A guide to eating kosher in the dining halls
What kosher options do the dining halls offer?
University Housing offers a dedicated space for serving kosher foods called the Kosher Kitchen. The Kosher Kitchen is located inside Lincoln-Allen Dining Hall, with access from either Allen Hall or Lincoln Avenue residence halls, and open Monday through Thursday for lunch and dinner and on Sundays for dinner, offering a total of nine all-you-care-to-eat meals per week. The Kosher Kitchen is closed on Jewish holidays.
Currently, the Kosher Kitchen offers about 15 kosher-certified proteins and has approximately 60 kosher recipes. The menu runs on a 4-week cycle. Every Tuesday evening a special “breakfast for dinner” menu is offered that students love!
Aside from the Kosher Kitchen, kosher shelf-stable or frozen meals are available upon request in every all-you-care-to-eat dining hall. Be sure to check out this resource during Passover! Kosher shelf-stable meals as well as other kosher products are available for purchase in 57 North at Ikenberry Commons in the Student Dining and Residential Programs building.
There is also the Chabad Café, which is affiliated with University Housing’s Private Certified Housing. University Housing’s dining does not oversee their operations, but you can learn more through the Illini Chabad website. Illini Hillel is another resource for Jewish students on campus.
You can access the Kosher Kitchen in Lincoln-Allen Dining Hall through Allen Hall or Lincoln Avenue residence halls.
How does the Kosher Kitchen operate?
To enter the Kosher Kitchen, you can swipe your i-card or pay at either of the two Lincoln-Allen Dining Hall checkpoints located downstairs. The Kosher Kitchen is located separately from the Lincoln-Allen main kitchen and has its own food line. Ask a member of the dining staff if you need assistance finding the kosher food line.
There is a hand sink available in the Kosher Kitchen that students may use to wash their hands before eating. On the kosher line, you’ll notice that food will be served on disposable plates and silverware. To avoid cross-contact of non-kosher foods on servingware within the main dish room, single-use options are currently utilized. To promote sustainability, we encourage students to bring their own reusable water bottles for the drink station.
A mashgiach is present during all hours of operation of the Kosher Kitchen. A mashgiach is a trained individual who ensures all food produced in an establishment is kosher. We partner with Illini Chabad for this process. Interested students can be trained to work as a mashgiach – contact Illini Chabad for more information.
Examples of what a mashgiach does:
- Opens the Kosher Kitchen for the chef to begin working
- Checks all ingredients to ensure they are kosher before the chef starts cooking with them
- Controls elements of fire, such as starting stoves and closing ovens
- Helps store opened food items appropriately for future use
- Re-koshers metal cookware if needed
Illinois app and EatSmart resources
You can see what the Kosher Kitchen is serving by visiting the Illinois app. The Kosher Kitchen will be listed as its own dining area. Depending on your comfortability of eating in non-kosher spaces, you could also self-navigate our all-you-care-to-eat dining halls using the “food filters applied” button while looking at dining halls on the Illinois app. Here you could filter for options like vegan and vegetarian, and you can exclude items like pork, alcohol, and milk.
View Kosher Kitchen menus through the Illinois app.
If you ever want to know the exact ingredients of a dish, you can visit the EatSmart website. When you visit the website, you can select the Kosher Kitchen and the meal period and date served. You then select the food item of interest to see its nutrition information and ingredient list.
Other resources
If you’re ever unsure about a food while navigating the dining halls, don’t hesitate to reach out to an employee or chef. Everyone deserves access to safe, nutritious, and culturally relevant foods, and we’d love to be able to assist your specific situation. You can also contact nutrition@housing.illinois.edu with any questions or concerns you may have.
To see more about the dining services available at the University of Illinois, visit the Nutrition and Dietary Considerations page on the University Housing website. Religious observances and holidays recognized by the university can also be found online.
Kayla Lammy is a graduate student in Food Science and Human Nutrition with a concentration in Clinical and Community Nutrition. She will be graduating in December 2026 and is planning to pursue a career as a registered dietitian.
