Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: Doubling of college vegans, dramatic increase of vegan options

  1. #1
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Europe
    Posts
    4,830

    Default Doubling of college vegans, dramatic increase of vegan options

    Ohio State offers vegan options, some students not satisfied Published:
    Tuesday, September 11, 2012
    Awareness of veganism is on the rise, and some college campuses are adjusting their dining to accommodate the specific dietary needs of the growing vegan population.KarriBenishek, marketing manager for University Residences and Dining Services, emphasized the multitude of vegan options provided to students on campus, but said it wasn’t anything new for Ohio State.“We have always had vegan options, we’ve just never talked about them,” Benishek said.In the past, students have had the option to talk to dining hall chefs about accommodations for dietary needs and preferences. Now, OSU’s NetNutrition website has specific filters for vegans and vegetarians for all on-campus dining facilities.Although OSU’s dining services are not specifically advertising vegan options, they are showing their availability. During the housing process, students can self-disclose dietary preferences. They can also meet with an operations adviser or dietitian to monitor their nutrition needs.Hayley Howard, a second-year in French, is a vegan and said she finds meal options to be pretty scarce on campus.“If I need to find something, I can,” Howard said. “Usually I can find one to two things, but that’s it. I usually end up eating salad wherever I go.”Some of these foods include three-bean vegan chili, vegan pasta sauce, egg-free pasta, romesco salad, various whole grain salads, vegan lasagna, basmati rice with squash and tempeh, vegetarian baked beans, vegan chickpea stroganoff casserole, edamameputanesca, vegan fried vegetable brown rice and gluten-free vegan corn tofu fritters.Vegan options can be found at CourtsideCafé at the RPAC, a fast, casual operation serving customizable pastas, stir-fries, etc., and at the gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian station at Kennedy Commons.However, for health-conscious students like KelsieMistovich, a second-year in human development and family science, these particular dining facilities are not feasible for every college student.“I usually just go to North Commons because it’s close to me,” Mistovich said. “I have gone to Kennedy, and they have a great selection, I just don’t have the time to go there all of the time.”Mistovich usually resorts to items from the salad bar, but due to her low iron levels, she knows that she isn’t obtaining adequate nutrients from her meals.“I find that it’s a challenge to eat at OSU,” Mistovich said. “But I’ve eaten at other colleges, and I can honestly say the vegetarian and vegan selection here is better.”However, Howard said Dining Services shouldn’t focus on the depth of options, but on making them available in more places.“OSU should focus less on putting more options at Kennedy Commons, and instead find good, vegan options that are available everywhere,” Howard said.Veganism is a rising trend among college students across the nation, and OSU is the latest university to officially join in this movement, said Ryan Huling, manager of college campaigns and outreach for peta2, an animal rights organization.Huling said college dining services nationwide have responded to the country’s doubling of college vegans in the past five years.“We’ve seen a dramatic increase of vegan options in response to student demand,” Huling said. “Students are horrified to learn that cows have their throats slit while still alive, and that chickens are boiled alive before becoming chicken nuggets. When students become well-educated of the inherent cruelty of the way the animals are killed, they want their university to provide alternatives to this.”
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
    Posts
    772

    Default Re: Doubling of college vegans, dramatic increase of vegan options

    Nice article - apart from the part where the student claims to know that she is not obtaining enough nutrients from salad due to her low iron levels.

    That's exactly the kind of fear-generation that obviously needs to be in articles on veganism so omnis can smirk and mutter "unhealthy" :-/

    Best regards,
    Andy

  3. #3
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Europe
    Posts
    4,830

    Default Re: Doubling of college vegans, dramatic increase of vegan options

    Well, blaming vegan food for missing nutrient in vegansm but not blaming a meat based diet for missing nutrients in that diet is a well-known phenomenon...

    But things really do improve nowadays. I was a guest lecturer at a university yesterday, and have been that a few times the last year. Yesterday, when I asked for a vegan meal in the campus cafe. They made a mix of different vegan ingredients they had (bean salad, wok'ed vegetables etc) and seemed to be happy to provide something I'd enjoy. First time I asked for vegan food in the same cafe, they didn't really know what they could give me. If all it takes for them to improve is that a vegan asks for vegan food a few times, things ain't that bad... People generally seem to respect vegans a lot more than before.
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

  4. #4
    baffled harpy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    6,655

    Default Re: Doubling of college vegans, dramatic increase of vegan options

    I thought the idea in the article wasn't that vegan food generally was low in iron, but just that the vegan food provided in North Commons was low in iron? I can imagine if you ate nothing but salad (of the kind typically found in university refectories) you might go short of some nutrients.

    BTW I was on a German course in Jena recently and the main university "Mensa" there has a separate completely vegetarian and vegan department - unfortunately I only found it on the last day but it's good to know they have one! Edited to add: they did have vegetarian food in the main Mensa too but the vegan options seemed to be a bit limited there (to salad, in fact! ).

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
    Posts
    772

    Default Re: Doubling of college vegans, dramatic increase of vegan options

    Quote harpy View Post
    I thought the idea in the article wasn't that vegan food generally was low in iron, but just that the vegan food provided in North Commons was low in iron? I can imagine if you ate nothing but salad (of the kind typically found in university refectories) you might go short of some nutrients.
    I understand you. Nevertheless, I don't care too much for whining "But I will not get enough nutrients with my vegan diet because they only have salad".

    Good to hear that the Mensa in Jena also caters for vegans. I find that recently, among students, there seems to be a high number of vegans, which makes me think favourable of the future.

    In "normal places", however (e.g. my company cafeteria), I normally do not meet a single other vegan, unfortunately.

    Best regards,
    Andy

  6. #6
    baffled harpy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    6,655

    Default Re: Doubling of college vegans, dramatic increase of vegan options

    There seemed to be a bit of a vegan scene in Jena. There was a vegan cafe (Grünschnitt) round the back of our hotel and there was some kind of vegan/animal rights fair just before I got there. Of course there are a lot of students there, and most of the vegans I tend to run into are that sort of age or a bit older. Don't know where all the "mature" vegans hang out!

Similar Threads

  1. Vegans and college
    By UnicornFreedom:) in forum QUESTIONS FROM NON-VEGANS
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: Oct 14th, 2011, 02:39 AM
  2. Students want more vegan options
    By Korn in forum News
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: May 3rd, 2011, 12:20 PM
  3. Vegan school lunch options
    By virgo in forum America
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: Jan 6th, 2009, 01:56 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •