This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCLA chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
De Nasty is a unique and funny way that most people refer to the De Neve dining hall on the hill. This nickname originated from students after all unanimously agreeing that De Neve is the worst dining hall. I remember during my first year here at UCLA, De Neve was one of the very first dining halls I’ve ever visited after moving in, and I decided to get dinner by myself for the first time. I immediately fell in love, and it quickly became my go-to spot to get meals, even to this day. I can thank mainly their scrambled eggs and hashbrowns that they serve during breakfast and their selection of desserts that they feature during every meal, for nurturing my love toward De Neve.
The first time I invited someone to eat with me at De Neve for dinner, she was a year older, and her reaction when I suggested De Neve felt as though the bubble I lived in burst. She told me that De Neve was the worst dining hall ever, and that only a freshman would like it. Needless to say, I suddenly felt a little bit insecure about my taste in food and how I was an “obvious freshman.” However, now that I am a second year, I can proudly say that De Neve is still my favorite dining hall.
Look, I know that De Neve isn’t top-tier culinary, especially on the hill where UCLA is ranked #1 in dining, but people act as though the food crawls out from the deepest pits of despair and should not be consumed under any circumstance. I can understand why people don’t love De Neve: it’s definitely one of the unhealthier dining halls and falls into the stereotypical American food, with burgers, fries and pizza on their menu daily.
But one of the unique things about De Neve that keeps drawing me back in is that there are one of the few dining halls that features dishes outside of European cuisine. Frequently featuring dishes from Latino and Hispanic cultures is what makes it unique in my eyes. Before you throw tomatoes at me, saying how the food isn’t true, authentic food from the culture, might I raise the question of has any dining halls have truly mastered authentic food from any culture outside of European cultures? We have to cut them some slack when they’re trying to push out hundreds to thousands of meals within a short amount of time to ensure we don’t have angry and hungry college students on the loose.
I love how De Neve is one of the only dining halls that does frequent nods to other cultures’ dishes. I vividly remembered during winter quarter of 2025 when De Neve had an entire night dedicated to African food. While I do have some criticisms about the food itself, I’m never expecting a five-star Michelin dish, just something that I can comfortably rely on. Needless to say, I was impressed with the African dishes they had that night. The entire dining hall was dressed up to celebrate Black History month and in honor of bringing an entire night filled with African dishes to the hill. It brought different communities together, and there was a light-hearted tone in the air as everyone was mingling and enjoying each other’s company with good food.
This wasn’t the only time De Neve hosted a cultural night: sometime during spring quarter of 2025, they also hosted a Brazil night, where they featured different Brazilian dishes. As someone who isn’t as familiar with Brazilian dishes, I found this to be an eye-opening event and a nice way to open myself up to other cultural dishes that have never crossed my mind before. I appreciate and applaud De Neve for trying their best to bring different cuisines from around the world here for UCLA students to try out, as the only other dining hall that I’ve witnessed do this is Feast, which frequently shuffles through different Asian cuisines.
Yes, De Neve isn’t the best dining hall on the hill, but in my eyes, it is and will remain my favorite dining hall. De Neve is more than just their junk food and desserts, but can be a unique spot to highlight and celebrate different cultures. With the school year beginning once again, I’m looking forward to seeing what new things De Neves brings to the table. I hope to see the reputation of De Nasty switch to De Neve, and get just a little bit more respect it deserves when we think about those who work in the kitchen to ensure we are all fed.
Dining and Cooking