Dining Services

Saketan Anand ’21, an economics and Spanish major from Mumbai, India, says he was blown away by the variety of food options available in D-Hall when he arrived on campus. “Especially when I first came here, this was kind of a dream for an international student. It’s weird because pizzas and sandwiches and burgers and that kind of stuff is like luxury food in the cultures that we grow up in …. So, you have that honeymoon phase, and then you’re like, ‘Okay, I want to get healthy food.’ But there are options for that as well. It’s really easy to put together a salad bowl and stuff.”

Grinnellians are experts at adapting to new situations and finding creative solutions. Fitsum “Fit” Getahun ’21, a biology and history double major from Addis Ababa, anticipated many differences between Ethiopian cuisine and the food served in Grinnell’s Marketplace Dining Hall but has since found the secret to balancing flavor and practicality — the spice rack.

I had a lot of questions about the Grinnell College experience before I arrived on campus for New Student Orientation and some of the most pressing involved food. What if I didn’t like anything in the dining hall? Would I find anyone with whom I could sit? What if it all just tastes bad in general?! Luckily, those fears were totally unfounded, and eating at Grinnell has been an easy, and sometimes even enlightening, experience.