Cabrini students are subjected to eat only from Sodexo food services when on campus. Whether you’re living on campus and have a meal plan, or you’re a commuter and you just need to stop and grab a snack, you have no other option. This is a problem for students who are vegan or vegetarian, or anyone focusing on a plant-based diet.
What they currently offer
When you walk into the cafeteria, you can smell a variety of things being served under the heated lights. There’s always cheese burgers, pizza, hoagies and sandwiches and some kind of meat on the “hometown” section that is a new meal every day.
These meals range from meatloaf to barbecue chicken to fried fish. It’s sometimes accompanied with a vegetable, sometimes, an animal-product-based food.
The best bet for anyone who is not going to be eating meat is the salad bar, which always has salad ingredients, but no prime protein source. There is usually chicken and ham, but no tofu or tempeh or other non-meat protein.
The same applies to Sandella’s, the cafe offered in Widener. The burritos and wraps all have meat in them, except the “vegetarian burrito,” which is not acceptable to vegans due to dairy products. The refrigerated products include yogurt, cheese and pepperoni and sushi. There is one option of sushi, the vegetable roll, that is acceptable.
Vegetarians and vegans don’t eat on campus very often because of these limitations. Junior psychology major Emma Turnbach, who is vegan, is required to have a meal plan because she lives on campus, but rarely eats there.
“I would say [I eat on campus] around once a day. It’s usually coffee or oatmeal if I get back from practice early enough and am too tired to make something,” Turnbach said. “I think it’s slightly annoying that I’m given a lot of attitude about how my options [are] limited because I chose to go vegan, as if somehow asking for the lack of vegan choices.”
Another vegan student, sophomore Sarah Matoney, said she “unfortunately” pays for a meal plan but “rarely” eats on campus.
“I only eat on campus if need be,” Matoney said.
What they are planning offer
A plant-based diet has been popularized recently for the many health, environmental and ethical benefits.
Sodexo is joining the positive trend and promoting more plant-based options.
They gave a recent press release advertising their “new plant-based menu’s in hundreds of accounts across it’s universities, healthcare, and corporate Services segments.”
Sodexo acknowledges the positive influence in their plant-based infographic, mentioning the fact that “production of animal-based foods accounts for around two-thirds of agriculture’s production-related greenhouse gas emissions,” and that “individuals who followed a mostly plant-based diet had a 28% reduced risk of developing heart failure.”
Sodexo currently promotes a planet-based diet very discretely on campus, though. They have one poster in the cafeteria mentioning it, but not the benefits of it or why it’s important.
Cabrini does not have this plant-based menu, yet. Tracy Eells, the general manager of dining services, says that she plans on incorporating new menus items “as soon as possible.”
The delay is due to the menu being vetted by the campus dietitian Susan Hurd for allergens.
“Some of the recipes contain nuts and other types of allergens. The dining hall is committed to not use nuts as an ingredient in our cooking. I need to make sure the recipes are as safe as possible for all our students,” Eells said.
There are even more expectations for plant-based options in the future, if this process goes well.
“I believe that plant-based foods and consumer tastes for plant-based foods are definitely on an upward trend and I would expect to see that trend reflected in the products we offer,” Eells said.
