By Anna Gombert
While there are many amazing things about Drew, their food options are not one of them. It has come to my attention that options for vegetarian and vegan students are quite lacking. While I understand that Commons has made a big improvement since last year, it is a struggle to fill my nutritional needs both there and in the EC.
Let’s talk about Commons options. Yeah, so they have a few: make your own sandwich, salad, sometimes stirfry, occasionally veggie sushi, veggie or plain pizza, bagels and usually one or two of the sides offered on one of the back stations. And there is a vegan/pasta station, but apparently vegans don’t exist on the weekend, since I have never seen it in operation on a Saturday or Sunday. While that station is sometimes a good option, it is almost always the same thing. Two types of pasta to chose from and two or three sauces. And yeah, you can add in some veggies and what-not but a little more variety would be nice.
In the EC, there are a few options, i.e. veggie sushi, make your own sandwich, salad, sometimes the soup, the pasta and a few other grab and go options. It is not much better than commons in the choices, however, at least it is consistent; you don’t need to worry if something will not be there one day.
Though there are some kind of consistent options at Commons, most of them are not very healthy or nutritious options; they are all carbs, except the salad bar. And though I love carbs as much as the next person (actually more probably), I know it is not healthy to eat exclusively carbs for every meal. We need a balance; its basic nutrition. The hardest problem for myself personally is finding protein. Yes I can add tofu to my pasta and at breakfast I can get eggs. At the salad bar they have chickpeas, but come on, who wants to eat plain cold chickpeas?
It is worse for vegans at the school. Though they can eat many of the vegetarian options I listed earlier, it is even harder for them to find food that fits both their dietary restrictions and their health/nutrition needs. Not to say Drew hasn’t tried to be vegan friendly; they have soymilk, and vegan cookies (hidden in the back of the gluten free fridge but still).
Several students with dietary restrictions have expressed to me that they eat almost the exact same thing every day. And that gets kind of boring after a while.
But hey, if there is absolutely nothing you can eat in Commons, my go to Lucky Charms with a side of thawed fruit never fails.
Anna is a freshman.
Graphic credit to Dominique Butler.
