Vegetarian/Vegan Dinner at School *Updated*

[U4ic_Tendencies]

So I go to a college in North Carolina. The nice folks who make our meal plans/menus sent out an email to the student body. They've set up a "vegetarian/vegan dinner" for tonight (RSVP was about a week ago). I'm so excited that they're concerned with alternative eating habits.

I just got a reminder email and apparently only 7 people have signed up. I found that to be really sad, its a huge school.

But the point is they want to hear our opinions, and ways to better meet our needs.

So my question/discussion for you folks:

Does your grade school offer any alternative foods?
Colleges?
Families?
How to make them listen to the needs of everyone.

..and how excited I am about this whee

*Update*

Only about five students showed up for this gourmet vegan dinner (it was okay though, 'cuz that was more food for me wink ). Two of the students were there because they had religious reasons to not eat pork.

The chef had made about 11 trays of strictly vegan foods. There was ratatouille (which was DELICIOUS), chilled vegetables, black bean balls, zucchini filled with sweet potato filling, weird chips and a bunch of dips, and so much more I can't remember. The best part was the vegan mousse (the base was avacado, but you couldn't even taste it), and the fresh blackberry cobbler.

The head staff of our dining services asked us numerous questions about how they can improve their service to us (vegetarians/vegans/special food needs). We sat and talked for 2 hours, and it was amazing.

So I guess Discuss now...
-how much school can actually care if you b***h enough.
-What can be done to help improve food selections at other schools
-And whatever you want, really.  

[Sini X]

Here in Finland schools have to offer alternative foods but the quality of the food isn't too good. Like in my school, we've only had soy once ;_; I wrote about that to the local papers but nothing has happened...yet.  

[spacekitten]

My college's dining hall offers a lot of things ala carte, so there's a salad bar (with tofu sometimes!), pasta with non-meat sauces, pizza, and vegetarian chili. Ocassionally, they have veggie burgers (but they're like hockey pucks >_> ) and 'themed' dinner nights with veg*n dishes.

At my college before this one, the dining hall still had salad bar, pizza, etc, and a 'granary' with different veg*n dishes daily (it was usually badly-seasoned tofu stir-fries), and the cereal, yogurt, granola, and fruit bar was open all day. I miss that...  

[U4ic_Tendencies]

spacekitten

My college's dining hall offers a lot of things ala carte, so there's a salad bar (with tofu sometimes!), pasta with non-meat sauces, pizza, and vegetarian chili. Ocassionally, they have veggie burgers (but they're like hockey pucks >_> ) and 'themed' dinner nights with veg*n dishes.

At my college before this one, the dining hall still had salad bar, pizza, etc, and a 'granary' with different veg*n dishes daily (it was usually badly-seasoned tofu stir-fries), and the cereal, yogurt, granola, and fruit bar was open all day. I miss that...

Thats kind of how my school is. You should write your dining services now and tell them to implement more veg*n friendly foods biggrin  

[U4ic_Tendencies]

Sini X

Here in Finland schools have to offer alternative foods but the quality of the food isn't too good. Like in my school, we've only had soy once ;_; I wrote about that to the local papers but nothing has happened...yet.

Thats really cool that you wrote your paper about it! I probably would be too scared to. I hope they do something about it!  

[Sporadic_Lyricz]

I am currently at a boarding school and they always have a vegetarian option. they say they have vegan options regularly, but i think they are referring to the salad or sandwhich bar. the college i am looking at, tho, actually has soy ice cream in their cafeteria! needless to say, this is one reason i am looking at them.  

[pinkcatminht]

my school supposedly doesn't serve any actual meat. all of it is SAID to be meat substitute, seeing as it's cheaper, but i still wouldn't eat it. it looks awful. confused  

[Catherine teh Vegan]

I wish my school tuck shop was vegan friendly. The only vegan thing there is manky fruit salad with pears and I hate pears.  

[DreamerSpirit]

My school's cafeteria does not have any vegan options, and will only have vegetarian options on *very* rare occassions.

I recently started a petition to change that though. I'm going to be in college in the fall (I'm pretty sure that my school has vegan options; even if they don't, the dorms have kitchens, so I'll be set), but my current school has at least four or five other vegans and a bunch of vegetarians. As a public school, they are expected to offer meal choices for all of the students, whatever their dietary needs are, but they fail when it comes to offering vegan meals. I brought my own lunch throughout my high school years, but many of my friends do not have that luxury since their parents disagree with their dietary choices, and are unwilling to buy them anything special; not even peanut butter and milk-free bread!

I'm hoping that this campagin works. I'll be writing to the local papers, the local vegetarian society, and the school board (along with sending in my petition). I am really hoping that this will work out in the end.  

[U4ic_Tendencies]

DreamerSpirit

My school's cafeteria does not have any vegan options, and will only have vegetarian options on *very* rare occassions.

I recently started a petition to change that though. I'm going to be in college in the fall (I'm pretty sure that my school has vegan options; even if they don't, the dorms have kitchens, so I'll be set), but my current school has at least four or five other vegans and a bunch of vegetarians. As a public school, they are expected to offer meal choices for all of the students, whatever their dietary needs are, but they fail when it comes to offering vegan meals. I brought my own lunch throughout my high school years, but many of my friends do not have that luxury since their parents disagree with their dietary choices, and are unwilling to buy them anything special; not even peanut butter and milk-free bread!

I'm hoping that this campagin works. I'll be writing to the local papers, the local vegetarian society, and the school board (along with sending in my petition). I am really hoping that this will work out in the end.

That's awesome! I hope everything works out. They really need to have alternative dishes for all students. Thats horrible that they don't. I never ate on campus during highschool, but I doubt they had anything, either. Good luck, let us know how it goes biggrin  

[loony x lovegood]

The college I attend right now has essentially only French fries for a vegan option. However, I'm attending a community college which not a lot of people eat at.

This fall I'm attending Towson University. Supposedly, all of the food is labeled vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc. However, I've heard a lot of fellow veg*ns complain they have very few options. I know they have a fridge with all vegan food, but apparently there are still very few options and the university is generally not veg*n friendly. The psychology classes (some of them) also require using animals, which they provide no alternative to. sad  

[Fuzzy Sock Puppets]

The public schools here aren't very vegetarian friendly at all, let alone vegan. I only get peanut butter and jelly for lunch almost every day and then it's cheese pizza when I'm too tired of the sandwiches. The peanut butter and jelly is prepared by a person who works there for the few vegetarians, but since they're set out in the open they're sometimes gone by the time I get there and then I'm stuck with chips for lunch. Can't the people who eat meat stick to their own things?
stare  

[QueenMaeve]

That's amazing! I wish my school would do that. I'll be out of there in 30 days, though.

There's a couple vegetarian things, but only on some days. As it is, there's only two choices, plus a salad bar or crappy pizza. The meals are usually meaty, and not close to being worth the price. I haven't eaten a single school lunch this year, even before I went veg. 3nodding

When I went on a campus tour for the college I'll be going to next year, my mom asked if there were any veg-friendly meals. The tour guide said that there's "salads and stuff." Because veg means you live off salad, apparently. Oh well. Maybe there's more than that, since that girl didn't seem too familiar with being veg.


I've been feeding myself forever. Even when I was five, I didn't rely on my mom for every single meal. Sometimes she cooks, and she'll make a veg portion just for me if she can. I mostly do my own cooking, though. My aunt & uncle have been making veg dishes for me at family get-togethers, which is really sweet. I think my uncle accidentally got the two stuffings mixed up though... Oopsie. sweatdrop

It seems like people are more willing to cook for you when you're veg. One of my managers sometimes makes veg dishes at home, and she said she wanted to bring some for me next time. When I bake, I make it vegan for a friend of mine, something that I'd never done before. Vegan confections are much more fun to bake, too. I don't have to stop halfway through to scrub the egg germs off my hands, and I can lick the bowl without fear of salmonella. :D  

[Evil Karma Angel]

At my school, we pretty much only have pizza, and my friends can stick their fingers on the cheese and then write their names on the table (they have long names). Usually, I just pick a hamburger and then throw it out once I'm out of the lunch line. Then I eat my fruit, vegetables, and carb-y thing. (I hope those are real potatos.)  

[[The Looney Bin]]

The dinosaurs are returning...

My school doesn't have a food selling system, there's just a student store that sells snack foods and cup noodle (and probably some other things like that).
Most kids just go off campus or get food from begging people (when they forget their lunch or money, never because they're too poor).

I would always bring lunch, which always forced me to bake things to put in there, because I would pack my own lunch. Every week I would make a new kind of vegan muffin/cupcake biggrin .

...and they want their oil back.