Northwestern dining halls are being recognized for offering culinary creations such as “veggie riblets,” “vegan pancakes” and “veggie chicken pitas” for students who forgo meat, eggs and dairy products.
On Monday, peta2, the youth division of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, nominated NU as one of North America’s most vegetarian-friendly colleges.
NU was chosen as part of peta2’s campaign to find colleges that offer the “smartest” food choices for vegetarian students.
Thirty U.S. colleges and 10 Canadian colleges were nominated for the contest based on input from Facebook and MySpace pages, as well as blogs on peta2’s web site and student nominations, said Ryan Huling, peta2’s college campaign coordinator.
This is the second year the organization has held the competition. Indiana University took first place in last year’s contest.
Contest organizers said peta2 will host a party at the winning school with giveaways and opportunities to sample vegetarian food.
The group developed the contest after representatives began researching vegetarian foods on college campuses, Huling said. They heard from many students who said their dining services were very responsive to vegetarian requests.
“A logical extension of that would be to show (students) the best of the best,” Huling said.
According to Huling, dining services at nominated schools “really went above and beyond” to meet the needs of vegetarian students and develop programs based on students’ requests.
Students said NU’s 1835 Hinman dining hall in particular had a wide selection of vegetarian options.
“I eat mostly in 1835 Hinman,” said Medill freshman and vegetarian Caitlin Kearney. “I know there’s a bar that’s solely dedicated to vegetarian options, and I’ve noticed that they do try to change it up.”
Medill freshman and vegan Lizzie Schiffman said the array of dining options at NU has made it easy to follow vegan dietary guidelines. Schiffman said she was “delightfully surprised” by how easy it was to find food that she liked.
“I’ve been exceptionally impressed with how accommodating they’ve been and the alternative options they’ve had at each meal,” Schiffman said.
Campus dietician Rebecca Berman said the nomination shows vegetarians are becoming more sophisticated in their tastes and are demanding more varied dining options.
“I used to see more novice vegetarians and vegans, and now I’m seeing students who have been raised this way, who started (being) vegetarian at an early age,” Berman said. “They’re a little more knowledgeable about the cuisine, about what they like and what they like to see, and the nutrition and health benefits of vegetarian eating.”
Kearney, who grew up a vegetarian, said she was concerned at first that she would have a difficult time maintaining her diet at NU.
“At home it was always easy because my parents made sure that I could find enough to eat,” Kearney said. “Here I was like ‘OK, maybe I’ll have to fend for myself a little bit,’ but there were definitely enough options.”
College students are more likely to alter their diets and change their eating habits while at college, “maybe because just at college you’ll meet more vegetarians,” she said.
“Maybe it’s because people are out on their own, and they’re more willing to experiment with their diet,” Kearney said. “I think being a vegetarian is a great way to stay healthy while you’re at college.”
SESP senior Margaret Djekovic said she decided to become a vegan during her freshman year after attending a video presentation by Students for Ecological and Environmental Development. Djekovic said her peers are adopting vegetarian diets to take advantage of the health benefits, and added that the many options at NU make it “easy to be a vegan.”
“A lot of my friends are vegetarians here,” Djekovic said. “People are choosing to eat a bunch of vegetables and salad rather than eating greasy fries all the time.”
To vote for NU to win the competition, go to www.peta2.com/college. Voting ends Nov. 12.
Reach Matt Spector at [email protected].
