Commons seek to diversify vegetarian menu

By EVA LOAYZA
Collegian Staff Writer

Finding appropriate and flavorful food in the dining commons may be difficult for vegetarians and vegans.

To make it a little bit easier, Penn State dining commons are trying to improve food selections for both groups.

"You definitely can eat in the dining commons, but it's pretty monotonous. There is not that much variety," said Jessica Friedrichs (sophomore-sociology).

But Friedrichs, who is a vegetarian, admits the dining commons are making efforts to accommodate vegetarian and vegan students.

Michele Newhard, special projects manager in the Office of Housing and Food Service Operations, said the department is doing its best to provide vegetarians and vegans with food they can eat. A vegetarian eats no meat while a vegan abstains from all animal products, including dairy and eggs.

Vegan offerings are new to the dining commons. Soy milk and tofu scramblers already have been added to menus, and Newhard said the department is looking into the possibility of substituting a vegan soup base.

"It is my goal to enhance the vegan offerings as well as add more unusual vegetarian options such as tempeh or seitan," Newhard said.

Out of the three entrees every night at the commons, one is always meatless. Among the meatless items are Italian wedges, vegetarian cassolet and vegan hot dogs, Newhard said.

Jessica Harvey (freshman-English) said the dining commons can cater to vegetarians but it is not consistent. She said she usually goes to Redifer or Pollock commons because they have more variety.

Efforts to accommodate vegetarians do not stop in the dining commons. There are alternatives for vegetarians and vegans at on-campus locations such as Checkers and Fresh Express, Newhard said.

Newhard also runs the Vegetarian Advisory Board, an organization that gathers input about the dining commons from on-campus vegetarians. The students meet once a month to discuss their eating lifestyles and what the dining commons is doing to accommodate them.

Students are encouraged to bring vegetarian recipes that can be added to the menu, and the students authorize a draft of each semester's menu before it is finalized.

With few options in the dining commons, vegetarians and vegans are often limited to the salad bar without a good source for other required nutritional values.

If students plan meals to include the correct amount of nutrients, vegetarians and vegans can have healthy diets, said Toni Ann Capozzolo, HealthWorks nutrition peer educator.

Vegetarian and vegan students concerned with their diets can take a computerized dietary analysis, Capozzolo said, which gives students the positive and negative points about their diets.

Students fill out a sheet asking what they ate in the last 24 hours. This information is transcribed into Nutritionist IV, a computer program that evaluates and gives the breakdown of nutrients. The analysis gives students a composite of their diet and what they need to improve it.