Veggie lovers eat greens

    An estimated 10.7 million adults in the United States pursued a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle in 2006, according to a Harris Interactive survey sponsored by the Baltimore-based Vegetarian Resource Group. 
    A handful of those adults call GCSU home, and the numbers continue to increase every year.             Providers have recently risen to the challenge of increased demand for more meatless dining options on college campuses across the nation.
    GCSU has a variety of dining services for vegetarian and vegans on campus, but students still struggle to diversify their meatless menu in a small city.
    “I never really ate a lot of red meat growing up. I mainly stuck to chicken and seafood, but, one day, I was eating some fresh crab back home in Savannah, and I had to stop because it just felt wrong, and I stopped eating chicken shortly after that,” said Rachel Hodge, a senior who became a vegetarian her freshman year of high school. “I think we are putting such a strain on the ocean’s resources. I figure that I am one less person contributing to that.”
    Hodge doesn’t feel like it has been difficult to be a vegetarian at GCSU. She thinks the school has provided plenty of options.
    “When I go to Sodexho there is always something that I can eat, like a salad, grilled cheese or pizza,” Hodge said. “I do wish there were more dining options for vegetarians in Milledgeville as a whole. I have just learned to cook a lot, which I don’t mind doing.”
    Sodexho dining services have recently began a program promoting a healthy lifestyle called The Balanced Way. Weekly menus can be found online  at the school’s dining Web site, www.gcsudining.com. They offer a vegetarian menu for lunch and dinner and a few vegan items as well.  The menu ranges from lighter items such as chick pea salad to a little heavier choices such as mixed bean creole with browne rice.
    Even with the new choices for vegetarians at GCSU, some students still stay away.
    “I don’t at all eat at Sodexho. When I was a freshman and I had to, I hated it,” said Ashley Queen, a junior who became a vegetarian because she didn’t like having to chew meat. “I did not like the selection at all there, I would usually just get a cheese, lettuce and tomato sub, and it was not that great.”
    If Queen does dine on campus, it’s usually at Einstein Brothers for a bagel and coffee, or Blimpie for a vegetarian sub sandwich. But, over all, Queen says the lack of options don’t bother her too much.
    “The small town and limited options doesn’t really affect me,” Queen said. “ I like to cook, and I get all my groceries from Kroger: they have a good produce selection.”
    Even if everyone is not pleased with what GCSU has to offer vegetarians, Sodexo has made it easier for students to have healthier options and even non-meat eaters can get the nutrients they need.
    “The Balanced Way program that Sodexho offers encourages students not to consume as many calories in their daily diets by providing healthy alternatives,” said Amy Whatley, coordinator of the Wellness Program at GCSU. “Even vegetarians can get nutrients through the program that a person would normally get by eating meat and dairy. There are tons of proteins in nuts, beans and naturally occurring oils which give vegetarians the necessary healthy fats that all students should have in their diets. I think all the right options are out there, but it is really up to the students to decide what is right for them.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 9 2007. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry