Why B Plate is the highlight of going to UCLA

Forget your typical greasy burgers and fries — UCLA’s B Plate has all the makings of a gourmet restaurant while maintaining the convenience of an on-campus dining hall. Whether you’re health-conscious, a vegetarian, a Division I athlete, or someone simply interested in trying new foods, B Plate has a table for everyone.

Here are ten reasons why B Plate is the single best thing about UCLA:

Everything B Plate serves is relatively healthy

Freshman fifteen? No worries! According to its website, B Plate categorizes itself as a “health-themed” dining hall, which means you can confidently eat just about anything there without questioning its impact on your health. In fact, B Plate is the only dining hall in the country where everything is made from scratch and good for you. And even if you’re a picky eater and the color green is not part of your preferred palate…

You can still find versions of your favorite food

That’s right! Foods like burgers and pizza don’t necessarily come to mind when you think of “healthy foods,” but one of the awesome things about B Plate is they’re able to recreate classic comfort foods as healthy concoctions. Substitute black beans for beef and you have a savory black bean burger, or replace thick, doughy crust with wood-fired flatbread to make a light and crispy flatbread pizza.

Unless you want to try something new…

B Plate offers unique options for the adventurous eater

Have you ever heard of farro, amaranth, or polenta? If you have, great! If not, you’re not alone. Many of B Plate’s menu items include exotic grains, roots, and vegetables that provide for a more unique dining experience. Even the names of the dishes – such as “Chickpea Panisse Mixed Grains & Rapini Bowl” or “Guajillo Chili Chicken & Poblano Pepper Tortilla Pizza” will leave you feeling refined and cultured when you’re finished.

The food used is local and sustainable

Despite the fancy names, much of what you see and consume at B Plate was grown and raised relatively close by. B Plate features vegetables from local farms, grass-fed beef, free-range chickens, cage-free eggs, and fair trade teas. They even compost 100% of their waste, whether it be in the production of food or the leftovers of students. Environmentalists and animal rights activists unite!

B Plate even serves dessert…

No good meal is complete without dessert, and being health-conscious doesn’t mean compromising this experience! B Plate has a special section in the front of the dining hall devoted to satisfying your sweet tooth. There is always an array of fresh fruit, flavored breads, compotes, spreads, bars, and cakes – not to mention the frozen yogurt near the cereal – that will leave your body feeling happy long after the taste is gone. Sweet!

…And soda

Similarly, eating – and drinking – healthy doesn’t mean you must limit yourself to water, although that’s definitely an option. Like the other dining halls, B Plate serves coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and hot vanilla, but also includes a different fruit-infused water every day, as well as fruit “spritzers.” These spritzers, made with carbonated fruit juice, are essentially soda for grown-ups. It’s about time we ditch the unnecessary sugars and chemicals, after all.

You can almost always find something with avocados in it

Avocados seem to be the latest craze among Californians, especially college students. Or maybe I just haven’t lived here long enough. Either way, people visibly go crazy for these soft, green fruits. You can always tell when avocados are featured in a dining hall dish, because the line for it is twice as long as any other line. Fortunately, B Plate almost always includes some form of avocados in its daily menus, even if it is only a tiny slice.

The atmosphere is cozy

You’ll most likely be too preoccupied with your food on your first few adventures to B Plate, but once you get settled in, you’ll start noticing the small details that make it truly remarkable. In contrast to the stereotypical harsh white lighting, stark walls, and plastic bench-tables of most dining halls, B Plate could legitimately pass as a restaurant. It features large glass windows that allow the room to fill with natural light in the daytime, while the lights are dimmed at night for a more intimate dining experience. Even detail – including the hanging light fixtures, wooden tables, and decorative ceilings – makes B Plate an architectural masterpiece in relation to dining halls and restaurants alike.

And there’s even a restroom

It never fails to happen, as soon as your conversation gets interesting or you get up for that second serving of food, you realize you need to use the restroom. In the other dining halls, you either have to “hold it” or hope that whoever swipes you in is feeling generous enough to let you back in afterwards. Whoever designed B Plate must’ve known that diners would want to stay awhile, because they left room for both a men’s and women’s restroom with multiple stalls, so you never have to wait in line while your food gets cold, or make the decision between stuffing your face or abandoning your food altogether.

But most importantly, B Plate has something for everyone

What makes B Plate so universally appealing is regardless of preferences, allergies, or dietary restrictions, there is food for everyone. Every meat dish has a slightly altered vegetarian or vegan option, and many of the foods also come gluten free, such as the pancakes and brownies. (Yes, you read that right!) B Plate serves as a wonderful alternative to the classic dining hall, and is able to unite a campus through its numerous and diverse appeals.

As much as I love B Plate, I’ll admit, it wasn’t easy choosing just one thing as the best part of UCLA.  The list of this university’s remarkable qualities – such as its academics, sports, and location, to name a few – is quite extensive. However, eating is such a fundamental part of our daily routine that we often overlook its importance. What we put into our bodies impacts us both mentally and physically, and as students at a competitive university, we need to remain in tip-top shape. B Plate makes our hectic lives a little simpler by ensuring anything we consume there will be good for us. Students can conveniently walk in and know they are making a healthy decision, rather than having to scrutinize each item, or seek options off campus. And at the end of the day, the food at B Plate is not only nutritious, but absolutely delicious!