Eating in University cafeterias
 

When I was a student in Freiburg Germany in the late 1980's I would usually eat in the Mensa, as the University cafeterias in Germany are called. A ticket for one meal with unlimited seconds of the non-meat dish cost about 2.6 marks IIRC. Anyone could eat there, as long as you had a ticket, which you could easily buy from a student. I'm wondering if this is still the case, and if anyone has done this on any trips to Germany or elsewhere recently.

Well, you might be little long in the tooth now to pass as a student.

Typically you can eat at any public uni's students Mensa or cafeterias (but usually not at the seperate eateries for academic staff where those exist).
You will usually pay a "guest" price if you don't have student ID. So a meal that costs €4 for a student may cost €6 for a guest.
The only problem can be that many places have switched from cash payments or "meal tickets" to smartcards which act as student ID and store cashless credit for eating at the unis' restaurants etc.
So you may have to get a guest smartcard first, pay a deposit and load cash on it, pay, return card to get remaining credit and deposit.. that would be a bit too complicated for my taste.

Here in Dresden they have switched to those smartcards, but you can still pay in cash. However, the other problem still stands - the guest price is much higher than the subsidised student price (and there's one inbetween for the staff), so it's not really economical to eat there for a guest. The quality (at least here) is very good, though - lots of options, fresh, organic dishes offered, too.

Those times are over. Most mensas I know have introduced a system of cards or electronic keys for payment which are only available to unversity members, with a distinction between student prices and higher staff prices. Since the meal prices are state-subsided they do not allow random guests. Only the cafeteria parts are open to non-university people.

Some campuses have private establishments (i.e. cafés) in addition to the Mensas that are not part of the Mensa system and you can get a good economical feed for reduced prices and no smartcard, although the range of food available is limited when compared with the Mensa. I am thinking for example of Uni Bremen, but there would have to be others. The smartcard is the only barrier to the Mensa there but you can easily get one for yourself.
I am not sure I would travel to a uni campus specially to visit a Mensa, if it is not smack bang in the middle of the town as some are. Food is filling, but so it is at many other restaurants in town.

Lavandula

At those mensas I know the acquisition of a smartcard or key requires the presentation of either a student or staff ID, hence obtaining them is not *that* easy for someone who has neither.

Well, I was lent a smartcard in Bremen for the duration of my stay but I think you could just buy them from a machine in the main part of the Mensa (the seated bit, not the food-serving section). That was the same machine you used for a recharge.

In Jena there is a cafeteria in the library (not a full-on Mensa) that does not require cards exclusively, or did not last time I was there. It is quite possible that the smartcard system has been rolled out more since I was there, and even more probable that there are big differences between unis.

Where the campus is in town (or IS the town) there would be any number of 'student' restaurants that are not Mensas but survive on providing good cheap food. And probably have to provide a good alternative to the Mensa or they would not survive.

Lavandula