Students advocate vegan options in dining halls
February 13, 2009 by TIFFANY STEVENS
Filed under News
To increase the quality of alternative foods offered at the University, students are showing their support.
Jenny Aszman, president of the University’s Speak Out for Species, worked with PETA2, the student branch of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, in late January to collect more than 3,000 signatures from University students requesting more vegan dining options.
The petition has not yet been submitted to the University but will include a list of more than 106 vegan recipes from Veg Advance, a company that provides vegan food counseling and instruction to food service professionals, Aszman said.
Aszman, a senior from Alpharetta, said the purpose of the petition is not to eliminate options from the dining halls, but to ask the University to offer a minimum number of vegan dishes at each meal and to ensure proper labeling.
“While there are a lot of vegetarian options such as veggie dogs and burgers, current vegan options that are available are usually just the standard vegetables, hummus, beans, rice, pasta, tomato sauce or just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” Aszman said.
“There is not a lot of variety for students to choose from when it comes to finding a flavorful vegan meal. Most dishes are not labeled with all of the ingredients so students cannot tell if there are animal products in it, such as chicken stock or eggs. And soymilk is not always available for students to enjoy with cereal.”
Nick Kalivoda, a freshman from Athens, said his main concern is food labeling in the cafeterias.
“I’ve e-mailed the dietician for labeling, and so far it seems to be working,” Kalivoda said. “But another thing about labeling is, when you ask if [a product] is vegan, they either don’t know or are unwilling to check, and that seems to be more of a problem than the lack of options.”
J. Michael Floyd, director of Food Services, said there have not been many requests from students in the past for more vegan and vegetarian options. He also said it is difficult to provide vegan foods because of limited availability.
“Think about the restaurants that you go to. Unless the restaurant specializes in locally-grown or cultivated foods, there are not a lot of vegan or vegetarian options. Not a lot of fast food restaurants offer veggie patties because there is no demand,” Floyd said.
“I would say that we have a large variety of vegetarian products. We don’t have a lot of vegan products, but we go by customer request. Also, you have to realize that for each item you add, you have to take an item off the menu,” he said.
Thomas Bailey, a freshman from Woodstock, said although he appreciates the options in the dining halls, there is room for improvement.
“They’re certainly better than other institutions that I’ve had contact with, and they don’t do a bad job of providing for vegans – particularly considering the relatively small number of vegans on campus,” Bailey said. “However, it does get a little monotonous sometimes. Especially given the unimpressive quality of the fresh vegetables in the dining halls.”
