French university canteens offer structured meals at a fixed moderate price. We examined whether eating regularly at university canteens was associated with socioeconomic status (SES) or dietary practices. The study data came from a cross-sectional study of a random sample of 1723 students aged 18-24 years, in their first year of university in 2005-2006, enrolled in the universities of southeastern France (response rate = 71%). Self-reported dietary practices were collected with a behavioral questionnaire. Adjusted logistic regressions showed that eating regularly at university canteens was less frequent among students with less than (sic)300 monthly resources and not living with their families (OR = 0.68 [95%CI: 0.49-0.94]). It was also positively associated, regardless of SES, with the consumption of at least five servings of fruit/vegetables daily (OR = 1.42 [1.05-1.92]) and one serving of meat/fish daily (OR = 1.41 [1.13-1.76]) but not with either restricting fatty food (OR = 1.04 [0.81-1.33]) or never/rarely adding salt to food (OR = 1.06 [0.85-1.32]). Eating regularly at university canteens was less frequent among less well-off students and was positively associated with some healthier self-reported dietary habits. Further research is needed to confirm these results in the overall student population in France and to understand the determinants of university canteen utilization. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.