Game day in the swamp is unlike any other experience a college student could have at the University of Florida, especially when frat tailgates are involved. It’s the one day of the week when the entire Gator nation comes together to cheer for the boys, crack open a cold one and scream “move back you suck” until your throat burns.
Tailgating in the swamp completely enhances the Gator experience, and nothing says tailgate like frat houses, burgers and, of course, mac n’ cheese.
Each game day as my friends and I make our way down frat row, we make sure to stop off at each fraternity that provides food. Then we rank the food and decide if we’ll return for more food the next game day. After playing tailgate food critique for a few weeks, I’ve come up with five frats that have unreal game day food.
The rankings for this year’s frat food are as follows:
1. Tau Epsilon Phi. TEP always pulls through with its homemade pita chips and mac n’ cheese. The salty pita chips paired with the cheesy pasta are what every tailgater dreams of — the only caveat is you have to get to TEP at the start of the tailgate or else the food is completely gone!
2. Delta Chi. Most game days Delta Chi has burgers, beans and beer, but recently they’ve been stepping their game up with ribs. BBQ is the way to a drunk girl’s heart and stomach.
3. Chi Phi. Chi Phi has recently brought in a BBQ chef who really knows what he’s doing. Pulled pork sandwiches, ribs and baked beans really hit the spot after a long day of tailgating. The food is fine, the boys are great and the beer, well, it’s usually warm.
4. Delta Tau Delta. Delt is sometimes overlooked on game days because of its location, but the burgers and hotdogs are worth the walk. This frat has tons of toppings for both the burgers and hotdogs such as lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, pickles, ketchup, mustard and more. If you’re craving a burger, definitely head over to Delt.
5. Sigma Alpha Epsilon. SAE is known for their painted lion but also for their game day chicken wings. If you haven’t made it to this frat house while tailgating, you definitely should. I mean who doesn’t like a warm bud light and chicken wings?