By Victoria Durgin, Asst. Digital Media Editor
Let’s talk about food. The thing that everyone needs, and everyone has differing tastes and opinions about.
I think we should talk specifically about food on this campus. Or, maybe we should call it the lack of food. I noticed that the vegan/vegetarian options are slim even as someone who is neither vegetarian nor vegan. I have friends who are both, and sometimes I wonder how they find anything to eat.
I hear stories from them and other students about their worries about cross-contamination in Hawk’s Nest and how the vegan section is limited in Evert. Now that I have heard about it, it has become noticeable to me as well.
The grill station in the Hawk’s Nest is used for meat and non-meat options, making it nearly impossible to eat if you are trying to avoid meat products. The same utensils are used to prepare meat on sandwiches or in salads as are used on vegetables and other options, making it even more difficult to eat much if you want to avoid meat.
Generally speaking, it is difficult to find places on this campus to eat if you do not want to consume meat products. It is even harder if you are looking to cut out all animal products even for just a few meals a week.
To my knowledge, nothing at Ele’s is vegan, and the options at Evert are slim. This is a problem for a number of reasons, and it is especially frustrating given the university’s commitment to sustainability. The Office of Sustainability is hosting meals in Evert this month, but April is not the only time where sustainability matters. For a campus that says it’s committed to sustainability, it always seems that students looking to cut meat from their diets don’t have a lot of opportunities to do so.
I understand that feeding everyone at Susquehanna several times a day, every day for over half the year is a tremendous undertaking. I also understand that not every student follows plant-based lifestyles. I also don’t think the current options allow students to reduce the amount of meat they consume.
Maybe more students would try to eat meals without meat if there were other options. Even if students don’t try new things, students who are plant-based need options other than rice and vegetables. At the end of the day, we all pay for our food here.
We all buy into a meal plan, and we all deserve to get the same options out of them. We all go to a school that prides itself on its sustainability efforts. Those two factors coupled together are all the reasons to at least consider how much vegan and vegetarian students have available to them in comparison to the meat-eaters of Susquehanna. Our efforts to provide vegetarian/vegan meals should go beyond the month of April and work for students all year.