College dining options for vegans

6 Responses

1. Simon

   20|Nov|2007 1

   I’m a graduate student at Stanford. I don’t eat at the dining halls, but I’ve heard they are reasonably vegan-friendly. (I read an article that said that every station has at least one vegetarian/vegan dish.) Some of the vendors on campus have vegan food, but the selection is pretty limited, so I rarely eat campus-bought food. Fortunately, Palo Alto is a vegan-friendly place, so there are quite a few restaurants with good vegan offerings, and there’s a really nice organic food store within walking distance from my apartment on campus.

   I’m less enthusiastic about the vegan offerings at my undergrad (UC Santa Barbara), but I wasn’t a vegan then. (I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian my senior year and an omnivore before that.) The dining halls had some vegetarian/vegan dishes, but they were sometimes not labeled or mislabeled, and they were not at all concerned about cleaning the surfaces after making meat dishes, at least from what I could see.

2. marygrace

   20|Nov|2007 2

   the vegan offerings at my school, the college of new jersey, are pretty slim. there is a pasta bar, but the noodles are always mushy and greasy. the greens at the salad bar are usually wilted. there are usually one or two way overcooked vegetable offerings also. then there are bagels, but they aren’t very healthy, and some underripe fruit. they claim to have vegan chicken salad at the sandwich station, but whenever i’ve asked for it, the response has never been positive. oh, and they have some raw tofu cubes at the salad bar as well, as some sort of token gesture i guess. i’m not sure what that is about.

   the food, vegan or omnivorous, is notoriously bad at my school. i find it especially frustrating that they go out of their way to make it seem like they have a lot of vegan options, when in reality, no vegan would feel satisfied or could thrive for very long from the food that is provided. i tend to buy whatever groceries that can be microwaved (frozen vegetables, potatoes, soups, noodle bowls, oatmeal) or some other things that don’t need to be cooked like fresh fruit and nuts. a diet like this also isn’t the best or most satisfying, but its better than what the college can offer me.

3. Ryan

   20|Nov|2007 3

   Marygrace — That sounds like awful, stereotypical campus food. (Trenton State/TCNJ was my second choice, incidentally.)

4. bazu

   20|Nov|2007 4

   I’m not sure about my current school’s veg. offerings, because I’m a grad. student, and so not on the meal plan. But I know that for catered events, and other events where meals are provided they have a vegetarian and a vegan option. One of their cafes is the first place I discovered The Alternative Baking Company vegan cookies! The school where I teach right now sometimes has wonderful vegan entrees (ravioli, lasagna, soups, sandwiches, etc.) plus a salad bar and a refrigerator selection that has plenty of options. I blogged about a vegan lunch at the cafeteria in this post: http://wherestherevolution.blogspot.com/2007/09/quick-meals-and-vegan-wish-fulfillment.html

   Oh and my undergrad alma mater is where I first discovered the wonders of vegan chili. Mmmmmm.

5. Madelyn

   24|Nov|2007 5

   Rading this sparked some curiosity… I went to Northwestern University in Evanston and back then, I would have never imagined I was going to become a vegetarian. I would have probably laughed…

   I do remember that in Norris Center, we used to get stir-frys, and they had tofu as an alternative. I searched the current Northwestern website to see what they have…

   I was surprised that with over 10 dining/eating options, only one of them mentions they have vegetarian burgers and an organic convinience store section…

   “Come watch the game on Foster-Walker’s big screen TV while enjoying your delicious meal. Foster-Walker’s West Dining Room offers a variety of made-to-order specialties like freshly tossed salads, grilled sandwiches, pastas, burritos, and stir-fry. The West Dining Room also provides soup, cereal and desserts. Vegetarian burger options are available. Halal items are also available upon request.

   They also have a new section in the Foster Walker C-Store called nuGreen Market, which features organic and or natural products. ”

   I hope that, even in Chicago, the home of the sausage pizza, they start accomodating more the vegetarian student body.

   read all bout it in http://www.karmafreecooking.wordpress.com

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   24|Nov|2007 6

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