The University of Maryland is nationally recognized for its radically underwhelming dining plans, but a lot of people don’t know that the dining halls have many more offerings than what you see displayed. Here are a few of my favorite secret menu items that you can try ordering when you don’t want to just get pasta for the eighth meal in a row:

The Rhode Island New York California Texas Kentucky Illinois Maryland system wiener
Our beloved dining halls are famously sensitive when making foods from various cultures, and this dish is somehow even more culturally sensitive than anything they’ve served before! This variant on the traditional Rhode Island “New York system wiener” has added avocado, fried chicken, Old Bay, and a whole lot of cheese. Really, nothing makes someone feel more respected than having their favorite traditional foods bastardized beyond recognition.

Red chicken
If the orange chicken line at Yahentamitsi is ever too long for you, red chicken is the perfect alternative. This dish, which is especially popular with pre-law students who have garlic allergies, is very iron-rich and has a wonderfully salty taste. Just don’t ask what the sauce is made of; you really don’t want to know.

Salt rice
This one’s not for the faint of heart, but if you’re feeling adventurous it might be worth a try. This dish, consisting only of rice and salt, is the most flavorful thing our dining halls have to offer. A whopping one-and-a-half on the Scoville scale, you’re not even allowed to order this dish unless you sign a 30-page contract waiving the university of any responsibility should you die while eating it.

Coke
Even the dining staff hates that we’re a Pepsi school, so Chef Drew G. Diller of South Campus Dining Hall started a side-hustle selling Coke products. Personally, I think the prices are absurd, with the soda selling for $100 per gram. You could try to steal some from him, but the last person to do that got locked in Ellicott Diner just before it closed down permanently.

Maryland Dairy ice cream
Everyone loves our local not-FDA-approved ice cream brand, but few people know there’s a dining hall that actually serves it! You can find it at 251, along with many other great exclusives, like vegan chicken nuggets and cheesy bread. Really, everything at this dining hall is a “super secret menu item” because nobody eats there, but it might actually have the best options of our three dining halls! (Please just go there, I’m so tired of not being able to get a seat at The Y.)

Image Credits: Clare Dombrosky