Most colleges work towards having an environment that students love to live in and enjoy, but one common student complaint is the the food. Those who have dietary restrictions, such as being vegan or vegetarian, have even more trouble eating on campus. This is especially troubling as the number of Americans who identify as vegan grew from 1% in 2014 to 6% in 2017, a number that continues to grow.
People who identify as vegetarians typically exclude anything that contains meat, and vegans exclude all things that come from animals, including milk and eggs. At Mercer University, a private college in Macon, Ga., the are limited options for vegans and vegetarians. Of the six restaurants on campus, including the dining halls, vegetarians can find at least one meal vegetarian option at five of the restaurants and vegans have at least one meal option at four of the restaurants. Panda Express had only one option for vegans/vegetarians and Farmers Market only has one option aside from the salad bar and limited sandwich station.
Many students who don’t have dietary restrictions also question the lack of options. Sophomore Abigail Sears started a food insecurity service learning project geared at changing the meal plan at Mercer. The original goal was to give those who have food restrictions an option to not use the university-required meal plan if they had verification of their dietary limitations. Sears said one potential option is Mercer Dining’s version of a food pantry.
“It’s basically if you want to make specific requests and work with your meal plan, you can talk with them and they’ll work out a budget,” said Sears. “You have to provide them a specific list of what things that you want.”
Sears said the pantry plan is a step in the right direction, but according to students she talked to there have been issues.
“They’ve put in request order and they haven’t come in when they said they were,” said Sears, “so they’ve had to have gone a week without their groceries.”
Sophomore Lily Patwary is a vegetarian. She described not being able to get the proper nutrients on campus.
“I don’t get most proteins and then I don’t have a lot of options that I really like,” Patwary said. “I have to settle for things I won’t really prefer, but if I want to eat on campus then that’s what it’s gonna have to be.”
Patwary said she would save a lot of money and time if she could skip the meal plan and cook for herself in her apartment.
