Project house aims to create allergy-friendly environment
1008 Park St. formerly hosted Food House and will be the site of the upcoming project house.
April 10, 2023
The Grinnell College Department of Residence Life approved a new project house for students to live in for the 2023-2024 academic year. This as-of-yet unnamed project house is targeted toward students’ dietary restrictions or allergies. The next-year residents have already been selected.
A project house, according to Dennis Perkins, assistant dean of Residence Life and student conduct, is an off-campus house affiliated with the College that provides a certain theme to live in. “Students really come up with the idea,” Perkins said. He explained further that after coming up with an idea, students pitch the idea to staff who work with students to create the house.
Before this project house existed, Perkins said students came up with the idea of Food House around four years ago. “Students wanted a space where they could prepare and talk about meals,” Perkins said.
Food House will not continue in the upcoming academic year. Perkins explained there were multiple reasons that this decision was made, but he said overall, “I just believed it was no longer compatible for all the people to be there.”
According to Kelly Banfield `24, who lived in the house last year and for part of this year, Food House allowed students to cook food whenever they wanted. “We could cook whenever we wanted, and oftentimes we shared, so there was always something to eat,” Banfield said. According to Perkins, Food House did not particularly cater to students with allergies or dietary restrictions, but this new project house will.
I’m frustrated that you have to pay for a primary meal plan when we live on campus because that meal plan does not really serve my needs . . . It’s frustrating to me that I have to pay for food that won’t necessarily be safe for me to eat.
— Mara Feirer `26
The house coordinator for the new project, Bella Villarreal `26, explained that the purpose of this new house is to have a safe space for people who have food allergies or dietary restrictions.
She also said she believes that “Cross-contamination is a big issue in D-Hall.”
Villarreal also explained that the house will provide a kitchen where “everyone is respectful of each other and that is also consistently a safe space.” She explained that after the application was sent out by Residence Life, some of the students who applied were selected and then notified of the decision. Those students then had the option to live in the house for the next year or live elsewhere.
One student living in the house next year is Mara Feirer `26.
“I am excited because I don’t want to live in a dorm,” Feirer said. One of Feirer’s primary concerns was the price of a meal plan that she could not utilize as someone with a gluten intolerance. “I’m frustrated that you have to pay for a primary meal plan when we live on campus because that meal plan does not really serve my needs,” explained Feirer. She said further that, “It’s frustrating to me that I have to pay for food that won’t necessarily be safe for me to eat.”
Unlike other on-campus housing, students living in project houses have the option to opt out of the meal plan.
Feirer said, “I think it would be cool to live with other people who have similar concerns because, you know, community of similar experiences. It’s nice to have that support on campus.”
Villarreal added, “I really do want it to be an open kitchen that people can come cook in and share meals in.”
