When a vegan walks into the Presidential Court Building Cafe, they only have a few options.
They can head for the salad bar to pile their plate with fruits and vegetables, or they can walk through the cafeteria, checking the labels on vegetarian dishes to see if any animal products are listed in the ingredients.
Someone who follows a vegan diet doesn’t eat meat. No pork, no beef, no poultry, no fish, nothing. Additionally, they say no to eggs, milk, cheese and honey — no animal by-products.
Aden Cunningham, undeclared sophomore, had been a vegetarian for three years when he moved into North Carrick in 2013-2014, his freshman year and had a meal plan which regularly disappointed him.
“I pretty much ate terrible salads and really bad pizza because that’s all that they had,” Cunningham said. “They claimed to have a vegetarian section, but it was rice and really awful tasting beans and occasionally tofu that wasn’t cooked well.”
During winter break of his freshman year, his girlfriend, Kara Williamson, a sophomore in interior design, decided to become a vegan.
“I’ve always considered myself an animal lover, but I never really paid attention to the fact that I was eating animals,” Williamson said. “Then one day it just kind of clicked in my head for some reason. I don’t know what exactly did it. I just decided that I needed to change.”
She, like many others, was initially a vegetarian.
“I learned how bad the dairy and chicken industry was and that you’re still paying for the deaths of animals if you buy those products,” Williamson said.
Cunningham wanted to follow suit but delayed his decision because of his options in the cafeterias.
“I would avoid animal products,” Cunningham said, “but at PCB I would have to be eating dry cereal because their soy milk was never stocked.”
Elisa Dore, freshman in language and world business, doesn’t bother with the cafeterias.
“I don’t really go to the dining halls because I can only get salads there. The vegetarian section always has meat in it,” Dore said. “It doesn’t make sense, but it’s always there.”
Instead, Dore buys veggie wraps from Field of Greens and sandwiches from Subway. She eats cereal with almond or soy milk in her room on campus.
Now that Cunningham lives in an apartment residence hall, sans meal plan, he is able to cook the food he wants, like quinoa, rice and gyros. He and Williamson regularly chop up a block of tofu and prepare it with spices and seasoning for supper. Cunningham also drinks juice to ensure he’s getting a sufficient amount of vitamins and mineral — one of the main concerns vegans face is maintaining their nutritional intake.
Madeline Schappel, the student nutrition educator for UT Dining, said the micronutrient B12 is the hardest for vegans to regulate.
“This vitamin is almost solely found in meats/animal products, with the exception of fortified foods like cereals,” Schappel said. “Seeing a doctor or nutritionist prior to beginning a vegan diet may be necessary if you are unsure where to start and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.”
For Robert Fischerman, junior in nutrition, talking with a vegan friend was what got him started. That friend and literature, like the China Study which outlines how the consumption of meat and cancer are directly related, led Fischerman down a four-year journey of veganism.
“It really helped me to have someone guide me through the process and keep me from making those beginner mistakes,” Fischerman said. “You have to have a really strong will because it is not convenient at all.”
Recently, however, Fischerman stopped being a vegan. He couldn’t get meat off his mind.
“I never felt like I was deficient as a vegan, but one day I thought, ‘Damn, I really want to eat that meat. That looks delicious,’” Fischerman said. “It stuck around long enough that I decided there must be a reason this is happening.”
After careful consideration for two weeks, he roasted a whole chicken and removed the label “vegan” from his identity. However, he maintains a mostly plant-based diet and still promotes veganism.
“Because of all the vegan-ness that I learned, I understand how impactful meat is on the environment,” Fischerman said. “It plays a huge role on how it’s grown in an ethical and environmental way.”
One of Aramark’s chefs is a vegetarian. Mike Firth hasn’t eaten meat in 12 years, except an occasional shrimp. Firth has been in kitchens for 30 years and the last eight and a half at UT.
At the start of each school year, Firth said the cafeterias try their best to cater to vegans, but as vegans grow more comfortable with their surroundings, they find the dining locations that better cater to their taste buds.
“They’re a minority, which isn’t a bad thing at all,” Firth said. “But it’s really hard to cater to two students out of 3,000.”
In an attempt to show vegans some attention, Aramark has organized a week of vegan food. According to Mary Leslie, senior district marketing director of Aramark at UT, “Viva Las Vegan” will serve dishes like Asian sesame noodles, Mediterranean potato wedges and a chili lime black bean tostada. The food will be served in PCB Cafe this week and aims to show meat-eaters that vegan food isn’t just tofu.
“I think there’s a reason for everyone to go vegan,” Cunningham said. “If you found out why you would want to go vegan, it will help you stay vegan and find good vegan food. I’m eating some of the best I’ve ever had.”
