked not to take food from the dining halls. But under new health guidelines instituted before the fall semester amid the coronavirus pandemic, students are required to do just that in the opening weeks. 

Rather than wait outside to enter Terps basketball games, students now line up outside The Diner on days when chicken tenders (aka “tendies”) are on the daily “Terrapin Favorites” menu. 

And who would have imagined making reservations to eat at Chick-fil-A in The Stamp? 

Dining Services has had to dish up some creativity to keep students and its staff healthy “4 Maryland” from starting the semester as carry-out only to keeping students distanced when dining halls are open. 

And while fewer students living on campus means fewer students on dining plans—volume is down two-thirds from last year—the effort is as big as ever.  

They’ve developed decadent new desserts (chocolate truffle pastries, raspberry delice, caramel mocha turtle tarts!), held free pop-up events with the Green Tidings mobile food truck, and organized crowd-pleasers like Sundae Night. 

Want a serving of how Fall 2020 looked in dining? Enjoy.