Northwestern entered the final round in the small-school category of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ “Most Vegan-Friendly College in the U.S.” competition on Monday after the fourth round of voting closed.
NU beat out schools including Georgetown University and Oberlin College during voting on www.peta2.com, and entered the competition’s final round along with Brandeis University. The winner of the competition will be announced Nov. 21.
Dining hall menus, talks with nuCuisine and student input all influenced peta2’s initial nominees for the award, and public voting determined which of the 32 schools progressed through the brackets.
“Due to the drastic increase in options students expect when they sit down to eat, schools have had to pick up the pace,” Ryan Huling, peta2’s manager of college campaigns and outreach, told the daily in October. “Northwestern has definitely kept up with that.”
NU placed first in the 2007 and 2011 competitions, and ranked ninth in 2009. Both student feedback and various initiatives by nuCuisine have contributed to an emphasis on vegetarian and vegan options in NU’s dining halls. According to the competition website, nuCuisine has reported that between 35 and 55 percent of NU students select a vegetarian or vegan entree every day.
Weinberg freshman Saumya Didwania, a vegetarian, said nuCuisine’s vegetarian-friendly dining options made him comfortable in his decision to enroll at NU.
“Some people find some colleges hard to go to because they can’t get their food properly,” Didwania said. “NU has so many options, (vegetarian and vegan students) don’t get bored of the food.”
Others are surprised at the options they find once they arrive on campus. SESP junior Michelle Rodgers, a vegetarian, said NU’s dining halls in particular provide a range of vegetarian and vegan options.
“I was very impressed and surprised at how broad and good the options were for vegetarians (in dining halls),” Rodgers said, adding that other dining locations on campus, such as the Norris University Center food court, could benefit from the expanded options dining halls have. “If (Norris) had more than one type of salad and one type of sandwich in the C-Store, that would be great.”
Dining halls across campus serve a variety of vegetarian and vegan foods, including tofu French toast, country fried seitan steak, vegan mashed potatoes and vegan curried tofu with jasmine rice. NuCuisine’s retail locations also offer prepackaged vegetarian and vegan meals.
Didwania said the presence of these options is encouraging for vegetarian and vegan students, and added he hopes NU’s participation in the peta2 competition will encourage the University to continue its efforts to provide healthy and meatless options.
But Rodgers stressed the importance of reflecting students’ dining preferences in university dining halls, both in proportion and variety.
“It’s important to have a proportionate number of vegetarian options in relation to the number of vegetarian students,” she said.
Safiya Merchant contributed reporting.
